What do you think?
Rate this book
A Nearly Perfect Copy
Richly drawn and sharply observed, A Nearly Perfect Copy is a smart, funny, and affecting novel of family and forgery that brilliantly conjures the rarified international art world.
Elmira Howells has a loving family and a distinguished career at an elite Manhattan auction house. But after a tragic loss throws her into emotional crisis, she pursues a reckless course of action that jeopardizes her personal and professional success. Meanwhile, talented artist Gabriel Connois wearies of remaining at the margins of the capricious Parisian art scene. Desperate for recognition, he embarks on a scheme that threatens everything he’s worked for. As these narratives converge, with disastrous consequences, A Nearly Perfect Copy boldly challenges our presumptions about originality and authenticity, loss and replacement, and the perilous pursuit of perfection.
Elmira Howells has a loving family and a distinguished career at an elite Manhattan auction house. But after a tragic loss throws her into emotional crisis, she pursues a reckless course of action that jeopardizes her personal and professional success. Meanwhile, talented artist Gabriel Connois wearies of remaining at the margins of the capricious Parisian art scene. Desperate for recognition, he embarks on a scheme that threatens everything he’s worked for. As these narratives converge, with disastrous consequences, A Nearly Perfect Copy boldly challenges our presumptions about originality and authenticity, loss and replacement, and the perilous pursuit of perfection.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
33 people are currently reading
1269 people want to read
About the author
Allison Amend
11 books125 followersAllison Amend was born in Chicago on a day when the Cubs beat the Mets 2-0. She attended Stanford University and holds an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop. Her work has received awards from and appeared in One Story, Black Warrior Review, StoryQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, the Atlantic Monthly, Prairie Schooner and Other Voices, among other publications. Her debut short story collection, Things That Pass for Love, was published in October 2008 by OV Books. Visit her on the web at www.allisonamend.com."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews
March 6, 2013
This is the kind of book you have to keep reading because you need to know what happens to these characters. I couldn't put the book down in case the characters made a decision without me. A Nearly Perfect Copy transported me to New York and France while darting into and out of the art and auction worlds, in pursuit of acceptance, reclaimed losses, and fame, if not money.
Elmira: heartbroken over the loss of her son - going through the motions at her job at her extended family's auction house, parenting her remaining daughter, still loving her husband. She is an expert in prints and drawings for Tinsley's auction house, yet can't focus on her job after the loss of her son in the Christmas tsunami some years back. Her remaining daughter, Moira, and her beleaguered husband, Colin, carry on the motions despite the gaping hole in their family. What would she do or give to make her family whole again?
Gabriel: decended from an old master artist, graduate of prestigious French art school, aging past the struggling artist demographic and heading toward middle age without commercial or critical success. He has yet to find his style as an artist, yet his ability to mimic other styles opens a few doors for him to make some money. Is the payday worth it?
The book is a vivid portrait of a family in crisis, of an artist in flux, and of a storm brewing that connects them all. I loved learning more about the auction and art worlds in intricate detail.
Elmira: heartbroken over the loss of her son - going through the motions at her job at her extended family's auction house, parenting her remaining daughter, still loving her husband. She is an expert in prints and drawings for Tinsley's auction house, yet can't focus on her job after the loss of her son in the Christmas tsunami some years back. Her remaining daughter, Moira, and her beleaguered husband, Colin, carry on the motions despite the gaping hole in their family. What would she do or give to make her family whole again?
Gabriel: decended from an old master artist, graduate of prestigious French art school, aging past the struggling artist demographic and heading toward middle age without commercial or critical success. He has yet to find his style as an artist, yet his ability to mimic other styles opens a few doors for him to make some money. Is the payday worth it?
The book is a vivid portrait of a family in crisis, of an artist in flux, and of a storm brewing that connects them all. I loved learning more about the auction and art worlds in intricate detail.
June 4, 2013
Here's my review from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, which you can find here: http://bit.ly/17ltKNi
--
Allison Amend's A Nearly Perfect Copy is, as the jacket copy states, "an affecting novel of family and forgery set amid the rarified international art world." Ms. Amend is a Chicago native and a graduate of the Iowa Writer's workshop. A Nearly Perfect Copy is her third book, after a story collection and the 2010 novel Stations West.
If you're like me, when a book's description promises an affecting novel about family, and the author has an MFA from Iowa, you feel like you know what you're going to get before you've even cracked it open and read the first sentence. This is going to be a quiet novel. It's going to have pretty sentences, well-drawn characters, not a lot of plot. It might prove to be touching in the end, but it will likely be boring in places, too. It takes Ms. Amend exactly one chapter to defy those low expectations, and less than a hundred pages to lay them to waste completely.
Elmira Howells, Elm for short, is the head of the drawings and etchings department at her family's Manhattan auction house. Gabriel Connois, a Spaniard living in Paris and a descendant of the great painter who shares his surname, is still slaving as a gallery assistant fifteen years after completing his studies at the prestigious Ecole Academy. The action of the novel shifts back and forth between New York and Paris. Other characters include Elm's gay best friend Ian, an ambitious auction house employee named Collette who becomes Gabriel's love interest and for a time seems to be the only link between the two storylines, a mysterious art dealer named Augustus Klinmann, and a host of other vivid characters.
In that first chapter, Elm and her husband Colin head to a dinner party. By now we've learned that they lost their son Ronan in tragic circumstances, and the loss is affecting Elm's work as well as their marriage. The party takes place in the apartment of a rich couple with an amazing collection of modern art hung on their walls, as well as a strangely out-of-place portrait of a dog. The party's host catches Elm looking at the pet art, and it comes out that the couple is planning to clone and reincarnate their beloved and recently deceased dog Dishoo. "Crazy as fucking loons, the rich are," says Colin on the car ride home.
And yet the seed has been planted. The cloned dog, the possibility of pet cloning, isn't something we expect to find in the quiet, technically proficient yet somehow lifeless work of Iowa graduates. And of course the detail brings up an interesting possibility. If it's possible to clone a dead dog, then why not a dead son? The possibility that Ms. Amend's story would end in a plot twist where we meet Dishoo and Elm sets off on some crazy quest to reincarnate Ronan was enough to keep me reading.
After it was revealed in the second cycle of chapters that Ronan died in the Tsunami (yup, "the" Tsunami, capital "T"), I was tempted for a moment to toss the book across the room. Too fantastic, I thought, too over-the-top, too improbable, nearly a cliche. But if you're going to kill a character off, why not do it big? And really, isn't divulging the details of the tragedy early on a gutsy choice, especially when withholding those details can be so easily used to maintain suspense? And wouldn't you rather read about a Tsunami than another car accident or a rare blood disorder or some form of cancer? That's a good question for readers to ask themselves before picking this one up. If you answer Tsunami, then Ms. Amend has written the book for you. If you'd prefer cancer, then you'll have to look elsewhere.
Style points aside (Ms. Amend gets them from me), the Tsunami scenes gripped and moved me. Even more, they surprised me. I hadn't expected to encounter such blunt, brutal writing in this book. By the end of that chapter, I had surrendered to the book completely. When Elm set off on her crazy cloning mission only a few pages later, and a good two-hundred pages earlier than I thought she might, I was willing to follow Ms. Amend anywhere.
I've focused here on Elm's half of the story, but the section's involving Gabriel are also quite entertaining, if a bit less surprising. As someone who's struggled to "make art", who went to an art school of a sort, who's watched friend's artistic successes with, how shall we put it, a smidge of natural jealously, I found much of Gabriel's obsessing to be quite funny and also to ring true, although the constant onslaught of interiority and the complete inability to take any joy at all from life after a few professional disappointments got a little grating at times.
I loved the many of the secondary characters here, loved the neat trick Ms. Amend pulled off of showing us how Klinmann or Colette might appear very differently when either Gabriel or Elm was seeing them. I thought the two storylines combined nicely at the end.
As an aside, this is the second book I've read this month featuring a secondary named Didier. The other is Rachel Kushner's The Flamethower's. In both books the Didiers are struggling artists. That's not where the similarities between the two books end, either. Both are set in the art world, both shift between exciting locales, both have an ambitious and somewhat baffled emerging artist at their center. A Nearly Perfect Copy may be somewhat lighter fare than than The Flamethrowers, but Ms. Amend's book will always be the type I prefer.
A Nearly Perfect Copy is everything a reader could ask for in a great summer read. Tons of plot, characters that keep you guessing, international intrigue, an introduction to a fascinating and unknown world where untold millions change hands on a continual basis, an appealingly direct style, and, oh yes, cloning.
--
Allison Amend's A Nearly Perfect Copy is, as the jacket copy states, "an affecting novel of family and forgery set amid the rarified international art world." Ms. Amend is a Chicago native and a graduate of the Iowa Writer's workshop. A Nearly Perfect Copy is her third book, after a story collection and the 2010 novel Stations West.
If you're like me, when a book's description promises an affecting novel about family, and the author has an MFA from Iowa, you feel like you know what you're going to get before you've even cracked it open and read the first sentence. This is going to be a quiet novel. It's going to have pretty sentences, well-drawn characters, not a lot of plot. It might prove to be touching in the end, but it will likely be boring in places, too. It takes Ms. Amend exactly one chapter to defy those low expectations, and less than a hundred pages to lay them to waste completely.
Elmira Howells, Elm for short, is the head of the drawings and etchings department at her family's Manhattan auction house. Gabriel Connois, a Spaniard living in Paris and a descendant of the great painter who shares his surname, is still slaving as a gallery assistant fifteen years after completing his studies at the prestigious Ecole Academy. The action of the novel shifts back and forth between New York and Paris. Other characters include Elm's gay best friend Ian, an ambitious auction house employee named Collette who becomes Gabriel's love interest and for a time seems to be the only link between the two storylines, a mysterious art dealer named Augustus Klinmann, and a host of other vivid characters.
In that first chapter, Elm and her husband Colin head to a dinner party. By now we've learned that they lost their son Ronan in tragic circumstances, and the loss is affecting Elm's work as well as their marriage. The party takes place in the apartment of a rich couple with an amazing collection of modern art hung on their walls, as well as a strangely out-of-place portrait of a dog. The party's host catches Elm looking at the pet art, and it comes out that the couple is planning to clone and reincarnate their beloved and recently deceased dog Dishoo. "Crazy as fucking loons, the rich are," says Colin on the car ride home.
And yet the seed has been planted. The cloned dog, the possibility of pet cloning, isn't something we expect to find in the quiet, technically proficient yet somehow lifeless work of Iowa graduates. And of course the detail brings up an interesting possibility. If it's possible to clone a dead dog, then why not a dead son? The possibility that Ms. Amend's story would end in a plot twist where we meet Dishoo and Elm sets off on some crazy quest to reincarnate Ronan was enough to keep me reading.
After it was revealed in the second cycle of chapters that Ronan died in the Tsunami (yup, "the" Tsunami, capital "T"), I was tempted for a moment to toss the book across the room. Too fantastic, I thought, too over-the-top, too improbable, nearly a cliche. But if you're going to kill a character off, why not do it big? And really, isn't divulging the details of the tragedy early on a gutsy choice, especially when withholding those details can be so easily used to maintain suspense? And wouldn't you rather read about a Tsunami than another car accident or a rare blood disorder or some form of cancer? That's a good question for readers to ask themselves before picking this one up. If you answer Tsunami, then Ms. Amend has written the book for you. If you'd prefer cancer, then you'll have to look elsewhere.
Style points aside (Ms. Amend gets them from me), the Tsunami scenes gripped and moved me. Even more, they surprised me. I hadn't expected to encounter such blunt, brutal writing in this book. By the end of that chapter, I had surrendered to the book completely. When Elm set off on her crazy cloning mission only a few pages later, and a good two-hundred pages earlier than I thought she might, I was willing to follow Ms. Amend anywhere.
I've focused here on Elm's half of the story, but the section's involving Gabriel are also quite entertaining, if a bit less surprising. As someone who's struggled to "make art", who went to an art school of a sort, who's watched friend's artistic successes with, how shall we put it, a smidge of natural jealously, I found much of Gabriel's obsessing to be quite funny and also to ring true, although the constant onslaught of interiority and the complete inability to take any joy at all from life after a few professional disappointments got a little grating at times.
I loved the many of the secondary characters here, loved the neat trick Ms. Amend pulled off of showing us how Klinmann or Colette might appear very differently when either Gabriel or Elm was seeing them. I thought the two storylines combined nicely at the end.
As an aside, this is the second book I've read this month featuring a secondary named Didier. The other is Rachel Kushner's The Flamethower's. In both books the Didiers are struggling artists. That's not where the similarities between the two books end, either. Both are set in the art world, both shift between exciting locales, both have an ambitious and somewhat baffled emerging artist at their center. A Nearly Perfect Copy may be somewhat lighter fare than than The Flamethrowers, but Ms. Amend's book will always be the type I prefer.
A Nearly Perfect Copy is everything a reader could ask for in a great summer read. Tons of plot, characters that keep you guessing, international intrigue, an introduction to a fascinating and unknown world where untold millions change hands on a continual basis, an appealingly direct style, and, oh yes, cloning.
February 26, 2017
I really liked this book. The author has a lot to say about art, Paris, and the ways in which desperate people can go completely off the rails.
April 12, 2013
Just as no two snowflakes are purportedly identical, so do the best forgeries, not to mention the most careful clonings, fall just short of perfection. There's always the tiny telling detail, the waver in the signature, the uncertain provenance, the intrusion of an alien gene, the ethical snag, that gives the lie to the copier, no matter how fine the talent or how meticulous the work. Such is the risky business Allison Amend undertakes in her clever new novel, A Nearly Perfect Copy.
Elmira (Elm) Howells, famous in the trade as the great authenticator, is an expert in nineteenth-century art and a director at the prestigious Tinsley auction house in New York, a firm that bears her great-grandfather’s name but which now (2007) finds itself in financial difficulty. The death of Elm's young son in the Phuket tsunami three years earlier continues to be an obsession she cannot shake. Despite the fact that her husband has come to terms with his grief, and their five-year-old daughter barely remembers her brother, Elm is desperate to re-create her old life. When she learns of a cloning clinic outside Paris, she figures out a way to use her art expertise to finance her pursuit of a new (cloned) pregnancy -- without her family's knowledge. At her age, it's a risky and ethically sketchy business, becoming both the artist and the forger of her own life, but her longing for her dead son is as overpowering as the tsunami that killed him.
At the same time, in Paris, Gabriel Connois, the great-great grandson of the successful nineteenth-century Catalan painter Marcel Connois, founder of the Impressionist Hiverains School and a contemporary of Degas, is floundering. Talented but no longer young, he is tired of being a starving artist and cultural outsider while his peers are gaining recognition. His ambitious girlfriend, Colette, who works in the Paris branch of Tinsley's, introduces him to Augustus Klinman, a British dealer who supplies art to luxury hotels all over Europe, explaining the provenance of his paintings as recently recovered canvases stolen from Jews by the Nazis, the sale of which goes toward reparations for their descendants. After all, he tells Gabriel, "What's the real value of this piece? Some pulped rags, a little ink … Why should it be valueless if one person drew it and worth millions if another did? The picture didn't change." A brilliant copier, Gabriel begins turning out not only Piranesis and Canalettos, but excellent reproductions of the work of his celebrated ancestor. His career flourishes, even as he betrays everything he believes makes a true artist.
Hoping to recover what they've lost and what they believe they deserve, Elm and Gabriel become inextricably involved in a scheme that rattles the insular art world. But just as Gabriel's gift, his "cunning hand," is also his curse, so does Elm's perfect "eye," her infallible ability to tell a forgery from an original, become the ironic instrument in the ruin of everything she holds dear. Thus does Amend challenge our assumptions about originality and authenticity, the urge to verify that which is unverifiable, to recover what is unrecoverable. "Line them up, bang them out, pocket the cash," Klinman tells Gabriel, and woe to those who do.
Head to www.EverydayeBook.com for more eBook reviews
Elmira (Elm) Howells, famous in the trade as the great authenticator, is an expert in nineteenth-century art and a director at the prestigious Tinsley auction house in New York, a firm that bears her great-grandfather’s name but which now (2007) finds itself in financial difficulty. The death of Elm's young son in the Phuket tsunami three years earlier continues to be an obsession she cannot shake. Despite the fact that her husband has come to terms with his grief, and their five-year-old daughter barely remembers her brother, Elm is desperate to re-create her old life. When she learns of a cloning clinic outside Paris, she figures out a way to use her art expertise to finance her pursuit of a new (cloned) pregnancy -- without her family's knowledge. At her age, it's a risky and ethically sketchy business, becoming both the artist and the forger of her own life, but her longing for her dead son is as overpowering as the tsunami that killed him.
At the same time, in Paris, Gabriel Connois, the great-great grandson of the successful nineteenth-century Catalan painter Marcel Connois, founder of the Impressionist Hiverains School and a contemporary of Degas, is floundering. Talented but no longer young, he is tired of being a starving artist and cultural outsider while his peers are gaining recognition. His ambitious girlfriend, Colette, who works in the Paris branch of Tinsley's, introduces him to Augustus Klinman, a British dealer who supplies art to luxury hotels all over Europe, explaining the provenance of his paintings as recently recovered canvases stolen from Jews by the Nazis, the sale of which goes toward reparations for their descendants. After all, he tells Gabriel, "What's the real value of this piece? Some pulped rags, a little ink … Why should it be valueless if one person drew it and worth millions if another did? The picture didn't change." A brilliant copier, Gabriel begins turning out not only Piranesis and Canalettos, but excellent reproductions of the work of his celebrated ancestor. His career flourishes, even as he betrays everything he believes makes a true artist.
Hoping to recover what they've lost and what they believe they deserve, Elm and Gabriel become inextricably involved in a scheme that rattles the insular art world. But just as Gabriel's gift, his "cunning hand," is also his curse, so does Elm's perfect "eye," her infallible ability to tell a forgery from an original, become the ironic instrument in the ruin of everything she holds dear. Thus does Amend challenge our assumptions about originality and authenticity, the urge to verify that which is unverifiable, to recover what is unrecoverable. "Line them up, bang them out, pocket the cash," Klinman tells Gabriel, and woe to those who do.
Head to www.EverydayeBook.com for more eBook reviews
February 13, 2013
A nearly perfect copy is the book about art and life that the Da Vinci Code should have been. I learned a lot about art, and the processes of protecting, creating, collecting and selling art that I never realized before and that was only part of the joy.
Allison Amend has written a novel so good that once you begin reading, you forget about everything else. I was particularly fascinated with her character Elm. This woman has lost so much and struggles throughout the pages with her grief, her responsibilities and the choices she has made. When a bad decision nearly ruins all she holds dear, she must find the strength within herself to move forward.
The other portion of this book deals with a struggling artist who has to face his own demons. The way the author brings their lives together is both impressive and seamless. I didn't want to stop reading this even when the book was over. It saddened me a bit when I had to put it down and move on to another book.
What impressed me the most about this, is that usually third person point of view can feel a little impersonal, but that was not the case with this book. The ability for the reader to see Through the eyes of two main characters gives this work a much more rounded and complete feel than one usually gets from this POV.
The writing style of this author makes the dialogue of every other book look bad. Her conversations are refreshingly real and make you feel almost guilty, as if you are listening in on someone's private business. It was delicious and enticing!
If you love history, art and books that make you forget yourself, you will want to read this novel.
Allison Amend has written a novel so good that once you begin reading, you forget about everything else. I was particularly fascinated with her character Elm. This woman has lost so much and struggles throughout the pages with her grief, her responsibilities and the choices she has made. When a bad decision nearly ruins all she holds dear, she must find the strength within herself to move forward.
The other portion of this book deals with a struggling artist who has to face his own demons. The way the author brings their lives together is both impressive and seamless. I didn't want to stop reading this even when the book was over. It saddened me a bit when I had to put it down and move on to another book.
What impressed me the most about this, is that usually third person point of view can feel a little impersonal, but that was not the case with this book. The ability for the reader to see Through the eyes of two main characters gives this work a much more rounded and complete feel than one usually gets from this POV.
The writing style of this author makes the dialogue of every other book look bad. Her conversations are refreshingly real and make you feel almost guilty, as if you are listening in on someone's private business. It was delicious and enticing!
If you love history, art and books that make you forget yourself, you will want to read this novel.
July 13, 2013
(contains spoilers!) I pretty much figured out the plot of the book from the title and the blurb inside the dust jacket. I read about a third of it, then skipped to the end because the author lost me when she had the cause of Ronan's death be from the tsunami in Thailand. I mean, come on-can't you come up with an original cause of death?? and I didn't like that Elm was so focused on her loss of Ronan that she practically ignored her surviving child. And the cloning idea-doesn't any intelligent person read up about it? that cloning doesn't guarantee the product will be exactly the same inside-just outside? and you'd risk the clone dying an early death (as the husband points out)? Who sets themselves up for that kind of wrenching trauma? When I skipped to the end and found that the new kid looked just like Ronan but was different in behavior, I felt sorry for the kid-his mother is going to expect him to be just like Ronan instead of appreciating him for himself. It would have been easier to accept his death and just get pregnant again and take what you're given.
I'm also not interested in the art world, so I wasn't impressed with the French angle (I found those people annoying), plus the forgery stuff was ludicrous-someone always finds out eventually.
The only good thing I can say about this is that it was well written-I just wish the author would have chosen a more believable plot.
I'm also not interested in the art world, so I wasn't impressed with the French angle (I found those people annoying), plus the forgery stuff was ludicrous-someone always finds out eventually.
The only good thing I can say about this is that it was well written-I just wish the author would have chosen a more believable plot.
May 31, 2013
There are so many problems with this book-- I'm hesitant to give it two stars, but I DID finish reading it so it's not a one star book, is it? Where to begin? Unreliable narrators? Imperfect grasp of science? Adult artists who seem almost delusional in their naïveté about art? Art forgery rings that act like morons yet get away with it? And, suddenly, cloning? Or IS it cloning or just a hideously demented character who acts with all the insight into herself and respect for life of, say, a praying mantis?
And then, just to top it off, the "slutty" woman triumphs in business while the "maternal" one is contentedly trundled off to a distant land to helicopter parent another child. And the idiot artist is totally groovy with life because, wow, HE gets someone pregnant. I'm a breeder, but it was such a facile way to tackle the complicated nuances of parenting and self-fulfillment. Come to think of it, it IS a one star book for me.
It should have been a murder mystery, one where both the main characters ended up dead.
And then, just to top it off, the "slutty" woman triumphs in business while the "maternal" one is contentedly trundled off to a distant land to helicopter parent another child. And the idiot artist is totally groovy with life because, wow, HE gets someone pregnant. I'm a breeder, but it was such a facile way to tackle the complicated nuances of parenting and self-fulfillment. Come to think of it, it IS a one star book for me.
It should have been a murder mystery, one where both the main characters ended up dead.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2013
I don't know whether it was the art forgery, the loss of a child or the ignorance of the characters that made this such a difficult read. None of the characters were endearing or even likable. It was painful to read.
September 22, 2013
This is a nearly perfect book. It's beautifully written and meticulously researched with an original and intriguing hook--the snobby, greedy, rarified art world meets modern medical science. I read it in two days, unable to put it down.
So what little detail, what small discomfort--or as the main character and art expert Elm calls it, intuition--makes A Nearly Perfect Copy in the end feel like a fake?
It's all in the details. Amend is a great writer, but she strives for literary seriousness when she's writing a potboiler (a word I use with respect and admiration) and the effect is as jarring as a "genuine" Renoir sketch of an iPhone. The story is excellent, but the ending falls flat as she abandons the shock and awe we're waiting for (the main character has gone and done what?!?! ; well then by all means, run with it!) to give us quiet literary serenity. Her characters are heartfelt and beautifully drawn, but only gay assistant Ian breaks out of depressive mode and gets to actually be funny. Amend sets up a lovely villain in Colette the interloper, then pushes her aside before we can hate her to our fullest satisfaction. Heck, if there's a sassy gay assistant and a beautiful, sex-addict villain, then let's at least have some fun. If Dan Brown had a crack at editing A Nearly Perfect Copy, I think he could have steered it right.
That's not to say that A Nearly Perfect Copy isn't absolutely worth a read. But I hope that Ms. Amend will lose the ambition to copy the works and styles of the literati and let lose her incredible talent to write the page-turner thriller that's striving to break free. That's no small feat--and not one of which many literary writers are capable. It may not end up in the Louvres of the book world (i.e., National Book Awards, Pulitzer, NYTimes...), but it'll get her the devoted following that she so deserves.
So what little detail, what small discomfort--or as the main character and art expert Elm calls it, intuition--makes A Nearly Perfect Copy in the end feel like a fake?
It's all in the details. Amend is a great writer, but she strives for literary seriousness when she's writing a potboiler (a word I use with respect and admiration) and the effect is as jarring as a "genuine" Renoir sketch of an iPhone. The story is excellent, but the ending falls flat as she abandons the shock and awe we're waiting for (the main character has gone and done what?!?! ; well then by all means, run with it!) to give us quiet literary serenity. Her characters are heartfelt and beautifully drawn, but only gay assistant Ian breaks out of depressive mode and gets to actually be funny. Amend sets up a lovely villain in Colette the interloper, then pushes her aside before we can hate her to our fullest satisfaction. Heck, if there's a sassy gay assistant and a beautiful, sex-addict villain, then let's at least have some fun. If Dan Brown had a crack at editing A Nearly Perfect Copy, I think he could have steered it right.
That's not to say that A Nearly Perfect Copy isn't absolutely worth a read. But I hope that Ms. Amend will lose the ambition to copy the works and styles of the literati and let lose her incredible talent to write the page-turner thriller that's striving to break free. That's no small feat--and not one of which many literary writers are capable. It may not end up in the Louvres of the book world (i.e., National Book Awards, Pulitzer, NYTimes...), but it'll get her the devoted following that she so deserves.
January 14, 2013
I love a novel that is immersive, that pulls you into a world and its characters, and A NEARLY PERFECT COPY does just that. While reading the book, I felt as if I were really in it, and when I was away from it, I still felt its echoes, would find myself considering these characters as if they were people I knew.
The novel features two intertwined narratives: there is Elm (short for Elmira), a New York City-based woman who works for her family's prestigious art auction house, and is mourning the death of her young son Ronan. Half a world away in Paris, Gabriel is a struggling, no-longer-young artist who also happens to be the descendant of the great painter Connois. Gabriel's gift is also his curse: his "cunning hand" allows him to mimic the masters (his great grandfather in particular) but prevents him from honing his own style. I don't wish to give away too much of the plot, but will only say that how his and Elm's stories intersect forms the heart of this deeply engrossing novel. It’s a story of longing, deception, and shifting morality.
One of my favorite aspects of A NEARLY PERFECT COPY is how much I learned about the art world while reading. Amend creates a fascinating landscape here, following the work as it travels from the struggling contemporary artist, through acquisition, forgery detection, and auction. I was swept up in this world, and thoroughly enjoyed the journey. Like any good work of art, A NEARLY PERFECT COPY engaged with my emotions, and kept me thinking long after I left it.
The novel features two intertwined narratives: there is Elm (short for Elmira), a New York City-based woman who works for her family's prestigious art auction house, and is mourning the death of her young son Ronan. Half a world away in Paris, Gabriel is a struggling, no-longer-young artist who also happens to be the descendant of the great painter Connois. Gabriel's gift is also his curse: his "cunning hand" allows him to mimic the masters (his great grandfather in particular) but prevents him from honing his own style. I don't wish to give away too much of the plot, but will only say that how his and Elm's stories intersect forms the heart of this deeply engrossing novel. It’s a story of longing, deception, and shifting morality.
One of my favorite aspects of A NEARLY PERFECT COPY is how much I learned about the art world while reading. Amend creates a fascinating landscape here, following the work as it travels from the struggling contemporary artist, through acquisition, forgery detection, and auction. I was swept up in this world, and thoroughly enjoyed the journey. Like any good work of art, A NEARLY PERFECT COPY engaged with my emotions, and kept me thinking long after I left it.
March 7, 2013
Heartbreak and Art Forgery
Although Elm Howells has a respected place in the art world and a career as a director at a distinguished auction house, she hasn't been able to concentrate on her job, or anything else, since the death of her son. She desperately wants to have him back, or replace him. Gabriel Cannois is a talented artist, but he's been unable to achieve the recognition he craves from the Paris art world. When you're ambitious and at the bottom even forgery sounds promising.
The characters in this novel are very introspective. It's really more of a character study than a mystery. In fact, they are so introspective that the book sometimes becomes rather boring. After a certain point, I got tired of Elm being unable to concentrate because she misses her dead son. Personally, I found Gabriel a more sympathetic character. He wants acclaim so badly he's blind to how he could be damaging himself.
This book is well written, but it's a slow read. The background is detailed and gives a good picture of the art world these characters live in. If you enjoy character studies, you may enjoy this book. If you're looking for a mystery, give it a miss.
I reviewed this book for the Amazon Vine Program.
Although Elm Howells has a respected place in the art world and a career as a director at a distinguished auction house, she hasn't been able to concentrate on her job, or anything else, since the death of her son. She desperately wants to have him back, or replace him. Gabriel Cannois is a talented artist, but he's been unable to achieve the recognition he craves from the Paris art world. When you're ambitious and at the bottom even forgery sounds promising.
The characters in this novel are very introspective. It's really more of a character study than a mystery. In fact, they are so introspective that the book sometimes becomes rather boring. After a certain point, I got tired of Elm being unable to concentrate because she misses her dead son. Personally, I found Gabriel a more sympathetic character. He wants acclaim so badly he's blind to how he could be damaging himself.
This book is well written, but it's a slow read. The background is detailed and gives a good picture of the art world these characters live in. If you enjoy character studies, you may enjoy this book. If you're looking for a mystery, give it a miss.
I reviewed this book for the Amazon Vine Program.
March 4, 2013
Though the unique combination of art forgery and cloning had huge potential, the story could have been so much better had the characters actions not been so incredibly selfish and unbelievable. bookxray.blogspot.com
A First Reads win.
A First Reads win.
March 25, 2018
It was okay; I might not have finished it if it wasn't for book club. I didn't like either the superficial and self-centered main characters, so it was hard to care about the plot. I couldn't decide for much of the book whether the author intended to have the characters be flat because they were part of the superficial art world or whether the writing was just flat.
May 5, 2013
I started this book and was not impressed, but decided to give it the 50-page test. I'm glad I did! It was an amazing book about two people, worlds away; the art world, forgeries, and intrigue. Couldn't put it down.
May 23, 2013
I enjoyed reading about the art world and the techniques involved in creating forgeries, but hated the choices that the main characters made. Have to say the cover of this book made me pick it up and bring it home.
March 16, 2014
A few questions left unanswered, a few gaps needing to be filled in left me a bit frustrated with the ending as I had thought it was written well until then. Plus, does anyone else wonder if it worked with the dog?? Those of you who've read the book will know what I mean ... !
May 8, 2013
I just couldn't like either of the protagonists, Elm and Gabriel. The story just didn't grab me like I was hoping - France, the art world, cloning all mixed together had potential.
May 29, 2013
The characters, Elm and Gabriel, do not live up to the symbology of their names nor do they grow or take responsibility at any point in the narrative.
August 23, 2015
Only read 2 chapters. Didn't like writing style at all.
March 4, 2018
Elmira (Elm) is the great-granddaughter of a New York auction house founder. She has “the eye,” the ability to spot a master’s work and, perhaps more importantly, the maybes and the fakes. She writes a fantastic catalog entry, but the business end of art leaves her bored, and office politics are beyond her. Add to that the clouding of her “eye” and the cooling of her marriage after losing her son in a freak accident the year before.
Gabriel is the great-grandson of a famous Spanish painter, whose surname he borrows. After years of painting, his greatest accomplishment is copying one of his ancestor’s works well enough to fool his mother (and sell the original to pay for art school). Two decades he’s been in France, never quite getting the hang of the language or the culture, never quite finding his own artistic voice, and never making enough money to afford proper dates or new clothes or his own space to live and make his art.
Two characters, both just the other side of forty, and both not quite living up to their potential. Both working in the pre-Great Recession art world, when money was still plentiful, data bases were just being set up, CSI techniques weren’t omnipresent, and enough art stolen or hidden during WWII was floating around that new works by the masters could still be discovered. Or faked. These two are bound to meet; it’s just a matter of where and how.
Much money changes hands and ethics are set aside as Elm and Gabriel pursue making their nearly perfect copies. The outright criminals profit handsomely and get away, while Elm and Gabriel lose long-term friends and business associates. Yet, there’s a Seinfeldian quality to them – no hugging, and no learning. Given a do-over, the impression is they’d both make the same, bad choices all over again.
The writing is beautiful, full of quotable lines, and the characters leave the page to wander around inside the reader’s noggin – five-star stuff. But the novel feels like it should have a cathartic ending, and it doesn’t.
Gabriel is the great-grandson of a famous Spanish painter, whose surname he borrows. After years of painting, his greatest accomplishment is copying one of his ancestor’s works well enough to fool his mother (and sell the original to pay for art school). Two decades he’s been in France, never quite getting the hang of the language or the culture, never quite finding his own artistic voice, and never making enough money to afford proper dates or new clothes or his own space to live and make his art.
Two characters, both just the other side of forty, and both not quite living up to their potential. Both working in the pre-Great Recession art world, when money was still plentiful, data bases were just being set up, CSI techniques weren’t omnipresent, and enough art stolen or hidden during WWII was floating around that new works by the masters could still be discovered. Or faked. These two are bound to meet; it’s just a matter of where and how.
Much money changes hands and ethics are set aside as Elm and Gabriel pursue making their nearly perfect copies. The outright criminals profit handsomely and get away, while Elm and Gabriel lose long-term friends and business associates. Yet, there’s a Seinfeldian quality to them – no hugging, and no learning. Given a do-over, the impression is they’d both make the same, bad choices all over again.
The writing is beautiful, full of quotable lines, and the characters leave the page to wander around inside the reader’s noggin – five-star stuff. But the novel feels like it should have a cathartic ending, and it doesn’t.
October 2, 2019
Someone else's review of her book. I found it an interesting read while on vacation to our beautiful National Parks. I sat on the 3rd floor balcony of the Old Faithful Inn reading by the glow of the fireplace below me.
"Elm Howells has a loving family and a distinguished career at an elite Manhattan art auction house. But after a tragic loss throws her into an emotional crisis, she pursues a reckless course of action that jeopardizes her personal and professional success. Meanwhile, talented artist Gabriel Connois wearies of remaining at the margins of the capricious Parisian art scene. Desperate for recognition, he embarks on a scheme that threatens his burgeoning reputation. As these narratives converge, with disastrous consequences, A Nearly Perfect Copy boldly challenges our presumptions about originality and authenticity, loss and replacement, and the perilous pursuit of perfection."
"Elm Howells has a loving family and a distinguished career at an elite Manhattan art auction house. But after a tragic loss throws her into an emotional crisis, she pursues a reckless course of action that jeopardizes her personal and professional success. Meanwhile, talented artist Gabriel Connois wearies of remaining at the margins of the capricious Parisian art scene. Desperate for recognition, he embarks on a scheme that threatens his burgeoning reputation. As these narratives converge, with disastrous consequences, A Nearly Perfect Copy boldly challenges our presumptions about originality and authenticity, loss and replacement, and the perilous pursuit of perfection."
January 7, 2019
I picked this up randomly at a second hand store and even as I bought I thought “am I ever going to read this? Is it just going to sit on the shelf?”
It sat there for about 5 weeks before i gave it a try. I’m so glad I did. I really enjoyed this book and hope to find more from this author soon.
Big points for originality and for creating two completely different characters whose lives are both well expressed and interesting. I was fascinated by the the way things came together and evolved.
It sat there for about 5 weeks before i gave it a try. I’m so glad I did. I really enjoyed this book and hope to find more from this author soon.
Big points for originality and for creating two completely different characters whose lives are both well expressed and interesting. I was fascinated by the the way things came together and evolved.
February 28, 2022
I really loved this book! It was brilliantly written, the characters were flawed but endearing, the art world setting between Paris & Manhattan delightful, & the story unique & gripping. From the broken-hearted woman who lost her son & doesn’t know how to recover from it, who decides to clone the child & in the process loses everything important to her, to the talented but desperate artist who will do anything for glory & recognition, this book is powerful & captivating. A great read!
August 31, 2018
I really enjoyed this book. I felt the characters were well developed and it didn’t make any excuses for why they made the decisions they did. I enjoyed the parallels between the two main characters and how their “copy” was similar yet different.
February 22, 2022
Engrossing
July 25, 2025
Dnf sadly…
June 26, 2025
"A smart page turner ... Amend creates very real characters who live in a very unreal world. This is a wonderfully witty and stylish novel, perfect for the summer." —Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune
"Amend tells an absorbing story of believable characters walking a tightrope of ethical dilemma and despair ... Artistic and beautiful." —St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"A well-crafted and introspective novel that will provide fodder for thoughtful discussions on morality and integrity." —Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
"[A] fast-paced, intriguing novel." —People
"Clever, wry ... Amend makes her characters immediately real, depicting their complicated desires and decisions in a highly enjoyable, nearly perfect novel." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Amend creates suspense by charting in wincing detail Elm’s and Gabriel’s progress through ethically gray areas in the art market to unquestionably illegal acts ... Well-wrought ... the author meticulously delineates [her characters’] yearnings and frustrations ... Cleverly rendered.” —The Washington Post
"[Written] with supple command, caustic wit, and a deep fascination with decent people who lose their moral compass ... As Amend tracks the descent of her two wounded and alienated innocents into lies, desperation, and crime, her visual acuity, fluent psychology, venture into the shadow side of the art world, and storytelling verve make for a blue-chip novel of substance and suspense."
—Booklist
"Something very real comes out of the many layers of forgery in Allison Amend's brainy intrigue of the shadowy side of the art world. Provenance is earned in more than the expected ways! A Nearly Perfect Copy is a captivating story." —Ron Carlson, author of The Signal
"Allison Amend is a gifted storyteller—no, more than gifted. Her writing is powerful enough to create its own kind of weather. Her characters are so real it's as if you could reach between the pages and shake hands with them." —Hannah Tinti, author of The Good Thief
"A fast-paced, lively novel of forgery ... Amend provides a fizzy, entertaining insider's look at the conjunction of visual art and commerce—especially the world of art auctions ... Her exploration of the ethics and the mechanics of the art world provide charm and enjoyment ... A provocative and likable read." —Kirkus Reviews
"Amend’s talent is on full display as these smart, complex narratives dance around each other, each capturing the reader’s imagination without ever detracting from the other story. Although she’s received critical acclaim for her work in a number of literary publications and for her historical novel, Stations West, this finely rendered portrait of two lives should introduce Amend to a wider audience." —BookPage
"[An] intricate, witty page-turner." —Stanford Magazine
"Amend tells an absorbing story of believable characters walking a tightrope of ethical dilemma and despair ... Artistic and beautiful." —St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"A well-crafted and introspective novel that will provide fodder for thoughtful discussions on morality and integrity." —Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
"[A] fast-paced, intriguing novel." —People
"Clever, wry ... Amend makes her characters immediately real, depicting their complicated desires and decisions in a highly enjoyable, nearly perfect novel." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Amend creates suspense by charting in wincing detail Elm’s and Gabriel’s progress through ethically gray areas in the art market to unquestionably illegal acts ... Well-wrought ... the author meticulously delineates [her characters’] yearnings and frustrations ... Cleverly rendered.” —The Washington Post
"[Written] with supple command, caustic wit, and a deep fascination with decent people who lose their moral compass ... As Amend tracks the descent of her two wounded and alienated innocents into lies, desperation, and crime, her visual acuity, fluent psychology, venture into the shadow side of the art world, and storytelling verve make for a blue-chip novel of substance and suspense."
—Booklist
"Something very real comes out of the many layers of forgery in Allison Amend's brainy intrigue of the shadowy side of the art world. Provenance is earned in more than the expected ways! A Nearly Perfect Copy is a captivating story." —Ron Carlson, author of The Signal
"Allison Amend is a gifted storyteller—no, more than gifted. Her writing is powerful enough to create its own kind of weather. Her characters are so real it's as if you could reach between the pages and shake hands with them." —Hannah Tinti, author of The Good Thief
"A fast-paced, lively novel of forgery ... Amend provides a fizzy, entertaining insider's look at the conjunction of visual art and commerce—especially the world of art auctions ... Her exploration of the ethics and the mechanics of the art world provide charm and enjoyment ... A provocative and likable read." —Kirkus Reviews
"Amend’s talent is on full display as these smart, complex narratives dance around each other, each capturing the reader’s imagination without ever detracting from the other story. Although she’s received critical acclaim for her work in a number of literary publications and for her historical novel, Stations West, this finely rendered portrait of two lives should introduce Amend to a wider audience." —BookPage
"[An] intricate, witty page-turner." —Stanford Magazine
December 21, 2013
This is an amazing, enthralling novel. The characters of the two primary protagonists are so carefully and even lovingly developed, that one can reach the final pages and experience an unsettling sense of loss. The novel is about loss, the loss of friendship and professional respect, of a cherished child, the loss of a treasured inheritance, and the loss of moral integrity.
The story, impeccably told, revolves around two people, both involved in the international art world. Elmira Howells works for her family’s Manhattan auction house. She holds a solid reputation as an expert in seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century drawings and prints. Her family house, Tinsleys, is a long-established powerhouse in international art auction activities.
In Paris, a displaced Spanish artist, Gabriel Connois is experiencing yet another disappointment in a promising career as a painter that is going nowhere fast. Ultimately decisions by each of these individuals, though they might never meet or even become aware of each other, will materially alter their lives forever.
Smoothly written with impeccable style, through the careful development of these two characters, we come to deeper understanding of family and motherhood, of tragedy and loss and how sometimes thoughtless and casual decisions can substantively bring one to the edge of legal and ethical ruin. The twisting slippery maze of connection, favors, and political maneuverings of the art world will be revelatory to many, and the perception that the true value of art is so problematical only adds to the depth of this novel.
This is not a novel in which authorities and experts pursue art criminals and blatant forgers. There are no shootouts or mysterious late-night rendezvous. The crimes that take place, the cloning, and the forgeries, are more subtle and harsh blame more difficult to assign. I was not prepared to feel sympathy for Elm Howells, in spite of her loss. She is not, in the end a very sympathetic character, nor is the flailing if talented artist, Gabriel Connois. Yet, in the end, when Elm finally encounters for the first time the artist Gabriel whose work helped bring about her downfall, she realizes that he could never understand—even if he knew—“that she was both the artist and the forger of her own life.”
Readers with the slightest interest in the art world or in family tragedy will find this novel fascinating.
A copy of the work was supplied at no cost.
March 13, 2016
Oh my, OK, maybe 3.5 stars because this novel is really well-written - my complaint is with the story, which I found only reasonably crafted and somewhat ridiculous.
At first, I though this novel only captured my attention because of its references to incidents in Laney Salisbury's Provenance (which I totally loved), but when I subsequently learned that Ms. Amend is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, I thought back about it and I realized how strong her language use and how well shes is able to engage - a brilliant example is when the reader learns of the circumstances of Elm's loss, completely "discovered" and never just "told." Unfortunately other such discoveries are not so easily made and that is where things start to fall short. Once that happens, the absurdity factor kicks in and the book suffers.
We meet Elm and Gabriel, both a flawed, tragic people who are trying to make decisions to improve their lives - some successful and some not. I suppose that both emerge more aware is good - although it seems that these two are never really going to be at peace. To Ms. Amend's credit, she does a great job of making the reader want to care and want to empathize with some pretty unlikable narcissistic people, but she leaves the readers hanging as to how some of the resolution of these lives transpires. It is a bit unsatisfactory to see the end result and lose so much of the process -- especially after having a 9 month span for 90% of the book and then ending with a minimal fast-forward to 4 years later.
The individual stories are a mixed bag - while I found Gabriel's to be plausible, I found Elm's totally absurd. I did buy into the link between our 2 anti-heroes; but much is left dangling and as reader, I felt that there could have been more thorough development of both back story as well as some of the tangential elements that would have rendered the finished product more compelling - and perhaps even more believable in spite of the absurdity of some of plot line.
I would probably give Ms. Amend's another try - I see she has a novel coming out later this year. She is definitely talented, but this effort - while suitable for a plane ride - is maybe not what I would pack for the actual vacation.
At first, I though this novel only captured my attention because of its references to incidents in Laney Salisbury's Provenance (which I totally loved), but when I subsequently learned that Ms. Amend is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, I thought back about it and I realized how strong her language use and how well shes is able to engage - a brilliant example is when the reader learns of the circumstances of Elm's loss, completely "discovered" and never just "told." Unfortunately other such discoveries are not so easily made and that is where things start to fall short. Once that happens, the absurdity factor kicks in and the book suffers.
We meet Elm and Gabriel, both a flawed, tragic people who are trying to make decisions to improve their lives - some successful and some not. I suppose that both emerge more aware is good - although it seems that these two are never really going to be at peace. To Ms. Amend's credit, she does a great job of making the reader want to care and want to empathize with some pretty unlikable narcissistic people, but she leaves the readers hanging as to how some of the resolution of these lives transpires. It is a bit unsatisfactory to see the end result and lose so much of the process -- especially after having a 9 month span for 90% of the book and then ending with a minimal fast-forward to 4 years later.
The individual stories are a mixed bag - while I found Gabriel's to be plausible, I found Elm's totally absurd. I did buy into the link between our 2 anti-heroes; but much is left dangling and as reader, I felt that there could have been more thorough development of both back story as well as some of the tangential elements that would have rendered the finished product more compelling - and perhaps even more believable in spite of the absurdity of some of plot line.
I would probably give Ms. Amend's another try - I see she has a novel coming out later this year. She is definitely talented, but this effort - while suitable for a plane ride - is maybe not what I would pack for the actual vacation.
May 5, 2016
*Disclaimer: I received a copy of A Nearly Perfect Copy from Goodreads giveaway.
Elm Howells works at the auction house that bore her great grandfather’s name, as head of seventeenth- through nineteenth-century drawings and prints. Still reeling from the loss of her son in the tsunami, Elm uncovers a way to use her art expertise to help her cope, not understanding the consequences her choices will have on her marriage, her family, and her career. At the same time, in Europe, Gabriel Connois has all but floundered in the art world. As a former Ecole student, he has the talent and the education to be a premiere artist, but has lacked the opportunity to make a name for himself, and the instinct to understand the business side of the art world. Jumping at a chance to finally earn some money, Gabriel embarks on a plan which goes against everything he believes represents a true artist. Both stories converge, leaving a trail of destruction and grief affecting those closest to Elm and Gabriel.
I loved the plot of A Nearly Perfect Copy, with numerous twists and turns that kept me wondering, “oh no-what else could possibly go wrong?” The book is not lengthy, Amend is succinct in getting the reader to understand and empathize with both Elm and Gabriel. While neither character is particularly likeable, it is easy to see how each has become their own worst enemy, and to feel a little compassion for their respective plights. That being said, some of Elm’s actions are beyond reprehensible, and unbelievable. While comfortable, both Elm and her husband Colin must both work to support the family. Therefore, Elm parting with a six-figure sum without her husband’s knowledge was not realistic.
A Nearly Perfect Copy did get me thinking about the value of striving for perfection, the struggle between dreams to reality and coping with loss. While I had issues with Elm’s character, overall, the book was interesting and I was eager to see the resolution with Elm and Gabriel’s storylines.
Elm Howells works at the auction house that bore her great grandfather’s name, as head of seventeenth- through nineteenth-century drawings and prints. Still reeling from the loss of her son in the tsunami, Elm uncovers a way to use her art expertise to help her cope, not understanding the consequences her choices will have on her marriage, her family, and her career. At the same time, in Europe, Gabriel Connois has all but floundered in the art world. As a former Ecole student, he has the talent and the education to be a premiere artist, but has lacked the opportunity to make a name for himself, and the instinct to understand the business side of the art world. Jumping at a chance to finally earn some money, Gabriel embarks on a plan which goes against everything he believes represents a true artist. Both stories converge, leaving a trail of destruction and grief affecting those closest to Elm and Gabriel.
I loved the plot of A Nearly Perfect Copy, with numerous twists and turns that kept me wondering, “oh no-what else could possibly go wrong?” The book is not lengthy, Amend is succinct in getting the reader to understand and empathize with both Elm and Gabriel. While neither character is particularly likeable, it is easy to see how each has become their own worst enemy, and to feel a little compassion for their respective plights. That being said, some of Elm’s actions are beyond reprehensible, and unbelievable. While comfortable, both Elm and her husband Colin must both work to support the family. Therefore, Elm parting with a six-figure sum without her husband’s knowledge was not realistic.
A Nearly Perfect Copy did get me thinking about the value of striving for perfection, the struggle between dreams to reality and coping with loss. While I had issues with Elm’s character, overall, the book was interesting and I was eager to see the resolution with Elm and Gabriel’s storylines.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews