A thoughtful, well-written, and well-developed novel about the art world that’s an exuberant, satisfying read.
In this mystery/thriller set in New York City, an art restoration consultant stumbles upon clues pointing to his grandfather’s possible association with World War II looting.
Once a Navy intelligence officer, 40ish Julian Peale finds a new job after recovering from shrapnel fire: he works at Medici Studios, a specialized laboratory for art restoration and research. As a restorer, Peale is still an apprentice, but his background in the Navy suits him for other tasks requiring more discretion, such as tracking down smugglers and forgeries. After a sting operation aimed at Russian smugglers goes awry, Peale follows clues to art fairs and auctions. But the trail becomes confusing, riddled with schemes from several fronts. John Saville runs an artists’ collective of young people happy to make some money through such shenanigans as forging works for the Russian market through their Russian landlord and art dealer, who is allied with London art world power couple Simon and Sonja Wilde. Their high-stakes plans rely on one of Saville’s mischief-makers, performance artist Dadaman, who takes his love for pranks a little too far, contributing to the knot Peale seeks to untangle. More important, Peale’s investigation uncovers information about his grandfather’s work as one of the Monuments Men in World War II, who were charged with restoring looted European art. In the process, Peale begins to find himself as a painter. The narrative offers reflections on anarchy, performance, appropriation, and creativity. Writer, editor, journalist, and artist Witham (Piero’s Light, 2014, etc.) provides a fast-paced mystery that’s bolstered by excellent characterizations, a deft back story, and insider knowledge of today’s art world: celebrities conceiving works while others make them; investors barely knowing what they’re buying; and the players hoping to make money or build reputations. Witham shows with admirable lucidity the Wild West nature of the art market, “home to the most unregulated flow of money on the planet after drugs and arms.” Readers also get a glimpse into Peale’s artistic process as he confronts the blank canvas and plays with colors, shapes, and ideas—an approach that provides an alluring contrast to the book’s joke’s-on-you prank artists. Underscored by Peale’s desire to redeem his grandfather’s memory, the narrative has some emotional urgency to go with its cleverness.
A thoughtful, well-written, and well-developed novel about the art world that’s an exuberant, satisfying read.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4808-2434-8
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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