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insatiablewanderlust's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
2.5
**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS**
I had very conflicted feelings about this book. To just start from the beginning, the front matter seemed longer than it needed to be and more convoluted. I found it hard to believe that a woman married to an abusive man would engage in an affair. I would have scratched that. Her continual longing for Alec was just sad and my eyes started to hurt from rolling them. I couldn't figure out why the book was set in the 80s, but then Viv let her bigotry fall out and it made sense. Viv's homophobia was problematic for the 80s, but if set in current times, it would have been unreadable. Both characters were very unlikeable, and not in a "they have human flaws" kind of way, but in a "this book is pretty hard to stomach" way.
However, this book did have a number of redeeming features. Claire's descriptions of Italy and the art were amazing. When Claire and Viv were viewing Da Vinci's Last Supper, I could feel those walls come up and I was back in that dark, musty room and I could see the painting before me. I could see the aspects that Claire was describing. It was very obvious that art history was Claire's thing and she absolutely thrived in those scenes. I would have longed to see that Claire more throughout the book. I also really enjoyed the offer Claire received in Paris. I think I actually screamed YES! outloud because I was so excited for her. I was a little disappointed that we never actually learned what her decision was. I would have loved an epilogue of Claire and her daughter living their best life in Paris.
It would also have been cute, for those not familiar with all the art pieces discussed, to have pictures of "Claire and Viv" with pictures of the art. Like "these were cute pictures we took on our trip". It would have been a fun inclusion for a fiction novel, while still providing pictures of the art for those less familiar with some pieces. Truly I'd like to give this a 2.5, but I'm going to round to 3 because of my love of nerdy art Claire and her potential.
I had very conflicted feelings about this book. To just start from the beginning, the front matter seemed longer than it needed to be and more convoluted. I found it hard to believe that a woman married to an abusive man would engage in an affair. I would have scratched that. Her continual longing for Alec was just sad and my eyes started to hurt from rolling them. I couldn't figure out why the book was set in the 80s, but then Viv let her bigotry fall out and it made sense. Viv's homophobia was problematic for the 80s, but if set in current times, it would have been unreadable. Both characters were very unlikeable, and not in a "they have human flaws" kind of way, but in a "this book is pretty hard to stomach" way.
However, this book did have a number of redeeming features. Claire's descriptions of Italy and the art were amazing. When Claire and Viv were viewing Da Vinci's Last Supper, I could feel those walls come up and I was back in that dark, musty room and I could see the painting before me. I could see the aspects that Claire was describing. It was very obvious that art history was Claire's thing and she absolutely thrived in those scenes. I would have longed to see that Claire more throughout the book. I also really enjoyed the offer Claire received in Paris. I think I actually screamed YES! outloud because I was so excited for her. I was a little disappointed that we never actually learned what her decision was. I would have loved an epilogue of Claire and her daughter living their best life in Paris.
It would also have been cute, for those not familiar with all the art pieces discussed, to have pictures of "Claire and Viv" with pictures of the art. Like "these were cute pictures we took on our trip". It would have been a fun inclusion for a fiction novel, while still providing pictures of the art for those less familiar with some pieces. Truly I'd like to give this a 2.5, but I'm going to round to 3 because of my love of nerdy art Claire and her potential.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Child death and Domestic abuse
paige_docx's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
slow-paced
Thank you to NetGalley and Amplify Publishing Group for providing my with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
While I believe there is a target audience that would really enjoy this book, unfortunately I was not one of them. Because I probably would not have finished this book if it hadn't been an ARC and I don't think I'm the target audience I won't be giving it a star rating, although for me personally it would probably be closer to a 2.
Claire is a mid-30s art history professor who is currently devastated after both her husband and the man she was having an affair with have left her. Realising that without her husband’s income it will be difficult to make ends meet as a single mother to her daughter, Claire decides to spend the summer as a personal art history tour guide across Europe to Viv. Viv appears quite strange at first and the two don’t really mesh, but the two grow closer and learn from each other in their journey across Italy and France.
Let’s start with the positive. The author herself was an art history professor and her knowledge and passion for the subject really come through in her writing. I’ve never been very interested in the different artistic periods, nor have I ever been able to keep all the different terms straight, so I do think this aspect of the book would be more appealing to people who are already interested in the subject. I was far more interested in the descriptions of the European cities that Claire and Viv visit, as well as the museums and cathedrals on Claire’s art tour.
Now for the negatives. Unhappy in her marriage, Claire seeks therapy and eventually enters into an affair with her therapist, Alec. Eventually Claire’s husband figures out she’s cheating and leaves her, and following this Alec also breaks it off with Claire to try to fix his own marriage. I found the affair subplot unnecessary as all it did was make Claire unlikeable. We are told Claire’s husband Kurt is selfish, manipulative and downright vindictive. Because of this I would have much preferred for the marriage to fall apart on its own without the need for infidelity to vilify Claire. The next thing that really bugged me is that for no discernible reason this book is set in the 1980s. Practically, this adds nothing to the story, and you are only ever reminded of it when one of the characters says something like “primo” (Viv’s favourite adjective), “whammo”, or “what a buncha yahoos.” However, being set in the ‘80s provides context for Claire’s fundamental misunderstanding of mental health and anxiety, as well as Viv’s casual homophobia. More than once throughout the book Claire fears that Viv will go off the rails after she learns that Viv has suffered from panic attacks in the past. Viv, on the other hand, refers to speculation over artists like Da Vinci and Michelangelo’s sexuality as “bad mouthing” them. This stems from a poor relationship with her brother, who is gay, and being ridiculed for her brother’s sexuality when she was in high school. I think this could have been explored in a productive way but I was uncomfortable with the author’s use of the f-slur even if the book is set in a time when it was widely considered acceptable.
While I believe there is a target audience that would really enjoy this book, unfortunately I was not one of them. Because I probably would not have finished this book if it hadn't been an ARC and I don't think I'm the target audience I won't be giving it a star rating, although for me personally it would probably be closer to a 2.
Claire is a mid-30s art history professor who is currently devastated after both her husband and the man she was having an affair with have left her. Realising that without her husband’s income it will be difficult to make ends meet as a single mother to her daughter, Claire decides to spend the summer as a personal art history tour guide across Europe to Viv. Viv appears quite strange at first and the two don’t really mesh, but the two grow closer and learn from each other in their journey across Italy and France.
Let’s start with the positive. The author herself was an art history professor and her knowledge and passion for the subject really come through in her writing. I’ve never been very interested in the different artistic periods, nor have I ever been able to keep all the different terms straight, so I do think this aspect of the book would be more appealing to people who are already interested in the subject. I was far more interested in the descriptions of the European cities that Claire and Viv visit, as well as the museums and cathedrals on Claire’s art tour.
Now for the negatives. Unhappy in her marriage, Claire seeks therapy and eventually enters into an affair with her therapist, Alec. Eventually Claire’s husband figures out she’s cheating and leaves her, and following this Alec also breaks it off with Claire to try to fix his own marriage. I found the affair subplot unnecessary as all it did was make Claire unlikeable. We are told Claire’s husband Kurt is selfish, manipulative and downright vindictive. Because of this I would have much preferred for the marriage to fall apart on its own without the need for infidelity to vilify Claire. The next thing that really bugged me is that for no discernible reason this book is set in the 1980s. Practically, this adds nothing to the story, and you are only ever reminded of it when one of the characters says something like “primo” (Viv’s favourite adjective), “whammo”, or “what a buncha yahoos.” However, being set in the ‘80s provides context for Claire’s fundamental misunderstanding of mental health and anxiety, as well as Viv’s casual homophobia. More than once throughout the book Claire fears that Viv will go off the rails after she learns that Viv has suffered from panic attacks in the past. Viv, on the other hand, refers to speculation over artists like Da Vinci and Michelangelo’s sexuality as “bad mouthing” them. This stems from a poor relationship with her brother, who is gay, and being ridiculed for her brother’s sexuality when she was in high school. I think this could have been explored in a productive way but I was uncomfortable with the author’s use of the f-slur even if the book is set in a time when it was widely considered acceptable.
claudiacardoso's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
I read this in the dove of roughly 24hours! Granted we are all home with CoVid, but still I thought it was a page turner.
I went in not being sure it it was my kind of book. I thought it was just going to be the tale of a mopey woman running around Europe but it was so much more than that.
The characters are very real and are confronted with their obstacles and life difficulties and through art they begin go heal and find some comfort.
There’s a good bit of information about art history without it becoming boring. It also touches on the AIDS crisis in the 80s, changing roles of women and family dynamics as well as how legitimate different ways of learning as well as coping are.
It was a very easy and entertaining read with depth too it.
I went in not being sure it it was my kind of book. I thought it was just going to be the tale of a mopey woman running around Europe but it was so much more than that.
The characters are very real and are confronted with their obstacles and life difficulties and through art they begin go heal and find some comfort.
There’s a good bit of information about art history without it becoming boring. It also touches on the AIDS crisis in the 80s, changing roles of women and family dynamics as well as how legitimate different ways of learning as well as coping are.
It was a very easy and entertaining read with depth too it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction
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