Life Class

by Ann Charney

In her fourth novel, Life Class, award-winning author Ann Charney follows the trail of a young woman, Nerina, who sets out in search of better life after the breakup of the former Republic of Yugoslavia. Buoyed by wit and determination, she soon makes her way into the art circles of Venice, New York and Montreal, where willing mentors – and even dogs – collaborate to advance her progress. Despite her brutal start in life, Nerina faces each day with humour, optimism and resourcefulness. She is of those rare, clear-eyed individuals, who know the worst men are capable of, but manage to find the good in between.

Ann Charney’s Life Class is an unusual diaspora novel, casting its protagonist not as a leaf scattered by wind, but as a brave explorer following her ambitions.

224 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2013

About the author

Ann Charney is an award winning Canadian novelist, short story writer and journalist. Her work has been published in Canada, the US, France, Germany and Italy.

Her most widely published novel is Dobryd, the story of a child discovering freedom amid the chaos of war’s aftermath. She is also the author of Rousseau's Garden, a novel of love and friendship set in the great gardens of France,and Distantly Related to Freud, the coming of age story of a young girl, who dreams of becoming a writer and a femme fatale.

Her most recent novel, Life Class, is a story of displacement and ambition played out in the art circles of Venice, New York and Montreal.

Ann Charney has been a columnist for Maclean's Magazine, a frequent contributor to Saturday Night, Ms. magazine, and other leading US and Canadian publications. She has won Canadian National Magazine Awards both for her fiction and non-fiction, and was made an officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters. A selection of her non-fiction was collected in a book entitled Defiance In Their Eyes: True Stories From The Margins.

She was married to artist Melvin Charney who died in September 2012.

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book on Goodreads. We follow the life of Nerina, a young courageous woman who wants to create a life for herself, full of dreams and passions, ponctuated with obstacles that she achieves to overcome. Beautiful characters, well-written story.

[Linda Leith · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unusual and enjoyable read, with an understated sense of humour and two strong women characters, of different generations, who share the experience of displacement as a result of war. Helena is the older of the two, a Polish and Jewish survivor of World War II with an acerbic manner, a thorough understanding of the international art world, and a heart of gold. Nerina has emerged out of the ashes of Sarajevo to find herself first in Venice, then in the US and then Montreal, where she ends up planning to open a gallery of her own.

[Doriana Bisegna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit that this book grabbed my attention from the first paragraph. Set in Venice, New York and Montreal, this novel of immigrants and artists was a page turner. The only disappointment was that I believed there would be a climax to the story with one of the main characters. All along, as I was reading, i believed that something would happen to Nerina ( forced to flee Serbia during the war) but that didn't materialize. Well written, loved the different settings but lacked the oommphhh that I was hoping for.

[Corinne Wasilewski · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing is clean, but, the story is sterile. Nerina, the protagonist, seems cut off from her emotions to a pathological degree. Seriously, a woman who has lived through war and the break-up of her country as well as the recent death of both her parents is sure to have at least some emotional issues. By neglecting this part of the story and focusing only on Nerina's ambition, the author creates a character that is one dimensional and disturbingly robot-like.