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Private View
Set in contemporary London, it's Bridget Jones meets Matthew Collings with a dash of pure Canadian angst thrown in. A talented young artist is trying to get over the death of her boyfriend on a disastrous trip to Central America. Blackly humorous, Jean McNeil's deeply introspective style and her wild imagination are perfectly suited to this tale of modern Bohemia.
320 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2003
18 people want to read
About the author
Jean McNeil
22 books68 followersJean McNeil is the author of ten books including four novels and a collection of short fiction. Her work has been short-listed for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the Journey Prize, and she has won the Prism International prize for short fiction and subsequently for narrative non-fiction. She is the co-director of the Masters in Prose Fiction at the University of East Anglia and lives in London, England.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 17, 2022
I read this book back in 2002 when it first came out in England. I remember checking it out from the local library. I think this is probably why I did not keep a copy of Private View, and probably because I was too broke to buy a copy. I couldn’t actually remember the story but it made an impression that has lasted 20 years. Why do I still remember this book without actually remembering it? So, like a good bibliophile I hunted down a copy and made this book a Christmas present to myself in 2021.
I understand why 2002 me must have liked this book. It takes place in the London contemporary art world. One of the main characters is a foreigner trying to make a place for himself in London and in the art world all while trying to forget his horrible childhood back in Canada. I think I must have seen myself in these pages, as I was also a foreigner living in London trying to navigate the cruelties of the contemporary art world while trying to forget America.
What I didn’t remember about this book are the odd side stories that are actually more interesting to 2021 me instead of the primary London based story. I’m not sure all the extra storylines work or are integral to the plot, but they make the novel very unique, especially for 2002. One of the main characters is dealing with PTSD from an extraordinary traveling accident which brings a much needed element of suspense.
This is a character driven novel relying heavily on London as a character itself. There is rich description of the city and it’s weather, which, unsurprisingly, is also a character in the book. The author does this with all the places/locations featured in the book, turning them, as such, into characters with her exaggerated prose. The actual characters of the novel are mean, eccentric and narcissistic in the way readers will find either intriguing or mind numbing. Thirty-somethings coming to terms with existential problems is mostly navel gazing.
I was thirty-something when I fist read Private View, reading it now is sentimental and nostalgic. It is a past life. A lot of the gender and sexuality discussions wouldn’t even happen in a similar contemporary novel. The book’s ideas are outdated, but a true reflection of what was considered progressive at the time. The art world has always been a bit more fluid than the rest of society. This also goes for the portrayal of mental illness. I think the book romanticizes the old mythology of the “mad genius artist”, which, in my mind, has always been a lame subject. But Conrad, a main character, is compelling, and reading about him is really one of the best parts of Private View.
I still really like this book. It’s an odd story. I like how much it feels authentically London. It’s very wordy and full of too much metaphor but that’s ok. It compliments the subject. Artists are sometimes odd and unknowable. A good book I enjoyed returning to at a very quiet, settled place in my life. I would very much like to see this made into a film.
I understand why 2002 me must have liked this book. It takes place in the London contemporary art world. One of the main characters is a foreigner trying to make a place for himself in London and in the art world all while trying to forget his horrible childhood back in Canada. I think I must have seen myself in these pages, as I was also a foreigner living in London trying to navigate the cruelties of the contemporary art world while trying to forget America.
What I didn’t remember about this book are the odd side stories that are actually more interesting to 2021 me instead of the primary London based story. I’m not sure all the extra storylines work or are integral to the plot, but they make the novel very unique, especially for 2002. One of the main characters is dealing with PTSD from an extraordinary traveling accident which brings a much needed element of suspense.
This is a character driven novel relying heavily on London as a character itself. There is rich description of the city and it’s weather, which, unsurprisingly, is also a character in the book. The author does this with all the places/locations featured in the book, turning them, as such, into characters with her exaggerated prose. The actual characters of the novel are mean, eccentric and narcissistic in the way readers will find either intriguing or mind numbing. Thirty-somethings coming to terms with existential problems is mostly navel gazing.
I was thirty-something when I fist read Private View, reading it now is sentimental and nostalgic. It is a past life. A lot of the gender and sexuality discussions wouldn’t even happen in a similar contemporary novel. The book’s ideas are outdated, but a true reflection of what was considered progressive at the time. The art world has always been a bit more fluid than the rest of society. This also goes for the portrayal of mental illness. I think the book romanticizes the old mythology of the “mad genius artist”, which, in my mind, has always been a lame subject. But Conrad, a main character, is compelling, and reading about him is really one of the best parts of Private View.
I still really like this book. It’s an odd story. I like how much it feels authentically London. It’s very wordy and full of too much metaphor but that’s ok. It compliments the subject. Artists are sometimes odd and unknowable. A good book I enjoyed returning to at a very quiet, settled place in my life. I would very much like to see this made into a film.
Displaying 1 of 1 review