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A review by jencolumb0
Still Life by Sarah Winman
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
I had the luck of reading Room With a View just before happening to pick this one up and I am so thrilled that I did. It made Winman’s play off EM Forester that much more delightful (and made the time I spent with his incredibly unlikeable characters quite worthwhile). Even if you’ve read Room with a View, it’s worth re-reading before you pick this one up, just to get the full breadth of the conversation Winman is having.
That conversation and the (obviously well-researched) bits about Florentine artists, particularly female artists, as well as the over-arching conversation of how women must and chose to live their lives around men in a patriarchy (cleverly woven into the story) were heady contrasts to the relatively mundane passage of time memorialized in the book.
I, too, adore Florence. Like many of the characters in the book, I went when I was young, the city promptly imprinted itself onto my heart, and I have returned at every opportunity since, peeling back layers to reveal new aspects of my freedom each time. You would think that I would adore this book, too. And I did. For the first 250 pages or so.
Then, the action in the book just kind of petered out: the characters continued to bounce between the pub in London and the pensione in Florence, learning very little new about themselves and nothing surprising happened to them in fact. I am still not entirely sure why we all had to hang onto getting through through the 70s to achieve the ends of the book. Perhaps, on the heels of a Rachel Joyce book, I was ready to read something with a bit more action. Nonetheless, a lovely read that should be a priority for anyone heading to Florence or whose heart belongs there.
That conversation and the (obviously well-researched) bits about Florentine artists, particularly female artists, as well as the over-arching conversation of how women must and chose to live their lives around men in a patriarchy (cleverly woven into the story) were heady contrasts to the relatively mundane passage of time memorialized in the book.
I, too, adore Florence. Like many of the characters in the book, I went when I was young, the city promptly imprinted itself onto my heart, and I have returned at every opportunity since, peeling back layers to reveal new aspects of my freedom each time. You would think that I would adore this book, too. And I did. For the first 250 pages or so.
Then, the action in the book just kind of petered out: the characters continued to bounce between the pub in London and the pensione in Florence, learning very little new about themselves and nothing surprising happened to them in fact. I am still not entirely sure why we all had to hang onto getting through through the 70s to achieve the ends of the book. Perhaps, on the heels of a Rachel Joyce book, I was ready to read something with a bit more action. Nonetheless, a lovely read that should be a priority for anyone heading to Florence or whose heart belongs there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and War
Minor: Domestic abuse, Animal death, Infidelity, Death, Car accident, and Abortion