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A review by pepe_pepe
The Guy, the Girl, the Artist and His Ex by Gabrielle Williams
3.0
A decent read, but not overly memorable.
This story was written with four POVs (Guy - the guy, Rafi - the girl, Luke - the artist and Penny - the ex) which I don't think I've ever come across. This many perspectives can be good and bad; getting in the heads of more characters may make reading the book more interesting but it can also mean that you don't quite connect with the characters. In this case, I got a bit of both. The characters were interesting but I didn't quite connect with one of them, Guy. I also liked and strongly disliked some of the main characters, i.e. I liked Guy, Rafi and Uncle Moritz but despised Guy's parents, Rafi's mother, Luke and at times Penny. So the contrast of emotions I felt there were a bit off-putting.
As well, I felt character development was lacking and only some of the characters were really affected by the events in the book. When I got to the end, I felt like not much had happened. The novel was set in 1980s Melbourne which I have never read about and included some 80s references.
One of the major plotlines was the missing Picasso painting from the National Gallery in Melbourne; Weeping Woman. I liked how this was steeped in actual history and that using what she knew, the author created a story to fill in the blanks.
Overall, an original and interesting read that with more direction, could have been better.
This story was written with four POVs (Guy - the guy, Rafi - the girl, Luke - the artist and Penny - the ex) which I don't think I've ever come across. This many perspectives can be good and bad; getting in the heads of more characters may make reading the book more interesting but it can also mean that you don't quite connect with the characters. In this case, I got a bit of both. The characters were interesting but I didn't quite connect with one of them, Guy. I also liked and strongly disliked some of the main characters, i.e. I liked Guy, Rafi and Uncle Moritz but despised Guy's parents, Rafi's mother, Luke and at times Penny. So the contrast of emotions I felt there were a bit off-putting.
As well, I felt character development was lacking and only some of the characters were really affected by the events in the book. When I got to the end, I felt like not much had happened. The novel was set in 1980s Melbourne which I have never read about and included some 80s references.
One of the major plotlines was the missing Picasso painting from the National Gallery in Melbourne; Weeping Woman. I liked how this was steeped in actual history and that using what she knew, the author created a story to fill in the blanks.
Overall, an original and interesting read that with more direction, could have been better.