The Threadbare Heart by Jennie Nash- Book Review

May 052010

The Threadbare Heart by Jennie Nash

Lily and Tom have always had nearly the perfect marriage, which stands as the perfect foil to the multiple marriages of Lily’s mother Eleanor. Lily and Tom are committed to each other, Eleanor was happy to move onto the next man as soon as one is out of her life; Lily and Tom are perfectly content with their professors’ salaries, Eleanor has been known to marry for mutual financial and social benefit; Lily and Tom believe in love and choosing love, Eleanor believes love is basically a joke.

However, as Lily and Tom move into middle age, Lily starts to wonder if their marriage is as strong as everyone has always thought. It starts with Tom becoming angry with Lily for indulging in foods she knows are triggers to her debilitating migraines and admitting just how frustrated he is with her for not doing what she can to better control them. Next thing Eleanor knows, Tom is longing after an avocado farm in California, a purchase that would move them out of the Northeast and to California near Eleanor and their children. Once they arrive in California, Eleanor becomes reacquainted with a man who was once one of the more handsome boys in her high school class and she becomes worried about all the time Tom is spending with a young woman who works for the avocado grower’s association. Now Eleanor must sort out for herself what is and is not real in her life.

So I really liked this book, but OH MY GOSH! Stay away from plot summaries! The description on the back of the book is such a spoiler (I didn’t give anything too much away here)! You can obviously still enjoy the book if you know what is going to happen, but the events that are mentioned on the back of the book don’t occur until 2/3 of the way through the book. I assumed that said event would occur near the beginning and the majority of the book would be dealing with the aftermath, but that wasn’t the case at all.

Despite the fact that the back of the book had a major case of spoiler-itis, I thought this was a great work of women’s fiction. Although Lily was clearly the main character, Nash also takes us inside the heads of Eleanor and Lily’s son Ryan who is struggling with his young marriage. I loved how all three generations were struggling with questions of love and intimacy and how all had something to teach the others, even if indirectly. The questions raised by “The Threadbare Heart” in regards to whether or not love is a choice and the relationship between love and comfort or complacency were fascinating and I think this was a very well thought-out story.

A very thoughtful work of women’s fiction exploring real, everyday marriages and the themes of love and loss. Highly recommended.

In case you missed it, I’m giving away a copy of this book this week.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*

This review was done with a book received from the publisher at the author’s request.
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Claude and Camille by Stephanie Cowell - Book Review

May 032010

Claude and Camille by Stephanie Cowell

Claude Monet was an impetuous young man, determined not to spend his life in his father’s store. Originally a caricaturist, when Claude is challenged by a painter friend to try landscapes, he falls in love with painting and knows he has found his life’s work. Although Monet was convinced of his own talent and that of his friends, Parisian society failed to recognize them in the same way. The artists were always short of money and hounded by their debtors. In the midst of his attempt to make a living from his art, Claude met a beautiful young woman named Camille working in her uncle’s bookstore. Convincing Camille to model for him begins a great, loving, and often rocky relationship between the great painter and his muse.

Okay, I really enjoyed this book. I know it is sort of trendy for people who are serious about art to hate on the Impressionists these days, but I love them. Actually, Impressionist works are pretty much the only paintings I like to look at. However, apart from learning about pointilism in 4th grade (we learned about and tried our hand at many Impressionist styles, but pointilism is the only one I distinctly remember), I really knew almost nothing about the Impressionists, and particularly about how the movement began. In a day when one can buy Monet’s water lilies emblazoned on almost anything, it seems strange to think that he was not an immediate success in his art. In fact, though, the entire school of Impressionism failed to meet with success for quite some time.

I think Monet’s lack of initial success was the most interesting aspect of the book for me, because it so strongly informed his relationships. For instance, Claude loved Camille deeply, but his lack of ability to provide adequately for them put a strain on their marriage that was exacerbated by her bouts of depression and her childhood growing up very well off. The other major set of relationships in the book was between Monet and his Impressionist friends. I loved the tension between them supporting one another with their limited resources and their pain over their lack of success as young men.

“Claude and Camille” gives historical context to Impressionism, contains a (complicated) love story, and includes equally complicated and yet rich relationships between friends, what’s not to like? Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells.*
A local independent bookstore via Indiebound.*
Amazon.*