So, I need to apologize for not writing this much, much sooner. I also need to apologize for not finishing this book. I got about halfway through before I gave up on it. I wanted to give up a lot sooner, but I kept telling myself that it’ll hopefully get better. It never did. With that being said, this review may be a little (or very much) biased.
The prologue of the book takes place 6 months into the future. An art house in London is preparing for a high stakes auction. The director of the art house is making sure that every little detail is taken care of, as the painting that is being sold is expected to break sale records worldwide. At the end of the prologue, some unnamed thief comes and steals the painting.
Chapter 1 opens up on the main character, Annie McDee. We learn that she works for a film director, who lends her to his wife as a temporary chef. His wife and her family are well known art collectors, and that they will do anything to get whatever painting they want. Annie is currently seeing someone new after getting out of a 14 year relationship (more on that in a bit). She goes to an antique store and tries to find a birthday gift for her beau when she comes across a filthy painting. She can’t quite make out what the painting is supposed to be of since it has years of varnish, smoke, and human contact dirtying it up. She purchases the painting and proceeds to make dinner for her and her boyfriend. He stands her up and she gets drunk off of wine.
The next day, she goes to try and return the painting, but she soon discovers that the building had burned down. Now she’s stuck with this painting. While touring an art gallery, she catches the eye of a tour guide. They eventually go out on a date and he offers his help on figuring out what the painting is of.
There are a few chapters in which the story is being told from the painting’s point of view. “He” does come off as a little pompous, especially since he’s over 300 years old.
The first few chapters were very scattered. Each one features a new character and it’s up to the reader to figure out how they’re related to the overall story. Some characters were mentioned in the prologue and others seem to have no connection to any other characters in the book at all. I found it hard to follow the sudden changes in characters and had trouble keeping up with them when they were brought back into the story.
Near the halfway point (around the time that I stopped reading), we begin to learn about a secret with Annie’s employer. We learn that Annie’s painting is a long lost painting by Jean-Antoine Watteau and is being sought by her employer’s family. Once it’s discovered that Annie is the current owner of the painting, they go about ways of trying to figure out why she has it and what she plans to do with it. The daughter (the film director’s wife) soon learns that her father has a hidden agenda on why he wants the painting and tries to figure out why he wants it so bad. This leads her to learn that her father had a hand in rounding up the Jews during WWII.
Since I never finished this book, I didn’t get to find out what happens with the painting. Well, we know that it tries to get auctioned off before being stolen, based on the prologue. But I never found out how it came into the art house’s possession. I feel that I might’ve enjoyed the book a bit more if I was more interested in art. The book is very art heavy and I found myself getting lost a few times. If you feel lost after reading this review, then chances are you know how I felt while reading this book.
I am going to give this book 3 stars. The book was beautifully written and did have its moments, but the sudden character changes had me lost. If you have an affinity for art, then I would highly recommend this book for you.
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