Search This Blog

2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


30 / 30 books. 100% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (7)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (1)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (1)
- Georgia (2)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois (3)
- Indiana (4)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (3)
- Michigan (1)
- Minnesota (1)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri (1)
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada (2)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (1)
- New Mexico (1)
- New York (8)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota (1)
- Ohio (2)
- Oklahoma (2)
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania (2)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (4)
- Utah (2)
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia (2)
- Washington (3)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.* (2)

International:
- Australia (2)
- Bolivia (1)
- Canada (3)
- China (1)
- England (20)
- France (1)
- Ghana (1)
- India (1)
- Indonesia (1)
- Ireland (4)
- Italy (1)
- Poland (1)
- Russia (1)
- Scotland (3)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


44 / 50 books. 88% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


36 / 50 books. 72% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


50 / 52 books. 96% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


36 / 40 books. 90% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


17 / 40 books. 43% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


21 / 25 books. 84% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


17 / 26.2 miles (3rd lap). 65% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


38 / 100 books. 38% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


92 / 104 books. 88% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


125 / 165 books. 76% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


76 / 100 names. 76% done!
Thursday, February 15, 2018

Story Behind Famous Wyeth Painting Interesting, But Not Riveting

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

For Christina Olson, life is small and ordinary.  House bound because of a debilitating condition (probably Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease) that twists her limbs into useless twigs, she spends her days keeping house as best she can, sewing dresses for ladies in town, and conversing with her brother, Al.  As the only daughter in a family of sons, she's destined to be the eternal housekeeper—but never the owner—of Hathorne House, her ancestral home.  Although a young man once offered her the dim hope of a different life, Christina knows she will never leave Cushing, Maine, her tiny piece of the world.

When 46-year-old Christina meets Andrew Wyeth, a young painter, life changes most unexpectedly.  His frequent visits light up Hathorne House with an energy and vitality that hasn't been there in decades.  He brings color into Christina's bleak, lonely world.  Already enraptured by the stark scenery of Cushing, Andrew becomes fascinated by Christina, even featuring her in an evocative painting that becomes one of his most famous.  This surprising friendship changes both of their lives and ensures that an ordinary, but remarkable, woman is not forgotten.

It's hard to describe the plot of A Piece of the World, Christina Baker Kline's newest, because it really doesn't have one.  Blending fact and fiction, it tells the story of the real woman who inspired Andrew Wyeth's striking painting, Christina's World.  Kline delves into Christina's growing-up years, which were marked by difficulty and pain, as well as her adulthood and her unlikely association with Wyeth.  It highlights her fierce independence as well as her undying devotion to her family.  What results is a quiet, character-driven novel that is interesting, but not riveting.  I ended up liking it, but not loving it.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for brief, mild language (no F-bombs) and mild sexual content

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of A Piece of the World from Amazon with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.

7 comments:

  1. This one sounds a little bit on the boring side to me, lol. But, I could totally be wrong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah ... it's very slow. It definitely requires some patience :)

      Delete
  2. Oh no! Don’t tell me that. I was looking forward to this one. I’ll go into it with different expectations and hopefully still like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's interesting. It's just not exactly action-packed or exhilarating.

      Delete
  3. I liked learning more about Andrew Wyeth and seeing the story behind this famous painting. But I thought Christina and her brother had kind of sad lives.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Definitely. Very sad lives. Overall, this novel is pretty dang depressing!

      Delete
  4. I felt exactly the same way about this book.

    ReplyDelete

Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.

P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!

Blog Widget by LinkWithin


Reading

<i>Reading</i>
Murder is Bad Manners by Robin Stevens

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
The Boy Who Cried Bear by Kelley Armstrong



Followin' with Bloglovin'

Follow

Followin' with Feedly

follow us in feedly



Grab my Button!


Blog Design by:


Blog Archive