Scan barcode
A review by scubacat
The House of Hawthorne by Erika Robuck
4.0
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review:
Beautifully written and a wonderful story of a strong, creative woman and her life married to a gifted, famous man. There were small parts that bothered me - things like Sophia's mysterious difficulty with painting. She is creative and talented and inspired by everything around her, but gets crippling headaches every time she picks up a brush. I would have liked some sort of explanation about why this happened - it seems like an artificial barrier to her talent and success. I also found it a bit annoying how Sophia was ruled by the seasons. If the sun broke through the clouds at the right moment, she decided it was time to shrug off her depression about a miscarriage. What would have happened if the clouds had persisted? What if she hadn't been looking out the window at that very moment? These are small objections, however, and were outnumbered by what I did like about the book. The writing was truly beautiful. The imagery described through Sophia's artistic eyes was stunning. The turbulence of her husband's moods and their marriage felt possible and even likely. The need to put her art aside as she focused on her children and husband's well-being will ring true with anyone who is a mother. Overall, I highly recommend the book to anyone who enjoys historical or biographical fiction.
Beautifully written and a wonderful story of a strong, creative woman and her life married to a gifted, famous man. There were small parts that bothered me - things like Sophia's mysterious difficulty with painting. She is creative and talented and inspired by everything around her, but gets crippling headaches every time she picks up a brush. I would have liked some sort of explanation about why this happened - it seems like an artificial barrier to her talent and success. I also found it a bit annoying how Sophia was ruled by the seasons. If the sun broke through the clouds at the right moment, she decided it was time to shrug off her depression about a miscarriage. What would have happened if the clouds had persisted? What if she hadn't been looking out the window at that very moment? These are small objections, however, and were outnumbered by what I did like about the book. The writing was truly beautiful. The imagery described through Sophia's artistic eyes was stunning. The turbulence of her husband's moods and their marriage felt possible and even likely. The need to put her art aside as she focused on her children and husband's well-being will ring true with anyone who is a mother. Overall, I highly recommend the book to anyone who enjoys historical or biographical fiction.