Define Of Books The Swan Thieves
Title | : | The Swan Thieves |
Author | : | Elizabeth Kostova |
Book Format | : | Hardcover |
Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 565 pages |
Published | : | January 21st 2010 by Sphere (first published January 12th 2010) |
Categories | : | Fiction. Historical. Historical Fiction. Mystery. Art |
Elizabeth Kostova
Hardcover | Pages: 565 pages Rating: 3.55 | 30109 Users | 4337 Reviews
Chronicle As Books The Swan Thieves
Kostova's masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy, from the late 19th century to the late 20th, from young love to last love. The Swan Thieves is a story of obsession, history's losses, and the power of art to preserve human hope.Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe, devoted to his profession and the painting hobby he loves, has a solitary but ordered life. When renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient, Marlow finds that order destroyed. Desperate to understand the secret that torments the genius, he embarks on a journey that leads him into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism.
Kostova's masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy, from the late 19th century to the late 20th, from young love to last love. The Swan Thieves is a story of obsession, history's losses, and the power of art to preserve human hope.
Point Books During The Swan Thieves
Original Title: | The Swan Thieves |
ISBN: | 1847442404 (ISBN13: 9781847442406) |
Edition Language: | English |
Characters: | Andrew Marlowe, Robert Oliver, Béatrice de Clerval |
Rating Of Books The Swan Thieves
Ratings: 3.55 From 30109 Users | 4337 ReviewsAssess Of Books The Swan Thieves
When I started this book I was enjoying it. About half way through, for various reasons, I had to put the book down for almost a week. When I picked it back up I just could not get back into the story. I found I really didn't much care about the characters or what happened to them. And the plot, such as it is, also had me unmoved. Which pretty much sums up my review.The Swan Thieves, Elizabeth Kostova's sophomore effort after The Historian, is altogether a very satisfying experience from beginning to end. It's nearly 600 pages long, and luckily it uses the pages well. It doesn't lag or become dull in places; instead, it moves forward at a slow but steady pace and reveals secrets bit by bit. Kostova lays out the pieces quite clearly so that even a half-attentive reader will figure out the secrets before they're explicitly confirmed. Some reviews have
I read The Historian by the same author and enjoyed it. Unfortunately this book didn't live up to expectations. When you enjoy a book by one author you have high hopes for their next book. In the case , it wasn't to be
My goodness, this was engrossing. I heard Elizabeth Kostova read from the novel at Lemuria earlier this month, and I have been happily giving over my lunch breaks and evenings to it ever since. A long novel, but thoroughly engrossingthat's twice I've used this word. Fitting. There were moments in the narrative when I couldn't quite shake the sense of the author's being female, a problem when the protagonist is male. Then again, large passages of plot are narrated through letters written by
I want to watch an artist paint, to smell the fumes emanating from the paint brush, to see the forms take shape on the once-blank canvas. I want to feel the intensity of an artist's focus.Maybe this is why this book captured my reading sensibility and transported me to Robert Oliver's world of impressionism and mystique. I didn't quite grasp the intruding figure that shackled this painter's mind and left him a bit unhinged, but the sanity of the artist has never been mine to understand. I choose
An affinity, even a love affair with an author begins with the innocent intimation, that feeling that you have discovered something extraordinary. Like the painters in the novel here, it is an innate talent; something that can be quite ineffable. As the emerging painter may say when his/her motives are questioned, "I am simply... into it."A specific work, painting may not be great, but one can see the talent that lies behind the flaws. And this is not something that can be taught. In this way,
I cant believe that the average rating on this book is only 3.41! I think because of that lowish average I went in to this book expecting a little lessbut I thought this book was amazing. The whole time I was reading it, I thought, if I was to ever write a book, this is what I would want the voice to sound like. I absolutely loved her use of language, her writing style--great detail, but not overdone, beautiful character development with just enough left to the imagination. Robert was for the
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