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Keeping the World Away
A classic Margaret Forster novel with the same satisfying appeal as her bestselling Diary of an Ordinary Woman — the story of an actual early 20th century painting and its fictional adventures through the century and of the women whose lives it touches.
From the Hardcover edition.
From the Hardcover edition.
338 pages, Paperback
First published April 25, 2006
64 people are currently reading
672 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Forster
67 books197 followersMargaret Forster was educated at the Carlisle and County High School for Girls. From here she won an Open Scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford where in 1960 she was awarded an honours degree in History.
From 1963 Margaret Forster worked as a novelist, biographer and freelance literary critic, contributing regularly to book programmes on television, to Radio 4 and various newpapers and magazines.
Forster was married to the writer, journalist and broadcaster Hunter Davies. They lived in London. and in the Lake District. They had three children, Caitlin, Jake and Flora.
From 1963 Margaret Forster worked as a novelist, biographer and freelance literary critic, contributing regularly to book programmes on television, to Radio 4 and various newpapers and magazines.
Forster was married to the writer, journalist and broadcaster Hunter Davies. They lived in London. and in the Lake District. They had three children, Caitlin, Jake and Flora.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 148 reviews
September 27, 2021
A simple and yet a beguiling painting,* which seems to have intrigued, delighted or inspired author Margaret Forster enough to write a novel which centres on it. From the time that Gwen John (1876-1939) paints it, it passes from one woman to another and has a special meaning for each of them.
The novel starts with Gwen’s childhood with her parents and siblings (including Gus, later the famous Augustus John), and continues to the time when she lived in Paris as a young artist and had an affair with famous sculptor Auguste Rodin. She presents the painting to her friend Ursula who places it in her luggage which unfortunately disappears, much to Ursula’s regret. From this point it passes in turn to Charlotte, Stella, Lucasta, Ailsa and Gillian. A section of the novel is devoted to each woman’s story and her feelings for the painting. Gwen John’s biographical details, including her affair, are based on fact, but the rest is fiction.
It is from the point where Ursula’s luggage disappears and the painting seems to take on a ‘life’ of its own that the novel came into its own. I didn’t particularly enjoy reading about Gwen’s obsession with Rodin, but what she was trying to achieve with the painting is of importance in the rest of the novel, and from that point of view she achieved what she set out to do. There are subtle references throughout this part of the novel that form links between different characters and events. There are coincidences and occasionally a small woman (Gwen John) is seen hurrying past in the distance in the parts of the novel that take place in France and of course before her death. The stories cover roughly a century in time.
Margaret Forster (1938-2016) was particularly adept at writing about women’s thoughts, feelings and reactions. In this novel the women who ‘own’ the painting all yearn for a place or a room of their own, away from others where they can simply be.
“It pleased Mme Verlon every day after that, simply to think of how the painting would carry on its life, with women who would respond to its simplicity and yet who would not be fooled into imagining there was neither passion nor longing within it.
The artist would think that enough. She had painted it to keep the world away. If it helped others to do the same, her purpose was fulfilled.”
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*A Corner of the Artist’s Room, Paris (1909)
November 2, 2020
3.5
Forster’s novel imagines the story of a Gwen John painting, A Corner of the Artist’s Room in Paris, as it passes through the hands of several women. The book opens with an art student, Gillian Mortimer, who travels with her class to a Gwen and Augustus John exhibit in London. It closes with the same young woman as she is about to embark on an art career of her own. She connects with a Parisian woman who now owns the painting that once belonged to Gillian’s own grandmother.
The best sections of the novel recreate parts of Gwen John’s life: the artist’s early loss of her mother, her growing-up years in Wales with several siblings and a bizarrely exacting and irritable father, and of course, her life in France—particularly the time of her obsessive love affair with the philandering sculptor, Auguste Rodin. Through Gwen John and the other women who own her painting for a time, the author seems to take Virginia Woolf’s observation about what is required for a woman to create art (or even an independent life) further. For Forster’s female characters, it’s not enough to have money and a room of their own. Relationships with men are shown to be distracting and even disruptive forces that interfere with creativity. Taming the emotions in order to gain the appropriate detachment to create a painting or a life of one’s own is major work in itself.
I thought the premise of this novel was an interesting one, but I’ll admit to finding it a little hard to credit that Gwen John’s modest, contained little painting—which you can see here: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a...# —would resonate so profoundly and consistently in the psyches of such disparate women.
Forster’s novel imagines the story of a Gwen John painting, A Corner of the Artist’s Room in Paris, as it passes through the hands of several women. The book opens with an art student, Gillian Mortimer, who travels with her class to a Gwen and Augustus John exhibit in London. It closes with the same young woman as she is about to embark on an art career of her own. She connects with a Parisian woman who now owns the painting that once belonged to Gillian’s own grandmother.
The best sections of the novel recreate parts of Gwen John’s life: the artist’s early loss of her mother, her growing-up years in Wales with several siblings and a bizarrely exacting and irritable father, and of course, her life in France—particularly the time of her obsessive love affair with the philandering sculptor, Auguste Rodin. Through Gwen John and the other women who own her painting for a time, the author seems to take Virginia Woolf’s observation about what is required for a woman to create art (or even an independent life) further. For Forster’s female characters, it’s not enough to have money and a room of their own. Relationships with men are shown to be distracting and even disruptive forces that interfere with creativity. Taming the emotions in order to gain the appropriate detachment to create a painting or a life of one’s own is major work in itself.
I thought the premise of this novel was an interesting one, but I’ll admit to finding it a little hard to credit that Gwen John’s modest, contained little painting—which you can see here: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a...# —would resonate so profoundly and consistently in the psyches of such disparate women.
August 31, 2011
I expect a book by Margaret Forster to be good and this one is no exception. It is essentially the story of a painting, a variant of Gwen John s The Corner of the Artist s Room in Paris , as over the years it passes from one woman to another. I knew very little about Gwen John before I read Keeping the World Away and now I want to know more. (Fortunately there is a list of books about her in the back of the book.)[return][return]The title of the book comes from a quotation from Gwen John s Papers in the National Library of Wales:
Rules to Keep the World away: Do not listen to people (more than is necessary); Do not look at people (ditto); Have as little intercourse with people as possible; When you come into contact with people, talk as little as possible & 3 March 1912
It seems from this novel that Gwen John was completely infatuated and in thrall to the artist Rodin. She became his lover and tried to please him by being tranquil and calm and striving for harmony in her life. Inwardly, however she felt volcanic, as though burning lava filled her and would explode with the force of what was beneath it, her overwhelming passion for him.
Her room was the image of how Rodin wished her to be and she painted a sunlit corner of it where it was all peace and calm and serenity in contrast to Gwen herself who radiated energy . She rearranged the room and painted several versions; with the window open, with an open book on the table, with flowers on the table, with and without the parasol.[return]I wished that the whole book had been about Gwen John. However, it s about the painting and how its successive owners acquire it and what it means to each of them. It gets lost, is stolen, turns up on a market stall, is bought, given away and fought over. As each new owner is introduced there are links between them, but each time the painting passed to a new person I wanted to know more about each of them.
The painting is seen as expressing a yearning for something unobtainable, having an air of mystery, conveying a sense of waiting, of longing, of anticipation of someone s arrival, painful, soothing or uplifting, empty, and symbolic of an independent, simple life free of entanglements. It becomes part of the lives of its owners. The novel starts with Gillian, the school girl reflecting that art speaks for itself, regardless of the artist s intention. She was convinced that art should be looked at in a pure way, uninfluenced by any knowledge of the artist or the circumstances in which it had been painted. It ends with Gillian, the aspiring artist, reflecting on the nature of art and the purpose of this painting - Had that not been its purpose? To keep the world away, for a few precious moments, at least every time it was looked at?
I can t quite agree with Gillian. I can see that seeing a painting in isolation from the artist can be a pure experience, but I'm always filled with curiosity both about artists and authors - who they were, when they lived, what was going on in the world they lived in and how it affected their work. However, I also think that a painting is like a book in that they can both be interpreted in many ways regardless of the artist's or author's intentions.
This is a remarkable book, which I m sure I shall read again and again.see here
Rules to Keep the World away: Do not listen to people (more than is necessary); Do not look at people (ditto); Have as little intercourse with people as possible; When you come into contact with people, talk as little as possible & 3 March 1912
It seems from this novel that Gwen John was completely infatuated and in thrall to the artist Rodin. She became his lover and tried to please him by being tranquil and calm and striving for harmony in her life. Inwardly, however she felt volcanic, as though burning lava filled her and would explode with the force of what was beneath it, her overwhelming passion for him.
Her room was the image of how Rodin wished her to be and she painted a sunlit corner of it where it was all peace and calm and serenity in contrast to Gwen herself who radiated energy . She rearranged the room and painted several versions; with the window open, with an open book on the table, with flowers on the table, with and without the parasol.[return]I wished that the whole book had been about Gwen John. However, it s about the painting and how its successive owners acquire it and what it means to each of them. It gets lost, is stolen, turns up on a market stall, is bought, given away and fought over. As each new owner is introduced there are links between them, but each time the painting passed to a new person I wanted to know more about each of them.
The painting is seen as expressing a yearning for something unobtainable, having an air of mystery, conveying a sense of waiting, of longing, of anticipation of someone s arrival, painful, soothing or uplifting, empty, and symbolic of an independent, simple life free of entanglements. It becomes part of the lives of its owners. The novel starts with Gillian, the school girl reflecting that art speaks for itself, regardless of the artist s intention. She was convinced that art should be looked at in a pure way, uninfluenced by any knowledge of the artist or the circumstances in which it had been painted. It ends with Gillian, the aspiring artist, reflecting on the nature of art and the purpose of this painting - Had that not been its purpose? To keep the world away, for a few precious moments, at least every time it was looked at?
I can t quite agree with Gillian. I can see that seeing a painting in isolation from the artist can be a pure experience, but I'm always filled with curiosity both about artists and authors - who they were, when they lived, what was going on in the world they lived in and how it affected their work. However, I also think that a painting is like a book in that they can both be interpreted in many ways regardless of the artist's or author's intentions.
This is a remarkable book, which I m sure I shall read again and again.see here
May 2, 2017
One of my reading goals this year is to read (or at least entertain reading!) one book by each of 16 authors that died in 2016.
Well, I have found (in my opinion at least), a hidden gem.
Margaret Forster wrote four books: two historical fiction and two biographies.
I have just rcompleted this one: Keeping the World Away.
It is a fictional account of a painting - a real painting by Gwen John (1876 - 1939). The painting is given away, lost, found, fought over, bought and bequeathed. The stories of the women who are involved with this painting make this book.
The painting can be viewed at the following website:
https://www.wikiart.org/en/gwen-john/...
The title of the book is taken from a personal journal quote of John's: "Rules to Keep the World Away: Do not listen to people more than is necessary; do not look at people more than is necessary ; have as little intercourse with people as possible".
I think all of us, even those who love interacting with the world, find we sometimes want to Keep the World Away. From this book, we can get inspiration.
Well, I have found (in my opinion at least), a hidden gem.
Margaret Forster wrote four books: two historical fiction and two biographies.
I have just rcompleted this one: Keeping the World Away.
It is a fictional account of a painting - a real painting by Gwen John (1876 - 1939). The painting is given away, lost, found, fought over, bought and bequeathed. The stories of the women who are involved with this painting make this book.
The painting can be viewed at the following website:
https://www.wikiart.org/en/gwen-john/...
The title of the book is taken from a personal journal quote of John's: "Rules to Keep the World Away: Do not listen to people more than is necessary; do not look at people more than is necessary ; have as little intercourse with people as possible".
I think all of us, even those who love interacting with the world, find we sometimes want to Keep the World Away. From this book, we can get inspiration.
July 8, 2017
I have read almost everything Margaret Forster has written. I love her quiet penetrating gaze into human relationships, and especially into families. I was saddened to read recently of her death. We have lost a great voice for women.
July 19, 2012
'Keeping The World Away' is a novel about a painting and the women whose lives it touches, original and a fabulous read, a perfect example of why I have been enjoying the novels of Margaret Forster since the late nineteen sixties. This is not an exaggeration, I find her work just as appealing now as I did all those years ago. What makes 'Keeping The World Away' so fascinating is the fact that it has taken the painting of a real life artist Gwen John(1876-1939) as its subject with the novels title coming from the artist's own notebooks. She was a known recluse and to quote from those notebooks "Rules to Keep the World Away: Do not listen to people more than is necessary; do not look at peoplemore than is necessary ; have as little intercourse with people as possible".
I like stories where the author has used characters from real life inspiration as although it is fiction I still feel I am learning something from reality at the same time. For example reading this novel has led me to research about the artist.
The story is divided into six sections to track the paintings journey and Forster manages to link each one by an almost imperceptible link known only to the reader. The journey starts with the paintings artist Gwen John herself before she has produced this small and intimate painting of the attic room, where she spends so much time waiting for her lover Rodin. A complex and determined young woman from an artistic background, Gwen had persuaded her father to let her study at the Slade, which led her to later live in Paris and become a model for the great master Rodin.
Gwen gifts the painting to a close friend and hence we move on to the next woman in the story, although not the one you might expect. Owned by five women, Gwen, Charlotte, Stella, Lucasta, Ailsa and Gillian whose lives the painting touches as it is lost, found, sold, bought, inherited, given away and stolen. You learn how this painting affects their respective lives as each woman has an interesting connection to the previous one. I felt the story flowed across the time period exceptionally well, leaving me with the feeling that the painting had done the job the artist originally intended. Which was of course to keep the world away, even if only for those few cherished moments when one was gazing at it.
As I said at the start of my review an original read that I think will appeal to anyone that enjoys art and creative women. Margaret Forster draws you into the lives of these women, especially as the source of the story is all based on a wonderful little painting.
Lots more here
http://lindyloumacbookreviews.blogspo...
I like stories where the author has used characters from real life inspiration as although it is fiction I still feel I am learning something from reality at the same time. For example reading this novel has led me to research about the artist.
The story is divided into six sections to track the paintings journey and Forster manages to link each one by an almost imperceptible link known only to the reader. The journey starts with the paintings artist Gwen John herself before she has produced this small and intimate painting of the attic room, where she spends so much time waiting for her lover Rodin. A complex and determined young woman from an artistic background, Gwen had persuaded her father to let her study at the Slade, which led her to later live in Paris and become a model for the great master Rodin.
Gwen gifts the painting to a close friend and hence we move on to the next woman in the story, although not the one you might expect. Owned by five women, Gwen, Charlotte, Stella, Lucasta, Ailsa and Gillian whose lives the painting touches as it is lost, found, sold, bought, inherited, given away and stolen. You learn how this painting affects their respective lives as each woman has an interesting connection to the previous one. I felt the story flowed across the time period exceptionally well, leaving me with the feeling that the painting had done the job the artist originally intended. Which was of course to keep the world away, even if only for those few cherished moments when one was gazing at it.
As I said at the start of my review an original read that I think will appeal to anyone that enjoys art and creative women. Margaret Forster draws you into the lives of these women, especially as the source of the story is all based on a wonderful little painting.
Lots more here
http://lindyloumacbookreviews.blogspo...
June 15, 2022
An engaging, beautifully written multi-narrator novel. Characters converge around the life of a painting by Gwen John, a work that does exist. Though I sometimes dislike shifting points of view, Forster creates a refined point of focus for each character, evoking incredible depth and complexity to each. The novel becomes richer and surprised me many times in the 100-year period of time it covers.
I'd read Forster's fabulous biography on Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and now I'm thrilled by her talents as a novelist. If you enjoy fiction about artists and/or the creative life, you might love this one as much as I did.
I'd read Forster's fabulous biography on Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and now I'm thrilled by her talents as a novelist. If you enjoy fiction about artists and/or the creative life, you might love this one as much as I did.
May 13, 2015
I love Margaret Forster's books. I've read three now, and this one was as good as the other two, perhaps my favorite. It's based on a painting by Gwen John, an actual artist, an actual painting. The painting is given to a friend by the artist and then travels with other women, all of whom have reasons to "keep the world away." It's an extraordinary perspective on the ways in which women need to carve out their own space, their rooms, their worlds. I loved it. Very different from any book I've read about women, not "romantic" at all although it aches with longing. But these women sense what they need to live their lives, and men are only part of that story, and for most of the women, not the major part. If you haven't read any of Forster's books, this is where I'd start. She is so different, and so daring. All of her books are worth reading.
March 2, 2012
This book was really excellent! I couldn't put it down.
SPOILERS below:
When I got to a certain point in the "Gwen" section, the painting she gave to her friend Ursula began to sound very, very familiar. Something clicked in my brain. I knew I had bought a greeting card years ago of an attic, with a wicker chair, a window and a table with flowers on it. I bought it because it made me feel peaceful. I used to keep it on my bulletin board at work.
I ran upstairs to a file folder where I keep work mementoes, and sure enough, it was "A Corner of the Artist's Room" by Gwen John!
I was delighted that just a brief description in a book could spark my memory like that. And more pleased that I own a tiny copy of the painting that inspired this wonderful book!
SPOILERS below:
When I got to a certain point in the "Gwen" section, the painting she gave to her friend Ursula began to sound very, very familiar. Something clicked in my brain. I knew I had bought a greeting card years ago of an attic, with a wicker chair, a window and a table with flowers on it. I bought it because it made me feel peaceful. I used to keep it on my bulletin board at work.
I ran upstairs to a file folder where I keep work mementoes, and sure enough, it was "A Corner of the Artist's Room" by Gwen John!
I was delighted that just a brief description in a book could spark my memory like that. And more pleased that I own a tiny copy of the painting that inspired this wonderful book!
September 11, 2007
I was sent this book to review for Library Journal. I knew of Margaret Forster Margaret Forster but had never read anything by her. The premise of the story sounded familiar - a painting is the element that ties the stories of the owners together. Very Girl in Hyacinth Blue. But this novel is anything but a ripoff of another story - this was so beautifully and quietly written. Each woman in turn is affected by this painting, and the quest for the quietness and solitude it promises is something many people can understand.
August 8, 2019
interesting idea but all the female characters were the same person!
February 7, 2023
INTIMISM 3.5
I’ve always loved Gwen John thanks to my father who moved in artistic circles in London pre WW2. I remember the Barbican exhibition well. I haven’t read any books by this author before and would be interested to read more. We have a couple of amateur artists in our library book group, so it will be enlightening to hear what they think. The premise of the book is good, but I think MF could’ve been more succinct. There is obviously a link to Virginia Woolf but those who hadn’t read ‘a room of ones own’ or knew the artist would appreciate the plot which starts and ends with Gillian. I enjoyed the first part best but every woman’s life experience was interesting with a lot of sadness. The only male character I felt any sympathy for was Alan and I would have liked to learn more about Charlotte. All these women strive to live their own lives and see the painting as their inspiration.
Most people in the library group liked the book especially the amateur artists. Not all of them knew about Gwen John. The way the painting passed from woman to woman was discussed and the importance of having one’s own space. One member thought there wasn’t enough dialogue and others wanted to know more about the characters.
I’ve always loved Gwen John thanks to my father who moved in artistic circles in London pre WW2. I remember the Barbican exhibition well. I haven’t read any books by this author before and would be interested to read more. We have a couple of amateur artists in our library book group, so it will be enlightening to hear what they think. The premise of the book is good, but I think MF could’ve been more succinct. There is obviously a link to Virginia Woolf but those who hadn’t read ‘a room of ones own’ or knew the artist would appreciate the plot which starts and ends with Gillian. I enjoyed the first part best but every woman’s life experience was interesting with a lot of sadness. The only male character I felt any sympathy for was Alan and I would have liked to learn more about Charlotte. All these women strive to live their own lives and see the painting as their inspiration.
Most people in the library group liked the book especially the amateur artists. Not all of them knew about Gwen John. The way the painting passed from woman to woman was discussed and the importance of having one’s own space. One member thought there wasn’t enough dialogue and others wanted to know more about the characters.
February 16, 2021
2* - I feel bad rating a book 2 stars, but when I think of the books I've rated three stars, I just can't put this in the same category.
cw: death of a loved one, infidelity, war.
Synopsis
The novel follows a painting that, over the course of a century, appears in different women's lives. The book is divided into six sections, each section following a different woman's life, experience with the painting, and the effect the painting has on her.
Merits
The concept of the book is fabulous, even if the execution fell flat.
Charlotte was my favorite character in the book, and I liked how she was very different than all the other characters.
Critiques
Oh dear. Let's start by saying I really wanted to like this book. The book description sounded so interesting and full of life. The book itself, however, did not seem full of life at all.
The pace was very slow, and I lost interest over and over again, throughout the book. I kept reading, because I hoped with each new character, that there would be a chance regain my interest. Unfortunately, that never happened.
The characters all seemed to blend into one, and I had to keep reminding myself who each one was, so I wouldn't get them confused. (Charlotte was the only one who stood out to me, and her chapter was over much too quickly.) The rest of the main characters all had a morose outlook on life, and very similar personality traits.
Throughout the entire book, I had to keep flipping the pages back to not only remember who the main characters were, but who secondary characters were. Secondary characters would be mentioned once, like the reader had some previous knowledge of them, but after re-reading chapters it was clear to me they had never been mentioned before. It was confusing to follow.
The book also skipped over large chunks of time, which normally isn't a huge problem, but it was in this case. From one paragraph to the next it could skip years without warning or explanation. I was constantly piecing things together to figure out how much time had passed, and also what events had transpired.
Sometimes in these same paragraphs, the location would change entirely, but not say where we were geographically. It wasn't until later when I would piece things together to find out how much time had passed and where we were. None of this happened in a fun way. It seemed seemed like the author knew where we were going, but hadn't quite filled the reader in on the journey.
Also, not a lot happened in this book. I tend to prefer more fast paced novels, and had accepted that this one was much slower, but I still wished more had happened. My interest was not held in reading this book.
The whole writing style seemed muddy to me. With so many of the characters it appeared that the same story being told again and again, for no reason. Also, the locations, though different, had an air of sameness to them as well.
Some of the characters from the chapters knew each other (mostly in the later chapters). In the earlier chapters, it seemed like some of the characters who didn't know each other would meet, but it turned out to be another missed opportunity for this book.
Overall
I'm confused by the overwhelming amount of good reviews for this book. I really did try to give it a chance. I read it at different times during the day to make sure I wasn't to sleepy, or distracted. I read the book in short sections, and long sections to try to see which held my interest more.
However, no matter how much I tried, this book just wasn't for me. I feel bad potentially pushing people away from a book, but I wish someone had let me know that it wasn't going to be as interesting as I hoped it would be from the jacket synopsis.
In the end I had to force myself to sit down and finish it so I could move on to another book.
Maybe you'll like the book, I don't know. I hope you do if you end up deciding to read it.
cw: death of a loved one, infidelity, war.
Synopsis
The novel follows a painting that, over the course of a century, appears in different women's lives. The book is divided into six sections, each section following a different woman's life, experience with the painting, and the effect the painting has on her.
Merits
The concept of the book is fabulous, even if the execution fell flat.
Charlotte was my favorite character in the book, and I liked how she was very different than all the other characters.
Critiques
Oh dear. Let's start by saying I really wanted to like this book. The book description sounded so interesting and full of life. The book itself, however, did not seem full of life at all.
The pace was very slow, and I lost interest over and over again, throughout the book. I kept reading, because I hoped with each new character, that there would be a chance regain my interest. Unfortunately, that never happened.
The characters all seemed to blend into one, and I had to keep reminding myself who each one was, so I wouldn't get them confused. (Charlotte was the only one who stood out to me, and her chapter was over much too quickly.) The rest of the main characters all had a morose outlook on life, and very similar personality traits.
Throughout the entire book, I had to keep flipping the pages back to not only remember who the main characters were, but who secondary characters were. Secondary characters would be mentioned once, like the reader had some previous knowledge of them, but after re-reading chapters it was clear to me they had never been mentioned before. It was confusing to follow.
The book also skipped over large chunks of time, which normally isn't a huge problem, but it was in this case. From one paragraph to the next it could skip years without warning or explanation. I was constantly piecing things together to figure out how much time had passed, and also what events had transpired.
Sometimes in these same paragraphs, the location would change entirely, but not say where we were geographically. It wasn't until later when I would piece things together to find out how much time had passed and where we were. None of this happened in a fun way. It seemed seemed like the author knew where we were going, but hadn't quite filled the reader in on the journey.
Also, not a lot happened in this book. I tend to prefer more fast paced novels, and had accepted that this one was much slower, but I still wished more had happened. My interest was not held in reading this book.
The whole writing style seemed muddy to me. With so many of the characters it appeared that the same story being told again and again, for no reason. Also, the locations, though different, had an air of sameness to them as well.
Some of the characters from the chapters knew each other (mostly in the later chapters). In the earlier chapters, it seemed like some of the characters who didn't know each other would meet, but it turned out to be another missed opportunity for this book.
Overall
I'm confused by the overwhelming amount of good reviews for this book. I really did try to give it a chance. I read it at different times during the day to make sure I wasn't to sleepy, or distracted. I read the book in short sections, and long sections to try to see which held my interest more.
However, no matter how much I tried, this book just wasn't for me. I feel bad potentially pushing people away from a book, but I wish someone had let me know that it wasn't going to be as interesting as I hoped it would be from the jacket synopsis.
In the end I had to force myself to sit down and finish it so I could move on to another book.
Maybe you'll like the book, I don't know. I hope you do if you end up deciding to read it.
May 26, 2018
The biggest problem with this book is its structure. Purporting to be the story of a painting and its effect of various women who own it, each section is too long with distracting parts to it. It is as if there were seven novellas linked together. I know of the saying, Don't tell it, show it. But in this case, too much is shown when it would have been better to just refer to certain parts of their pasts.
Gwen, Charlotte, Stella, Lucasta, Ailsa, Gillian (and Claudette, who doesn't get her own chapter) each have the painting in their possession for awhile. I was also annoyed by how various characters keep running into each other though they don't know who these people are in relation to The Painting. I have not thought it all through how the painting helped each person keep the world away, and if that was or was not a good thing. We will be discussing it at the Arteast Book Club in a few days. It will make for a good discussion.
At the discussion, I was a bit surprised that members could not keep the characters and their stories straight. I had to go through them one by one. But we had fun.
Gwen, Charlotte, Stella, Lucasta, Ailsa, Gillian (and Claudette, who doesn't get her own chapter) each have the painting in their possession for awhile. I was also annoyed by how various characters keep running into each other though they don't know who these people are in relation to The Painting. I have not thought it all through how the painting helped each person keep the world away, and if that was or was not a good thing. We will be discussing it at the Arteast Book Club in a few days. It will make for a good discussion.
At the discussion, I was a bit surprised that members could not keep the characters and their stories straight. I had to go through them one by one. But we had fun.
September 17, 2008
I liked the idea of this book. Much like the movie "The Red Violin", the story of this painting starts with the artist who pours her heart and soul into this painting in order to please her lover. The book is based on an actual painting (at least a version of it) and artist. This painting is lost, found, sold, bought and passed on to many different women through the ages, and the book tells the story of how it affects their respective lives.
My main problem with the story is though "passion" is brought up quite often, and each woman is described as highly passionate, I never feel any passion while reading it. Gwen's affair with Rodin is written about so matter of factly that I felt a little like I was reading a textbook or at least a very dry biography. Plus, each of the women seemed to be very distant and isolated - maybe that's why they liked the painting so much. But, for me at least, the book seemed to be lacking something.
My main problem with the story is though "passion" is brought up quite often, and each woman is described as highly passionate, I never feel any passion while reading it. Gwen's affair with Rodin is written about so matter of factly that I felt a little like I was reading a textbook or at least a very dry biography. Plus, each of the women seemed to be very distant and isolated - maybe that's why they liked the painting so much. But, for me at least, the book seemed to be lacking something.
April 10, 2019
Gwen, Charlotte, Stella, Lucasta, Ailsa en Gillian, six women over a period of hundred years. They have never met each other, and therefore don't know each other, but they are connected by a painting, made by Gwen John.
It is an intriguing story about women lives and their relationships with their fathers, husbands, friends, loves and longing. The painting, which wanders from owner to owner, makes each of the women aware of who they are, want they need and want from life. Through the painting they become strong.
I like the idea that the painting connects the stories of the several women. The way Forster laid out her characters is very well done, vivid and intriguing, their longing to be independent, to paint, to do what they like makes them women of flesh and blood.
It is an intriguing story about women lives and their relationships with their fathers, husbands, friends, loves and longing. The painting, which wanders from owner to owner, makes each of the women aware of who they are, want they need and want from life. Through the painting they become strong.
I like the idea that the painting connects the stories of the several women. The way Forster laid out her characters is very well done, vivid and intriguing, their longing to be independent, to paint, to do what they like makes them women of flesh and blood.
October 14, 2007
Like
Girl in Hyacinth Blue
, this story follows a painting as it's passed from woman to woman, beginning with the painter herself, Gwen John. The problems I had with this book were that parts of it felt very condensed, and sometimes from paragraph to paragraph, it was hard to figure out how much time was to have passed, making it feel like there were chunks edited out. I also felt that some of the connections between the characters were contrived and it took away from the realness of the book.
March 16, 2013
This novel takes a hackneyed structure--follow a life of an object, in this case a painting,and take it through the lives of first the creator and then the people who owned it-- and does nothing original or particularly interesting with it. It begins with Gwen, the Victorian woman who struggled to express her passion through her painting only to shift it to Rodin. It moves on to similar women who 'want to keep the world away' until it comes to its modern setting. The narrative is mostly telling so that it gives the reader little chance to be anything but annoyed with the characters. We pause for scenes on very few occasions and rush through the life to get to the next one.
March 9, 2009
I wasn't sure I liked this novel at first, but kept reading anyway, and came to like it very much in the end. The first character, whom I just found out is the fictionalized but real painter Gwen John, was my least favorite. She creates a small painting of a corner of her attic room in paris that passes through the hands of several women over the course of about 100 years, all of whom are drawn to it because of factors in their own lives. The women are all very different from one another, but have in common a desire for the sort of peace that only isolation can give, hence the title.
July 15, 2009
A painting by Gwen John passes from owner to owner over the course of 100 years. Forster is a good story-teller, but somehow I wasn't as engaged as I felt I ought to be. Maybe because I'm one of those people that doesn't get mesmerized by many paintings. The back cover shows the picture in question, and frankly it doesn't do a whole lot for me. Also there were too many characters; I'd prefer more details about fewer people.
January 10, 2018
Meh. It was OK; well-written enough, but I felt like a lot of the connections between characters were contrived. Looking at my completely over-cluttered office, I'm not sure I have the mindset of streamlined, uncluttered peace and serenity that was the over-riding theme.
June 9, 2025
09/06/25: I loved how the stories were connected by the painting though I felt nothing for it myself.
08/03/24: Been reading this at my daughter’s and she’s lost my copy!
To be picked up again when she finds it.
08/03/24: Been reading this at my daughter’s and she’s lost my copy!
To be picked up again when she finds it.
January 28, 2015
(3.5)Review to follow.
May 9, 2017
I'm going to start by saying that I just loved this book. So much. It's wonderful, just wonderful.
Forster tells the story of a fictional painting by Gwen John ((a real artist, but being quite a philistine I'd never heard of her before)) and the various people who own this painting. How they feel about it, what it represents to them, and how it speaks to them.
Many don't appreciate the painting at first, finding it small, dull, quiet. But the longer they have it the more the painting speaks to them. It reveals themselves to them, and their desires for a room, a space, "of their own" where they can keep the world away, as the title says. The women who come to own this painting over the years are all struggling to find their own space in the world. And this painting, this little "insipid" thing seems to grow and turn into an inspiration and an echo of their own sense of self.
Many of the characters are artists, or wish to be. Forster writes wonderfully about art and painting, the quality of light, the struggle of putting on paper what they see in their minds. It is enough to make you want to pick up a brush and start painting.
But it is also a book about what it is to be a woman in a world designed for men. And especially what it is to wish to be an artist when one is also a woman in a world designed for men. How can you create that space and passion and energy that is needed to be an artist if you must arrange your life around men? If you must devote your time to children and keeping house? How can you let love distract you from your art?
The novel also asks a lot of questions about relationships and what love is. Most of the relationships portrayed in the book are not very successful ones. And the most successful one seems to be such a success because over time the two people involved have drifted apart. Content to share a space but also to live quite separate lives.
I think this is a book I could reread again and again. And I would love to have a work of art mean as much to me as the characters in this book.
June 17, 2020
"Lost, found, stolen, strayed, sold, fought over ... This engrossing, beautifully crafted novel follows the adventures of an early-twentieth-century painting and the women whose lives it touches.
"It opens with bold, passionate Gwen, struggling to be an artist, leaving for Paris where she becomes Rodin's lover and paints a small, intimate picture of a quiet corner of her attic room. Then there's Charlotte, a dreamy intellectual Edwardian girl, and Stella, Lucasta, Ailsa, and finally young Gillian, who share an unspoken desire to have for themselves a tranquil golden place like that in the painting.
"Quintessential Forster, this is a novel about women's lives, about what it means and what it costs to be both a woman and an artist, and a compelling look at a beautiful painting and its imagined afterlife."
~~back cover
What a lovely, gentle, compelling book this is! What struck me the most about it was the way the author wove the characters in and out of the lives of the various owners of the painting, having them be there but never quite touching, never quite discovering the link between them. And it's so beautifully written, a mirror image of the painting it revolves around. So compelling. the reader wants to hurry through, to find out what happens next, and yet is compelled to linger, to savor the exquisite language and the scenes it invokes.
"It opens with bold, passionate Gwen, struggling to be an artist, leaving for Paris where she becomes Rodin's lover and paints a small, intimate picture of a quiet corner of her attic room. Then there's Charlotte, a dreamy intellectual Edwardian girl, and Stella, Lucasta, Ailsa, and finally young Gillian, who share an unspoken desire to have for themselves a tranquil golden place like that in the painting.
"Quintessential Forster, this is a novel about women's lives, about what it means and what it costs to be both a woman and an artist, and a compelling look at a beautiful painting and its imagined afterlife."
~~back cover
What a lovely, gentle, compelling book this is! What struck me the most about it was the way the author wove the characters in and out of the lives of the various owners of the painting, having them be there but never quite touching, never quite discovering the link between them. And it's so beautifully written, a mirror image of the painting it revolves around. So compelling. the reader wants to hurry through, to find out what happens next, and yet is compelled to linger, to savor the exquisite language and the scenes it invokes.
November 12, 2017
We start with Gwen early in the 20th century. A young artist from England, she moves to romantic Paris, where she gets lost in a whirlwind of passion during her affair with Rodin (the sculptor), and paints a little still life, the corner of her attic room, that she gives to her friend. We then follow that painting through the lives of the women it ends up with and whole lives they touch, in one way or another.
I read this book slowly, since I was reading something else at the same time, so maybe this prevented me from being ore involved in the story. On the other hand, it's one of those stories in which nothing seems to happen, so the slow rhythm probably didn't end up hurting that much.
I enjoyed seeing the lives of the different women throughout the century, and the relations they had to each-other, the reasons for the transfer of the painting from one to the other. I'm not much of a fan of art itself and paintings, so I have to admit that aspect of the story - all the women we followed were (or would like to think of themselves as) artists - wasn't my favourite.
And I learned only at the very end that Gwen was a real person XD
I read this book slowly, since I was reading something else at the same time, so maybe this prevented me from being ore involved in the story. On the other hand, it's one of those stories in which nothing seems to happen, so the slow rhythm probably didn't end up hurting that much.
I enjoyed seeing the lives of the different women throughout the century, and the relations they had to each-other, the reasons for the transfer of the painting from one to the other. I'm not much of a fan of art itself and paintings, so I have to admit that aspect of the story - all the women we followed were (or would like to think of themselves as) artists - wasn't my favourite.
And I learned only at the very end that Gwen was a real person XD
December 27, 2018
I found this book an easy read. The story of a painting and the owner's whose hands it passed through over the years. The owners were mostly women. Each owner had a chapter which did not encourage any deeper understanding of why this painting had such a strong, emotional pull on them. The work passed through the hands of several women, some of whom were artists and some not. Each of them were looking for independence. The men in the book in whose path and the painting crossed were touched by the painting but not in a positive way. I found this work somewhat disappointing as I had read another work by Margaret Forster, Lady's Maid, and found it moving and deeply felt where this seemed surface oriented due to the movement of the painting and not to the development of the characters.
October 22, 2022
Very enjoyable. One piece of art, Gwen John’s [Attic room with chair], is made to pass through many women’s hands before making its way to the National Gallery, London. From Gwen herself onwards, we are drawn into each woman’s life: after her, her friend Ursula owns it for a few hours only, then it passes to Charlotte Falconer, then to Stella, to the wife of a potter, to her daughter Lucasta, from her to Ailsa Mortimer, to a Frenchwoman who is the first one in the chain to recognise who the artist is, and from her to the Gallery, where it is admired by Ailsa’s granddaughter Gillian. All these women made sense to me, and their feeling of intrigue regarding a picture that shows no figure but implies one elsewhere in the room, is believable.
August 5, 2021
I enjoyed this book . Margaret Forster looks at the lives of women through the history of one painting. I found her observations insightful and her demonstration of how love relates to creativity interesting. This relates strongly to 'A Room of one's Own' by Virginia Woolf.
However the men in in this book are generally unsympathetic which gives it an overall bias. An exception is in the description of family life when it is the fathers who are helpful and the mothers tend not to understand. Also the women central to the book do not have supportive female friends; they tend to be tied into isolating relationships with their husbands and partners.
However the men in in this book are generally unsympathetic which gives it an overall bias. An exception is in the description of family life when it is the fathers who are helpful and the mothers tend not to understand. Also the women central to the book do not have supportive female friends; they tend to be tied into isolating relationships with their husbands and partners.
April 24, 2022
What is the life of a painting? Who owned it? Why did they have it? How did they live? These are the questions Forster answers here with one painting - Gwen John's "A corner of the artist's room". I confess I love Forster's books and this is no exception. The characters are so real, and Lucasta as a person with no humour was so interesting. My one criticism would be that if the characters had dates next to them I could see where we are in the narrative, but that's petty really. A great book, easy to read and so enthralling.
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