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The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque
The toast of 1893 New York society, the portraitist Piero Piambo has his pick of choice assignments. Acclaimed by his peers and his "betters," he is a fixture in the city's most opulent salons, yet he fears he has sold his soul to arrive there. But then comes a commission unlike any other -- one that will test Piambo's talents, his will...and his sanity. The client is a Mrs. Charbuque, and the offer she makes to the artist is as bizarre and intriguing as it is financially rewarding. Piambo must paint the lady's portrait, and for the service he may name any price. However, though he may question her at length on any topic, he must never look upon his subject. And if the painting ends up a true likeness, his payment will be doubled. With sketchbook in hand and his "model" hidden behind an elegant screen, the artist begins his haunting descent into her life and mind. Carried by her words through a strange childhood in a world of ice -- where she aided an obsessed, perhaps murderous, father in his study of the divine language of snowflakes -- and across a history marked by fame and despair, desire and rage, phantasm and myth, Piambo is alternately seduced and repulsed by the story she has to tell. Yet each session leaves him more determined than ever to unwrap the enigma that is Mrs. Charbuque. But while he struggles to capture in oils the face of a woman he has never seen, a series of horrific and inexplicable deaths rocks the outside city. On street corners, in the alleys off the bustling shopping areas, and between the crumbling tenements, anonymous women are dying, their lifeblood flowing freely like tears from their eyes. And the deeper Piambo is drawn into Mrs. Charbuque's world, the more he begins to suspect that these terrible events, his impossible task, and his odd "benefactress" are somehow intimately connected. An astonishing amalgam of the works of Henry James and Raymond Chandler, Jeffrey Ford's The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque is a rare and rewarding reading experience -- equally satisfying as a hypnotically compelling literary work, a richly atmospheric historical novel, and a page-turning thriller. It will leave an indelible mark.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
33 people are currently reading
1186 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey Ford
238 books508 followersJeffrey Ford is an American writer in the Fantastic genre tradition, although his works have spanned genres including Fantasy, Science Fiction and Mystery. His work is characterized by a sweeping imaginative power, humor, literary allusion, and a fascination with tales told within tales. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he studied with the novelist John Gardner.
He lives in southern New Jersey and teaches writing and literature at Brookdale Community College in Monmouth County. He has also taught at the summer Clarion Workshop for science fiction and fantasy writers in Michigan. He has contributed stories, essays and interviews to various magazines and e-magazines including MSS, Puerto Del Sol, Northwest Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, Argosy, Event Horizon, Infinity Plus, Black Gate and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
He published his first story, "The Casket", in Gardner's literary magazine MSS in 1981 and his first full-length novel, Vanitas, in 1988.
He lives in southern New Jersey and teaches writing and literature at Brookdale Community College in Monmouth County. He has also taught at the summer Clarion Workshop for science fiction and fantasy writers in Michigan. He has contributed stories, essays and interviews to various magazines and e-magazines including MSS, Puerto Del Sol, Northwest Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, Argosy, Event Horizon, Infinity Plus, Black Gate and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
He published his first story, "The Casket", in Gardner's literary magazine MSS in 1981 and his first full-length novel, Vanitas, in 1988.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
June 13, 2020
This is an Uncorrected Proof of the hardcover.
Through this narrative of events, Jeffrey Ford weaves a wonderful thread of mythic and classical allusion, playing and mirroring metaphor, while constructing a mystery in which both the characters and the reader are warned of red herrings. A tale perhaps of redemption, or alternately a delve into the nature of identity or gender, a celebration of wonder that may parody religion while more obviously contemplating the act of creation, the author is too clever to reveal every intention clearly, providing answers or an announcement of purpose without leaving questions for the reader to ponder. This is, after all, in part a mystery, whose meaning may be lost in revealing, but another belief mislaid and forgotten in the telling. In this sense the author leaves us both fulfilled while wanting just a little bit more.
In a piece written for the online journal "Fantastic Metropolis", Jeffrey Ford describes the inspiration for his novel, "The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque". He tells of the sociology of modern art the effects of photography on the prestige of portrait painting and the new tension of art as the product of individual inspiration versus art as commissioned representation. But Ford cites an unexpected, additional inspiration: two bits of lore surrounding Emily Dickinson. The first was her habit of sitting behind a screen when people visited and, second, was that her friend Mabel Loomis Todd claimed to know “Emily her entire life but only actually saw her in her coffin.” When Ford looked to confirm this anecdote for a lecture, he found no reference to it. That this Dickenson lore may be only that, and that the second anecdote may be only the product of Ford’s imagination, sets the tone for the strangeness, the ineffability of this novel. Nothing in this novel is certain its genre, its twists and turns.
As in his previous works, Ford has his protagonist begin the search for perfection, for a state of paradise, with no sure path to success. Piambo discovers that he is not the first to attempt this portrait, that his master also attempted the commission. However, both Sabbott and Shenz keep Piambo on track because they have faith that he can somehow put together the puzzle. Counterpoint to this is the murderous Mr Charbuque, on the run from the police, suspected of murder, and who jealously guards his wife, threatening Piambo all the while. The altar scene depicting the Garden of Eden is appropriate with its denizens as once again Ford denies us the chance to re-enter it. We are permanently cast out and no amount of reaching towards it will afford us re-entry, we can but enjoy our earthly delights and comforts.
Jeffrey Ford: "One of the ideas I wanted to explore in this novel was how characters are created in the reader’s mind when reading a novel. We sit and read a good book, and these characters, as real as anyone we know, spring up from the writing and inhabit our minds. We follow them, we know them, and we are upset when the writer is not true to them. A character can easily be formed in a readers mind with no physical description at all. Merely the dialogue of a given character, the manner in which he or she holds a cigarette, what they do in a given situation, forms an image. We don’t need to be told about hair color, the width of the nose, the hue of the eyes, to form an image. In Mrs. Charbuque, the character of Piambo is never physically described, and yet it is no problem for the reader to see him, yet Mrs. Charbuque, who tells more about her life and self than even Piambo, is murky at best. Readers have told me they can not get a clear view of her or if they do it keeps mutating, shifting. In studying the phenomenon of how and when images of characters are formed in the imagination from strings of words, I learned a few tricks. These I employed in order to block the reader’s view of the woman behind the screen even though as much information about her is given as for those the reader readily sees."
The book is A fable, a nightmare, a vision, a mystery.
Through this narrative of events, Jeffrey Ford weaves a wonderful thread of mythic and classical allusion, playing and mirroring metaphor, while constructing a mystery in which both the characters and the reader are warned of red herrings. A tale perhaps of redemption, or alternately a delve into the nature of identity or gender, a celebration of wonder that may parody religion while more obviously contemplating the act of creation, the author is too clever to reveal every intention clearly, providing answers or an announcement of purpose without leaving questions for the reader to ponder. This is, after all, in part a mystery, whose meaning may be lost in revealing, but another belief mislaid and forgotten in the telling. In this sense the author leaves us both fulfilled while wanting just a little bit more.
In a piece written for the online journal "Fantastic Metropolis", Jeffrey Ford describes the inspiration for his novel, "The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque". He tells of the sociology of modern art the effects of photography on the prestige of portrait painting and the new tension of art as the product of individual inspiration versus art as commissioned representation. But Ford cites an unexpected, additional inspiration: two bits of lore surrounding Emily Dickinson. The first was her habit of sitting behind a screen when people visited and, second, was that her friend Mabel Loomis Todd claimed to know “Emily her entire life but only actually saw her in her coffin.” When Ford looked to confirm this anecdote for a lecture, he found no reference to it. That this Dickenson lore may be only that, and that the second anecdote may be only the product of Ford’s imagination, sets the tone for the strangeness, the ineffability of this novel. Nothing in this novel is certain its genre, its twists and turns.
As in his previous works, Ford has his protagonist begin the search for perfection, for a state of paradise, with no sure path to success. Piambo discovers that he is not the first to attempt this portrait, that his master also attempted the commission. However, both Sabbott and Shenz keep Piambo on track because they have faith that he can somehow put together the puzzle. Counterpoint to this is the murderous Mr Charbuque, on the run from the police, suspected of murder, and who jealously guards his wife, threatening Piambo all the while. The altar scene depicting the Garden of Eden is appropriate with its denizens as once again Ford denies us the chance to re-enter it. We are permanently cast out and no amount of reaching towards it will afford us re-entry, we can but enjoy our earthly delights and comforts.
Jeffrey Ford: "One of the ideas I wanted to explore in this novel was how characters are created in the reader’s mind when reading a novel. We sit and read a good book, and these characters, as real as anyone we know, spring up from the writing and inhabit our minds. We follow them, we know them, and we are upset when the writer is not true to them. A character can easily be formed in a readers mind with no physical description at all. Merely the dialogue of a given character, the manner in which he or she holds a cigarette, what they do in a given situation, forms an image. We don’t need to be told about hair color, the width of the nose, the hue of the eyes, to form an image. In Mrs. Charbuque, the character of Piambo is never physically described, and yet it is no problem for the reader to see him, yet Mrs. Charbuque, who tells more about her life and self than even Piambo, is murky at best. Readers have told me they can not get a clear view of her or if they do it keeps mutating, shifting. In studying the phenomenon of how and when images of characters are formed in the imagination from strings of words, I learned a few tricks. These I employed in order to block the reader’s view of the woman behind the screen even though as much information about her is given as for those the reader readily sees."
The book is A fable, a nightmare, a vision, a mystery.
October 28, 2019
Piambo is a successful painter of New York society portraits. Feeling that he is not living up to his artistic potential, he impetuously accepts a mysterious commission from a blind man who accosts him on his way home one night. As learns the next day, he will be paid an unprecendented sum to paint Mrs. Charbuque. The catch? He cannot see her. The lady sits behind a screen and tells him a bizarre tale of her isolated childhood as the daughter and assistant of a man who believed he could learn the future through close examination of individual snowflakes. Meanwhile, unrelated women die weeping tears of blood.
A highly original work, if at times a touch beyond belief. There were some weaknesses in the second half of the novel. And be warned: all the characters are more or less insane, so don't read it if that sort of thing bothers you.
A highly original work, if at times a touch beyond belief. There were some weaknesses in the second half of the novel. And be warned: all the characters are more or less insane, so don't read it if that sort of thing bothers you.
February 12, 2008
This novel got inside of my skin -- I haven't figured out why yet, but it did, and I'm sure I'll be thinking about it for a long time to come. It is the second of Jeffrey Ford's books that I've read (the first being The Girl in the Glass) and he does not disappoint. His writing is excellent, and there is no better way to describe his work. If you want something WAY off the beaten path, and certainly off the path of what's on the bookshelves at your local bookstore, then try this one.
here's the basic story, in a nutshell, but I can't do it justice because it's so incredible:
Set in late 1800s Manhattan, the book's main character is an artist with the name of Piambo. His portraits have gained him fame, because he is gifted at creating the illusion of how people want to be seen on canvas. At the unveiling of one portrait where he's painted a philandering man's less-than-perfect wife as a stylish beauty, he realizes that there's more to art than this kind of thing. So when he receives a mysterious commission for a painting for which he'll be paid quite handsomely, he jumps at it. Here's the catch: he must paint a woman, a Mrs. Charbuque, who he cannot see. If he somehow can capture her perfectly, he will have more money than he has ever made in his life. She alone will decide if the painting is accurate, at which point he will make double the money. Piambo now has the opportunity to quit portraiture and focus on art that he wishes to create after this last portrait. At first he thinks this is ridiculous but after he thinks about it, he realizes that he'll make a lot of money whether or not the portrait is correct, so he goes for it. So how is he to do this? He has to conjure her through listening to her stories about herself and her life. As he begins, she starts telling him stories that tend to blow him away, but eventually she and her stories become an obsession with him.
Ford's incredible prose will hit you the moment you start the story, and as you go deeper, the story takes hold of your mind. I can't go into any more detail, but you are truly going to love this one. If you really want something different, give it a try.
read: February 2007
here's the basic story, in a nutshell, but I can't do it justice because it's so incredible:
Set in late 1800s Manhattan, the book's main character is an artist with the name of Piambo. His portraits have gained him fame, because he is gifted at creating the illusion of how people want to be seen on canvas. At the unveiling of one portrait where he's painted a philandering man's less-than-perfect wife as a stylish beauty, he realizes that there's more to art than this kind of thing. So when he receives a mysterious commission for a painting for which he'll be paid quite handsomely, he jumps at it. Here's the catch: he must paint a woman, a Mrs. Charbuque, who he cannot see. If he somehow can capture her perfectly, he will have more money than he has ever made in his life. She alone will decide if the painting is accurate, at which point he will make double the money. Piambo now has the opportunity to quit portraiture and focus on art that he wishes to create after this last portrait. At first he thinks this is ridiculous but after he thinks about it, he realizes that he'll make a lot of money whether or not the portrait is correct, so he goes for it. So how is he to do this? He has to conjure her through listening to her stories about herself and her life. As he begins, she starts telling him stories that tend to blow him away, but eventually she and her stories become an obsession with him.
Ford's incredible prose will hit you the moment you start the story, and as you go deeper, the story takes hold of your mind. I can't go into any more detail, but you are truly going to love this one. If you really want something different, give it a try.
read: February 2007
August 14, 2007
A clever premise -- a bored and unhappy portrait painter is hired by the mysterious Mrs. Charbuque to paint her portrait, with one catch; he can't ever see her. From behind a screen she will answer any question, but no peeking. If he manages to capture her image, he will win enough money to free him from the necessity of portraiture and allow him to be an artist again -- masterfully written. The truly clever part of this is that we as readers are in the same position as the painter--we only know Mrs. Charbuque through the stories she tells, and we make our (badly misguided or flatly wrong, in my case) guesses and assumptions about her along with the main character.
April 3, 2012
starts out like a henry james story and then explodes into surrealist fantasy. 300 pages long and i smiled the whole way through. my only quibble is i think it may have overshot the ending by a bit, in the name of bringing us back to the "real world."
i can't imagine why no one has made this into a movie. it's just sitting right there, wrapped up in a bow.
i can't imagine why no one has made this into a movie. it's just sitting right there, wrapped up in a bow.
January 9, 2019
I loved the story idea from the beginning: A mysterious woman approaches an artist offering a commission to paint her portrait, the one qualification being he cannot lay eyes upon her. She will sit behind a screen answering his questions, and he is to draw her portrait from any insights he gains listening to her answers. If interpretation is the heart and soul or art, then how can any artist serious about his profession pass up such a challenge? He can't.
Neither can our protagonist, Piero Piambo, who accepts the commission immediately. Thus begins a strange and most dangerous contest. Soon Piambo is up to his eyeballs in intrigue: a mysterious disease whose victims bleed from the eyes; a violent, jealous husband; a blind man who isn't blind; and, of course, the mysterious and very odd Mrs. Charbuque, herself.
The stories Mrs. Charbuque tells to Piambo are worth the price of the book alone. Let's just say Mrs. Charbuque is a very strange woman. But who is she really? And why are people suddenly dying of a strange, bloody disease, and who is this lunatic who claims to be Mrs. Charbuque's estranged husband?
The one criticism I have is the tension between Piambo and Mrs. Charbuque should have been tighter and more compelling. Frankly, the tension between the two should have been so omnipresent that it became the central character in the story. Yet it is strangely lacking.
Neither can our protagonist, Piero Piambo, who accepts the commission immediately. Thus begins a strange and most dangerous contest. Soon Piambo is up to his eyeballs in intrigue: a mysterious disease whose victims bleed from the eyes; a violent, jealous husband; a blind man who isn't blind; and, of course, the mysterious and very odd Mrs. Charbuque, herself.
The stories Mrs. Charbuque tells to Piambo are worth the price of the book alone. Let's just say Mrs. Charbuque is a very strange woman. But who is she really? And why are people suddenly dying of a strange, bloody disease, and who is this lunatic who claims to be Mrs. Charbuque's estranged husband?
The one criticism I have is the tension between Piambo and Mrs. Charbuque should have been tighter and more compelling. Frankly, the tension between the two should have been so omnipresent that it became the central character in the story. Yet it is strangely lacking.
June 16, 2015
An engaging, poised novel that makes a great use of its central premise: a painter is hired to paint a portrait of a woman, except he isn't allowed to look at her. Instead, she tells him the story of her life--which is fantastic, bordering on the cosmological, and seems to be creeping into the world around the painter in ominous ways. Along the way, just like in Ford's stories, there are moments of imagination (delivered in this impressionistic, almost liquid smooth prose) that impressed me more than anything I've seen in a long time: they felt genuinely strange and new... an effect that, for the most part, I've felt like I was immune to for the last few years.
In the end, though, the effect of the novel is more like a mystery or thriller: the taut, rigorous pacing, which culminates in an especially engaging final act. I don't remember the last time a story so complex and slippery has also been so propulsive to get through--and just for that, this novel is already doing something great. Like most mystery novels, the novel ultimately disempowers itself with answers (and along the way, Ford used one of my least favorite twists), but without giving up that balance between the incomprehensively vast and mundane. Also, the more rigorous structure fills some of the holes in Ford's short fiction, which has the same imaginative qualities but tends to drift and be formless in a way that didn't always seem productive.
I'm really glad I checked out this book, and looking forward to reading probably everything Ford has ever written.
In the end, though, the effect of the novel is more like a mystery or thriller: the taut, rigorous pacing, which culminates in an especially engaging final act. I don't remember the last time a story so complex and slippery has also been so propulsive to get through--and just for that, this novel is already doing something great. Like most mystery novels, the novel ultimately disempowers itself with answers (and along the way, Ford used one of my least favorite twists), but without giving up that balance between the incomprehensively vast and mundane. Also, the more rigorous structure fills some of the holes in Ford's short fiction, which has the same imaginative qualities but tends to drift and be formless in a way that didn't always seem productive.
I'm really glad I checked out this book, and looking forward to reading probably everything Ford has ever written.
December 8, 2017
I loved Ford's book 'The Shadow Year.' I really liked his collection of short stories entitled 'Crackpot Palace.' The premise of this story (a painter commissioned to do a portrait of a woman who refuses to allow him to see her) sounded intriguing. Unfortunately, I thought this became "much ado about nothing." Although well written, the story felt like a lot of filler slowly leading up to a climax that just didn't do it for me. Nonetheless, Ford is a great writer with excellent ideas and I will continue to read him.
June 26, 2007
This book contains, in all seriousness, the sentence, "I was withering inside like those cut flowers ensconced in the ornate vase that was my life." Needless to say, I gave up before page fifty. (Alas for the premise. If only the /good/ writers got the good ideas! If only Jesus Christ had Rothschild's purse!)
February 3, 2009
When I picked up this book, I was expecting something along the lines of The Portrait of Dorian Gray. There are a few similarities; in fact the Portrait of Dorian Gray is mentioned at the beginning of the book. Both of them lift questions they don’t really answer but that’s about as far as the similarities go. This book is actually quite hard to define and classify… it’s fiction and fantasy and mystery all at once… and then when you look back on it, there’s no real supernatural explanation…
What I found interesting, more than the plot and the progression of the story towards finding out more about the Charbuques, was the characters: Pambo and Shenz, but also the Man from the Equator and Borne, the turdologist who reads the future in your past meals (once digested if I may add). I thought Ford did an amazing at capturing the real essence of those characters as his main character tries to capture Mrs Charbuques. To get back to the Pambo, at first I was surprised by the author’s style and his sometime heavy metaphors and I started wondering whether that was his style in general (this is the first book I’ve read of him) or if he was just portraying Pambo as an artist (the book is a first person narration)… I think the latter comes closer to the truth… in addition to that, there’s Ford’s attempt (and success!) at reproducing the late 19th century writing style.
Overall, I found intriguing and somewhat philosophical in the questions it asks and the paradox it put forward. I’m certainly going to give a try to Ford’s other books.
What I found interesting, more than the plot and the progression of the story towards finding out more about the Charbuques, was the characters: Pambo and Shenz, but also the Man from the Equator and Borne, the turdologist who reads the future in your past meals (once digested if I may add). I thought Ford did an amazing at capturing the real essence of those characters as his main character tries to capture Mrs Charbuques. To get back to the Pambo, at first I was surprised by the author’s style and his sometime heavy metaphors and I started wondering whether that was his style in general (this is the first book I’ve read of him) or if he was just portraying Pambo as an artist (the book is a first person narration)… I think the latter comes closer to the truth… in addition to that, there’s Ford’s attempt (and success!) at reproducing the late 19th century writing style.
Overall, I found intriguing and somewhat philosophical in the questions it asks and the paradox it put forward. I’m certainly going to give a try to Ford’s other books.
October 26, 2019
The idea of drawing an unseen person portrait by means of hearing her life story was very exciting to me but I believe the choice of a first-person narrator for this story was wrong because Piambo-the painter who had to paint Mrs. Charbuque's portrait- was not an attractive character . He was cruel to his master, his friend and her lover and he seemed to be so self absorbed. I cannot believe him boasting about his talent in painting, I have to accept it because the author makes me to. I don't see why someone without any charisma or ingenuity must be the only artist among all others to be able to draw her portrait without any fault. I could not sympathized with Piambo over his misfortunes during the course of the story at all. On the other hand Mrs. Charbuque personality was attractive and believable except for the last chapters. Her life story was depressing and her obssessions about being seen by the public was acceptable but why should her storyline became too wild by adding the adventures of her so called husband to it? It could have been done quite well without a Mr. Charbuque too. Overall it was an engaging story owing to dramatic and unusual life of Luciere Charbuque.
July 15, 2008
I've said it before and I'll gladly say it again: Jeffrey Ford is one of the best writers alive today. This book is impossible to put down -- indeed, I read it in one sitting -- and full of the color and imagination one comes to expect from Ford.
I have to admit, I was disappointed with the end, which was a lot more sedate and pedestrian than what I was hoping for. The ending does bring a certain amount of peace to some characters who deserve it, but I was really hoping for -- and expecting -- a few more of the twists and loops of which Ford is wonderfully capable.
My personal disappointment with the end is the only reason I didn't give this five stars. READ THIS BOOK. Read this lush, creepy, imaginative, refreshingly original book. Jeffrey Ford is a rare treat that really shouldn't be so rare. Everyone should read him!
I have to admit, I was disappointed with the end, which was a lot more sedate and pedestrian than what I was hoping for. The ending does bring a certain amount of peace to some characters who deserve it, but I was really hoping for -- and expecting -- a few more of the twists and loops of which Ford is wonderfully capable.
My personal disappointment with the end is the only reason I didn't give this five stars. READ THIS BOOK. Read this lush, creepy, imaginative, refreshingly original book. Jeffrey Ford is a rare treat that really shouldn't be so rare. Everyone should read him!
May 19, 2009
Jeffrey Ford's novel The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque was a really good read. I debated between 4 and 5 stars, and settled on 4 because the end was a little bit of a let down. If you are reading this, you probably know the plot of The Portrait. Ford keeps up the mystery throughout the novel, and never lets the reader get tired with the mystery. All the characters, despite their odd quirkiness, are completely engaging and interesting to follow. Ford's history of New York City in the 19th century is extremely well researched and not boring at all to read about. It is almost as captivating as the plot of the novel, and may as well be considered an odd, quirky character in the book, too. Just shy of a 5 star book, but still a great read.
February 7, 2018
the publisher hints "a bit of Henry James and Raymond Chandler... maybe a bit of a noir-ghost-detective-mystery vibe... the writing is pure Jeffrey Ford though, even as he moves dibs and dabs at various styles of narration... the story is a beauty though, laden with unknowns and casually strewn facts and anecdotes about 'the woman he cannot see'... and who is killing all these people and does it have anything to do with the painting? Ford seeds the tale with eerie and ethereal enigmas and allows the reader to create their own portrait...
March 9, 2020
10 out of 10
Captivating and atmospheric. A mysterious woman asks a painter to make her portrait without seeing her, only listening to her stories. She's ready to pay dearly. At the same time, women o New York die from an unknown disease. Both cases can be connected or not. Wanna solve it? Take your time.
July 31, 2019
Very intriguing mystery with unexpected twists. As an amateur artist I love to read about artist characters and this book has some very good notions about the creative process.
July 9, 2019
This is a delightful read. It’s a post modern mystery veiled as historical fiction. It stays light and breezy despite having a darker edge. It has a similar vibe to Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum with a guy wandering around a city trying to find clues to a person’s history while being threatened by some vague danger. It doesn’t have Eco’s deeper exploration of history, but it does explore New York City in the Reconstruction pretty well.
The book bounces back and forth between the Shéhérazade-like story telling of Mrs. Charbuque and the contemporary story of a man struggling with his art, direction, and his relationships.
All in all a real page turner.
The book bounces back and forth between the Shéhérazade-like story telling of Mrs. Charbuque and the contemporary story of a man struggling with his art, direction, and his relationships.
All in all a real page turner.
November 18, 2020
I can't decide what I think about this book... it's an unusual mixture of mythology, historical fiction, mystery, and horror, with a hint of magical realism thrown in. It's weird and dark but, like the narrator, I was drawn into the puzzle of the elusive Mrs. Charbuque. I'm on the fence between 3 and 4 stars, going with 4 because I like the fact that it's off the beaten path.
July 12, 2019
quite a challenge for the painter, but also for the reader, as to explain his feelings about this intriguing and challenging story. The ending left me speechless !
A must read
A must read
February 1, 2024
This was a unique story and everything I look for in a book—mystery, spookiness, Victorian Era, and weird. I really enjoyed hearing about Mrs. Charbuque’s story and the interesting childhood and life she had. The writing was beautiful and I almost want to write an essay on the usage of color in the book, not just for painting but for descriptions and symbolism throughout the story.
There were some parts that were…strange and possibly unnecessary, but I think that was all part of setting the scene for the plot to unravel. If you’re looking for an unusual Victorian mystery with complex characters, this one’s for you!
There were some parts that were…strange and possibly unnecessary, but I think that was all part of setting the scene for the plot to unravel. If you’re looking for an unusual Victorian mystery with complex characters, this one’s for you!
May 20, 2016
The premise of this novel sounded promising: a painter being commissioned to paint a portrait of a woman just by talking to her with her sitting behind a screen, never allowed to see her. A novel about art and identity set in 19th century New York. This could have been great. Instead, it was boring.
There are several problems with this novel. First, Ford is unable to write compelling characters. His protagonists are cardboard, so bland that you simply don't care what happens to them. The only really interesting character - whose story I'd have loved to read! - has only a small supporting role and doesn't survive the plot. Second, this novel is about painting and paintings. Ford describes the sketching and painting. He describes numerous works of art. Nothing of it comes to life. The center of the novel - art - remains a big blank because the author doesn't know how to tranlate images into words. Third, the paranormal elements feel totally out of place. It's as if Ford had put them into an otherwise straightforward historical novel because paranormal is trendy, or some notion like that.
And I could have done without the gore. It doesn't help to make this story suspenseful either.
Jeffrey Ford was obviously very ambitious when he wrote this. He tried to write something extraordinary. He didn't have the skill set to do it.
If you want to see how to do this right, I'd recommend Wild's "The Picture of Dorian Gray", Chevalier's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" or Somerset Maugham's "The Moon and Sixpence". These are novels where the art really comes to life and is part of the plot, not just a gimmick.
There are several problems with this novel. First, Ford is unable to write compelling characters. His protagonists are cardboard, so bland that you simply don't care what happens to them. The only really interesting character - whose story I'd have loved to read! - has only a small supporting role and doesn't survive the plot. Second, this novel is about painting and paintings. Ford describes the sketching and painting. He describes numerous works of art. Nothing of it comes to life. The center of the novel - art - remains a big blank because the author doesn't know how to tranlate images into words. Third, the paranormal elements feel totally out of place. It's as if Ford had put them into an otherwise straightforward historical novel because paranormal is trendy, or some notion like that.
And I could have done without the gore. It doesn't help to make this story suspenseful either.
Jeffrey Ford was obviously very ambitious when he wrote this. He tried to write something extraordinary. He didn't have the skill set to do it.
If you want to see how to do this right, I'd recommend Wild's "The Picture of Dorian Gray", Chevalier's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" or Somerset Maugham's "The Moon and Sixpence". These are novels where the art really comes to life and is part of the plot, not just a gimmick.
February 26, 2016
I miss this book already. It was a true joy to immerse into this bizarre tale at the end of every day. For me, this was a story to be savored, sipping only a few chapters at a time. And yet, all too soon it came to an end. Like all of Ford's stories, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque features startling imagination and skillful writing. Seriously, Ford could take the directions for cooking orzo pasta and somehow find a captivating, beautiful, and original way to tell it. The man is a treasure, and this book is a shining example of why. He starts with a wholly confounding premise--a portrait artist hired to paint a portrait of a mysterious woman whom he's not allowed to actually see--and manages to spin a tale that is wildly imaginative but very much rooted in a very realistic 1890's New York. And therein lies perhaps Ford's greatest talent: he can convey outlandishly bizarre concepts but he skillfully packages them in very concrete, richly expressed settings--so that even the impossible seems somehow possible, if not likely.
April 11, 2015
Empecé a leerlo sin muchas expectativas. Lo anterior que leí de Ford fue La Fisiognomía, q es CF, y este parecía algo gótico. Sin embargo la lectura no es nada pesada y las cosas q van sucediendo hace q uno le vaya agarrando gusto a la historia. El final me resultó medio agridulce, pero no decepcionante, de hecho no lo vi venir si no hasta poco antes de leerlo. En cuanto al estilo narrativo diría que ha evolucionado de un estilo dark a uno más "normal", lo q no quiere decir q el libro sea "comercial" por supuesto.
Por otra parte, entre La Fisiognomía y este libro hay un común denominador que es la búsqueda de una/la verdad a través de la apariencia humana, algo que lleva a ciertas interesantes ideas.
Por otra parte, entre La Fisiognomía y este libro hay un común denominador que es la búsqueda de una/la verdad a través de la apariencia humana, algo que lleva a ciertas interesantes ideas.
November 16, 2007
A haunting story and psychological thriller. A portrait artist in early 20th century New York gets the offer for a commission of a lifetime: paint a woman's portrait without being able to see her and receive enough payment to be able to stop painting portraits and focus on work he is passionate about. He can only ask her questions about her life. The artist is quickly pulled into this warped tale of Mrs. Charbuque's life - never knowing what is real and what is pure childhood fantasy. There is an eerie sense of darkness throughout. Such a gripping "page-turner"; I read it in a few weeks (which is fast for me!)
September 9, 2025
An average gothic-mystery read for me - decent plot and suspense-building, character development somewhat limited, overly florid language. Pales in comparison to, say, The Alienist or Speaks the Nightbird which both did a much better job of setting a deep mysterious and dramatic tone without stepping off into the over-dramatic.
June 29, 2010
Delicious, atmospheric little mystery. Surprisingly engaging for the supposedly tiny mystery within, and I actually found the additional plot-line and subsequent reveal a bit garish and tacked-on. Great little historical with the feel of an old Sherlock Holmes story that doesn't need the extra drama apparently added for spice. A ghost story without a ghost.
December 21, 2016
Jeffrey Ford is to be congratulated for his own masterful portrait of Victorian era New York. If I had to be hypercritical, I'd say the ending didn't quite do justice to the incredible journey beforehand, but I have high expectations whenever I read Ford - and he always surpasses them. A truly wonderful writer.
July 14, 2009
Fantastic book. Kept us both reading well into the night. Great premise, historic facts and suspense. I am not sure how I had never heard of this author but I am reading more of his period pieces and they are fun to read.
December 30, 2010
A little bit heavy on the allegories, but overall a really fun and unique read. Loved reading about late 1800's New York City, and it was a great page turner by the end. The art references were really fun as well - loved having a painter as a protagonist.
February 8, 2012
The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque was a very engaging read for me. I found Mrs. Charbuque to be quite an intriguing figure, and I enjoyed reading about Piambo's unusual commission. This deftly-written novel by Jeffrey Ford left me wanting to read more from the author.
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