Rate this book

Eight Girls Taking Pictures (2012)

by Whitney Otto(Favorite Author)

3.27 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1451682697 (ISBN13: 9781451682694)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Scribner

review 1: I loved the topic of this book: women photographers, and am interested in the real lives behind these fictional characters. I also liked that this book made me think about early century gender roles, about the challenges of being an artist or a professional and a mother. However, I was distracted by wanting to know about the REAL photographers behind the stories, and less interested in a fictional version. I guess my next stop should be some biographies!
review 2: Here's a book I really wanted to like; after all I'm a photographer too. The mechanism that attracted me is simple. Each of the eight short pieces starts with a B&W picture. The story unfolds, and somewhere in it the reader encounters the picture in context. The pieces move through the twentieth ce... morentury and interlock to some degree through places and characters who may be a bit player in one short piece and a major one in the next. Whitney Otto has done a lot of research into the craft of photography appropriate for the time each piece is set, but troubling anachronisms keep popping up to break the historical setting. It's as if she can't remove herself from present worldviews even after a good faith effort to enter the minds of the past. As I read thru the pieces there were distressing similarities among the lead 'girls' and their relationships with male mentors. I became uncomfortable with the mix of real historic people, fictional persons and literary persona's seemly drawn from recognizable photo world stars. There is some fine writing in here, but what finally drove me away was the authors preoccupation with seeming profound expressions tied up in description of peoples clothing. The historical research and some fine writing just could not carry the novel . I bailed out just past half way through. less

Download links for: Eight Girls Taking Pictures

Advertising