A review by velveteencactus
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

1.75

Started off strong, I really liked the story of Lucrezia's childhood in Florence, but once she gets married and leaves for Ferrara, the story hollowed out and by the end I was left empty. There were a lot of words, but somehow not that much happened. And I don't need a lot of "plot" in a book to be engaged as a reader. I'm all for long descriptions of setting (as long as the setting matters to what the story is about) or in-depth reflections from the narrator (as long as the narrator has something to say/a unique perspective), but as the parenthetical reflect, this book didn't have much of interest for me to hold onto as a read. Consequently, this book left me feeling empty and disappointed given its intriguing premise. 
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