Reader's Ink discussion

5. Do you think Vreeland lived up to her standard of writing skills and research in this book?

I haven't read anything by her before, but I definitely think she is a talented writer. At times I felt that maybe she was a little over verbose, but her descriptions sparkled and she put a lot of thought into details.

I will try and remember a few of the lines that stood out. Typically I do a lot of highlighting in my books, but since my copy of this book belongs to the library, it's probably a good thing that I didn't highlight or underline anything :)

I haven't read anything else by Vreeland either, so I couldn't really say whether or not it hit her standard. Also, I know very little about the time and culture in which the book was set....so, it seemed very well researched and written- but at the same time, if it were completely fantasy, I wouldn't really know the difference!

From the people that I have visited with that are Vreeland groupies, (after I picked this book), this book is fairly well respected, but some of her others might be a little higher on the liked scale. Cheryl for example has read one or more of hers, and she is inspiring me to go and check out some others. I have huge admiration for her research though. Just in awe of it

This was my first Vreeland novel. Like Alisha, if she flubbed some facts or even the controversey surrounding impressionism, I bought it! That said, one of my pet peeves with historical fiction is when the author tries to jam in every little piece of research or insight into a novel, which I think happened at times here. The novel definitely could've been shorter.

I agree 110% with your Historical fiction comment.