Reviews

How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall

bellaroobookworm's review against another edition

5.0

This was beautifully done. It is at turns melancholy and hopeful, taking readers through a roller coaster of human emotions. It is one of those rare books that truly transports a reader.

theoneandonlyredrose's review against another edition

5.0

Boy can Sarah Hall write. Delicious prose with all the characters having distinct voices. Story wasn't as captivating as Haweswater but enjoyed every sentence. I've just discovered that Sarah started life as a poet - I should have guessed!

mrshoney1's review against another edition

i found it very difficult to read. it was excruciatingly confusing, but it was written well

jenniferkey's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

vivakresh's review against another edition

3.0

This novel was just "eh, ok." The language at times was pretty, but the plot was uninteresting and seemed to hang just on the connections the characters had to each other, which were sort of revealed in dribs and drabs.

lisa_shobhana's review against another edition

3.0

the first chapter blew me away. it got a bit dull in the middle and i found that i wasn't particularly interested in some of the characters. it came together a bit toward the end, but i still found it a bit lacking.

nobodyatall's review against another edition

4.0

Well, that was a really nice book to read. The writing is deeply textured and luxurious.

It's a really slow book, and there aren't really any surprises or tensions as the four narratives are offset in time such that you mostly know what is going to happen in one as it has already happened in another. I think this helps though, it let me sit back and luxuriate in the imagery and all the feelings that evoked.

nocto's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this. The writing is fabulous - full of sentences that make you sit back and marvel at their ingenuity and the images that they conjure up.

The chapters of the book flip between four different viewpoints. Each is set in a different place and time stays tightly with a single character and each is very individually written with no chance of a reader muddling up the writing - the headings announcing which character was in this chapter were totally superfluous. The distinctive voices were in first, third and even second person. Second person can be really tedious to read but here it was my favourite part of the book as it seemed to be rationed out just nicely. The settings varied from 1960s to the present day and included London, Italy and Cumbria. On the whole the book was well varied but early in the story I found the changes difficult to keep track of - though it wasn't long before I was hooked.

This is definitely a literary novel and not one driven by plot devices and I enjoyed the fact that the links between the four strands of the story weren't pointed out time and time again. I liked coming across small pieces of the jigsaw in the prose and I'm sure that there were plenty of details that I missed.

The book takes in, as you'd expect from the title, death, art and dying artists. Which might make it sound pretty bleak but it's a book full of light, full of interesting snippets of life and well worth a read.

leighnonymous's review against another edition

3.0

(3 1/2)

Ms. Hall can write and she can write well; her prose is startlingly clear, her observations uncomfortably accurate. It is the endings that I disliked about this book. The author elicited strong feelings on my part for each of her four characters, despite some pretty abhorrent behavior on the part of one of them. Be aware that there are no endings to the stories of these four characters. I am particularly confused about the fate of little, blind Annette; the last scene flitted between rape and religious vision.

Of interest was the section of the twin, Susan, and her narrative. I've never read so seamless a narration written entirely in the second person. It seemed normal after a while, like everyone should be narrating like that.

I give this three and a half because it was enjoyable to read and Ms. Hall's gift for writing really shone in this novel.

madaramusule's review against another edition

4.25

I really enjoyed how the plot was followed from four different perspectives that tie in together as well as the years the story takes place in not being mentioned, except for clues as to what happened during that year.

Spoiler

I like that he ending of each story was left open and thus also open to an interpretation of your own

. Such and interesting book to read.