Crime, Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

This is the discussion thread for A walk among the tombstones lead by Karen. Thank you, Karen

I am confused. I thought the person nominating was the discussion leader?

What I'm confused about is that there are two different names for this thread.

Sorry I made a mistake. It's the art forger not Jenny's book. So sorry Jenny.

Sorry I made a mistake. It's the art forger not Jenny's book. So sorry Jenny.

Good morning!

Here is a brief description of The Art Forger:

It has been almost 25 years since the infamous art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It is still an unsolved crime, and probably the largest in art theft history. One of the stolen Degas paintings is brought to the Boston studio of a young artist, Claire Roth, who is making her living by doing reproductions. She is barely making ends meet when a gallery owner offers her a showing in his gallery if she will copy the Degas he is offering to bring her. She agonizes over this offer, but is so intrigued by the prospect of having the Degas at her fingertips, she agrees. She heavily researches Degas and his techninques, and begins to doubt whether the piece presented to her to copy is truely an orginal. Is it possible that a forgery has been presented as an original at the Gardner all along? The Art Forger goes into minute detail about painting, paints and the lives of both Degas and Isabella Stewart Gardner. A fascinating read, and thrilling once the forgers are caught and prosecuted. Is it real, or can they beat the wrap because it is a forgery?

I am anxious to hear what you all think.

Karen

Very good read! I learned a lot about art forgers and how it's done. Not that I would ever, but it was informative and entertaining. I was surprised at the ending. Would recommend it to others.

I'm in for this book. Sounds interesting

Thanks Kathy. I learned a lot about how forging is done too. When I passed my copy to my mother, I told her to not get bogged down in the details of the process, but to enjoy the plotting.

Thx Karen for giving a brief description of the book. It introduces us to the book and helps us to make a decision to read or not to read. Now I am more interested than before.

I found it interesting that the author's original plan was to base the book on Isabella, a fictional biography. I'm sure that is what led to the sections from her perspective, via letters to her niece.

Hope to start reading this as soon as I finish the current one I'm reading. :)

From the author: One day, as I was ruminating on how difficult life was for anyone in the arts and feeling more than a bit sorry for myself, my missing link appeared in the form of a question: What would any of us be willing to do to secure our ambitions?

After you have had a chance to ponder this, I will let you know my feelings on it.

Karen wrote: "Thanks Kathy. I learned a lot about how forging is done too. When I passed my copy to my mother, I told her to not get bogged down in the details of the process, but to enjoy the plotting."

I guess I'm a science geek. I loved the details, but I hope nobody uses it to do it, because I suspect, it's not a "guide" on how to forge.

I just picked up the audiobook of The Art Forger at Audible.com as part of their 2 for 1 sale!

Great Kirsen!

I am guessing people are still reading, or waiting for their copy to arrive.

So I will just comment that although Claire appears to accept the challenge of reproducing the Degas in order to get out of financial debt and as a chance to redeem her reputation after her disasterous conflict with Isaac years ago, I felt that the author made it pretty clear that she was more interested in being in contact with the painting, than the opportunity for her own show.

As she began to doubt the authenticity of the painting, I think she began to focus more on her chance to get her work out in front of the public and jump start her career again.

This was in part due to her relationship with Aiden, the gallery owner and her lover. I saw him as the devil on her shoulder tempting her in so many different ways.

I am looking forward to reading this. I am picking it up at the library tomorrow.

Great Mary,
I hope you enjoy it.

This novel was inspired by an actual art theft. What if the Degas, or any of the other pieces, were not authentic? What if an unknown artist did instead? Does it make the painting any less beautiful, or admired. How much of the value of the art was because of the fame of the artist?

Karen, your last message about what is real/not real was one of the things that intrigued me most about this book and kept me engaged. I had mixed feelings about the writing and characters. Sometimes the characters seemed a little too pat and the circumstances too contrived. But overall, I thought it was a good story and I loved the parts that explained forgery. I lived in Boston when the heist occurred, so the book interested me from that perspective also. I'm eager to see what others think of it. I listened to this and was annoyed by the narrator who used a seductive tone throughout.

I just got back from the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. I was particularly interested in the Degas's. No balerinas unfortunately.
In their museum shop, they have "staff recommendations". There were some fiction titles but The Art Forger was not there!!!

Karen wrote: "I just got back from the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. I was particularly interested in the Degas's. No balerinas unfortunately.
In their museum shop, they have "staff recommendations". The..."

Maybe the book was too close to a "How To", for comfort ;)

I thought this book was very fascinating, especially the history and art sections. Unfortunately, I never really connected with Claire, and found the flashbacks into her life distracting. I loved the little conversation thrown in about cognitive dissonance. Claire and a friend are talking about how the art community is subconsciously allow their dislike for Claire to affect their thoughts on her work, while Claire is doing the same thing to justify her own actions.

Interesting Michelle...the novel explores the idea that we sometimes only see what we want to see. If we are told a painting is a masterpiece, how much do we buy into that?

It has been estimated that roughly 40 percent of all artworks put up for sale in a year are forgeries...

Theodore Rousseau, an expert from the Metropolitan Museum is quoted as saying "We can only talk about the bad forgeries, the ones that have been detected. The good ones are still hanging on museum walls".

Does this make a difference to the average person, or just the owners?

By the way, why aren't the October reads up on the Group Page, I mean the discussion links and the books should show where there are still the September books, right?

Sorry that more people did not get a copy of The Art Forger before the end of the month. Feel free to keep commenting.

For more information on Art Theft and Forgery, please check out this terrific webpage:

http://www.inreferencetomurder.com/ht...

Thanks,

Karen

Thanks Karen - that is an interesting webpage.

I read the book a couple of months ago. Wow that is interesting that so many forgeries exist - I never would have guessed!