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The Jump Artist. Austin Ratner (2013)

by Austin Ratner(Favorite Author)

3.58 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0241961394 (ISBN13: 9780241961391)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Viking

review 1: I'm not at all sure how to star this book. I hadn't any prior knowledge about Philippe Halsman and after finishing the book I really enjoyed looking up some of the images he has taken - all of which were a bit of surprise even after reading the book. I thought the way the book was written was really interesting and quite unusual. Perhaps if I had known of Philippe before hand, or more of the characters that appeared in this story, that would have leant extra meaning to the events and what information was left out, but I have to confess to being ignorant (and not much wiser after reading this). I didn't really mind the structure or style but for whatever reason this book didn't quite grab me. Although certain bits did have me hooked it wasn't evenly spread through the ... morebook.
review 2: This is a highly fictionalized account of the life of Philippe Halsman. As a young man, Halsman was falsely accused of murdering his father while on a hiking trip in the Austrian Alps. The fact he was Jewish may have been a factor in his arrest. After two traumatic years in prison, his family managed to secure him a pardon. He worked hard to reinvent himself as a photographer in France in the late 1930's. When the war encroached on Paris, he managed to flee to America with his family. After years of adjustment he would eventually establish himself as a leading photographer for Life magazine capturing many of the most notable faces of the twentieth century. The writing is often pedantic, dark, and hard to follow due to a train of thought style. The constant infusion of foreign phrases, mostly German, while adding atmosphere, also slow down the flow. It's almost as hard to get through this book as it was for Halsman to achieve his fame. less

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