Claude And Camille: A Novel Of Monet (Chinese Edition) (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
This book was better at the end than at the beginning. Overall. I enjoyed it, but I found the writing to be somewhat disjointed and uneven, particularly through the first half. It was almost as if two or more people were authoring the book and changing styles with no apparent reason, Also, the author chose to pepper the dialogue with French phrases, and that was really annoying, as it just seemed ridiculous. I speak enough French to know what was being said, but it was silly for the characters to be speaking English 90% of the time and then break into French sporadically. Of course, Monet was French, but that stylistic choice was something I could not understand. So... getting past style, I still cried at the appropriate times, and I learned some things. It was enjoyable enough to be worth my time to finish, and it inspired me to get online and study some of Monet's and other impressionists' work again. I would recommend it with those reservations. Loved it. This book was certainly a good read; it was a complicated love story that doesn't oblige the reader to spin any wheels wondering about the happy ending. We know from the beginning that there isn't one, because the elder Monet is still trying to make sense of what happened. What it does do is prepare us for questions that need to be answered, and encourages us to appreciate any fleeting moments of happiness that we suspect won't last. Most of the book takes place in Monet's younger years, when he is still experimenting with his art and creating a fellowship with other like-minded artists that haven't yet become impressionists. We suffer with them through years of poverty and frustration; it seems that our perception of their solidarity 100+ years later is more wishful thinking than actuality. Their struggle just to survive was fraught with disappointment; they can barely scrape together enough money to host their own art shows that mostly garner public indifference. In their early hopeful years they support each other and share the occasional bounty, but as they get older their fractured lives seem to intersect less and less frequently. The Franco-Prussian war shatters their lives as it shatters Paris.It is in this environment that Monet falls in love with Camille, who abandons her upscale lifestyle and family for the impoverished but hopeful artist. It struck me that they might have been better off had they gone their separate ways, but love doesn't always follow common sense. It seems that they are rarely quite comfortable with their choices and indeed, both try to flee in their own way. But they keep coming back together and I found myself grieving for them as things went from bad to worse. I kept waiting for Monet to reach a level of comfortable respectability, but alas, the more lucrative years are outside the scope of this story. Or did it ever happen for him? Even in his later years, as he prepares his water lilies for a successful exhibition, we capture a hint that he was never really happy, and perhaps that's the saddest part of all.
What do You think about Claude And Camille: A Novel Of Monet (Chinese Edition) (2010)?
If you love Monet, you will love to learn the background story behind the his art.
—Angie
Awesome novelization of a great historic figure. Wonderful love story.
—seansocal
I loved this book! One that I will re-read!
—micky
