Reader's Ink discussion

#4. How did you like the book, and did the supplemental materials help you at all. I looked at the drawing a bunch to help me keep track of who was who!

The book moved somewhat slowly for me, and didn't really grab me. It was definitely hard to keep track of the characters and their relationships to each other- especially in the beginning!

Agree- in general it is hard for me to keep track of a wide cast of characters, even in movies unless all the characters look drastically different.

I enjoyed the descriptive details, and I can appreciate the time it took to compile the research.

It wasn't a book that I couldn't put down, but it made me want to go to the art museum, so I guess that's a good thing!!

I think I may have warned you that the first 75 or so pages really drag quite slow. To me it really didn't pull together until the romance began and the excitement of getting the painting going did I feel interested and engaged in the book. I think everyone I've talked to had troubles getting going. Sorry about that!!! My appreciation for Vreeland is still very high. Her research and knowledge of the characters, being real individuals made it that much more fascinating to me.

Per usual, I reviewed it here:
http://sharingtheshelf.blogspot.com/2...

I gave it a 3, mainly because I think Vreeland is a decent writer, despite her failure to suck me into this one. Although I thought Vreeland nailed the time and flavor of Renoir's milieu, I just couldn't get into it. The plot was weak and the cast of characters was so large---and the banter at each luncheon dragged on and on and ON. I get why Vreeland constructed her scenes the way she did--I mean, they could really just stand there and attempt to be witty--but it made for tiresome reading. So, I guess the lesson here is, building a novel on scenes where nobody is permitted to do anything is a tad . . . problematic.