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A review by karnaconverse
A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline
Andrew Wyeth spent his summers from 1939 to 1948 in Cushing, Maine working on what would become his most famous painting. This novel is a fictionalized portrayal of the artist and his subject, the melancholy that drew them together, and how the Olson House became "Christina's World."
Kline's interpretation reflects a monotony of rural life which, at times, was boring and hard for me to continue reading—even though I know that monotony to be accurate and true. The Prologue however is beautiful and introduces Christina Olson as one who accepts the life she's been given yet yearns for much more:
<blockquote>"He did get one thing right: Sometimes a sanctuary, sometimes a prison, that house on the hill has always been my home. I’ve spent my life yearning toward it, wanting to escape it, paralyzed by its hold on me. (There are many ways to be crippled, I’ve learned over the years, many forms of paralysis.) My ancestors fled to Maine from Salem, but like anyone who tries to run away from the past, they brought it with them. Something inexorable seeds itself in the place of your origin. You can never escape the bonds of family history, no matter how far you travel. And the skeleton of a house can carry in its bones the marrow of all that came before."</blockquote>
Kline's interpretation reflects a monotony of rural life which, at times, was boring and hard for me to continue reading—even though I know that monotony to be accurate and true. The Prologue however is beautiful and introduces Christina Olson as one who accepts the life she's been given yet yearns for much more:
<blockquote>"He did get one thing right: Sometimes a sanctuary, sometimes a prison, that house on the hill has always been my home. I’ve spent my life yearning toward it, wanting to escape it, paralyzed by its hold on me. (There are many ways to be crippled, I’ve learned over the years, many forms of paralysis.) My ancestors fled to Maine from Salem, but like anyone who tries to run away from the past, they brought it with them. Something inexorable seeds itself in the place of your origin. You can never escape the bonds of family history, no matter how far you travel. And the skeleton of a house can carry in its bones the marrow of all that came before."</blockquote>