The Muse

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Despite being the winning cards and points of strength in this book, the able use of vocabulary was distracting being aligned with a flat story. It seemed as if the author was trying too hard which doesn't look good. The book also details Macy's work at finding information about the two brothers and gaining the trust of their niece Nancy Saunders, who cared for Willie until his death. It's a good book to put someone suffering insomnia to sleep. I yawned a lot and paused a lot and read a lot of another book in between. I mostly exaggerate when I'm disappointed but I'll give credit where credit is due. It's not the worst book out there and it can appeal to someone with a different taste. I liked the beginning and parts near the unsatisfactory end. But the middle content was a meh. So says Olive Schloss, a virtuoso young painter in 1930s Andalusia who refuses to take credit for her work. Just as it was in The Miniaturist, the process of creating is to the fore in Burton's new novel. This book is about inspiration and the process of creation. About working in anonymity for the sole purpose of working vs. creating for acclaim or compensation, and about the freedom the former brings.

Meanwhile in 1936, Spain is on the verge of war and revolution and Olive Schloss; daughter of Harold and Sarah, and aspiring artist is entranced by the mysterious and enigmatic brother and sister; Isaac and Teresa Robles. A captivating and brilliantly realized story of two young women - a Caribbean immigrant in 1960s London, and a bohemian woman in 1930s Spain - and the powerful mystery that ties them together. As for the title of the book, who or what is the muse? It seemed to me that the term is used generically here. Yes, there are specific characters from whom the creatives draw inspiration, but some characters with no apparent artistic gift are moved by other people in the story as well. Also, among the nine muses of classical mythology, there is not a muse for painting, which suggests a broader view of the image. You have this light, and when it switches on I don’t think you even realize what it does.There are several pieces of romantic interest here, but not at all too much, and they are important to the story.

There’s little else I can say about the plot of this book without giving something important away. While many of the twists were foreshadowed, there were a couple that came as a surprise to me. I confess that this is a story that would have benefited from a bit more characterization and a little less plodding prose. While the writing was lovely, it tended toward boggy. I liked what the novel had to say about art and the process of creation, and I appreciated that the book highlighted women as artists. But none of the relationships felt true, and the characters didn’t seem to like or accept themselves, which made them hard to enjoy. All of that boils down to this: I enjoyed the philosophical aspects of the story far more than the story itself. That being said, the book has merit, especially for people who appreciate the theory of art or are artists themselves. Burton constructs the dual plotline with painstaking craft, and has a good ear for the ambient interruptions of nature: “the cicadas began to build their rasping wall of sound”; “Bees drowsing on the fat flower heads, farmers’ voices calling, birdsong arpeggios spritzing from the trees”. That said, Jessie Burton is a great writer. I thought so when I read The Miniaturist and I can't do anything but confirm it now. Her characters are well developed, her writing style is elegant and she's capable of describing human emotions in a realistic way. The plot might be a bit predictable in this case, but the final result wasn't any less beautiful because of it. I remember…a feller saying to me in the shoe shop, 'your English is very good.' My English! I told him, "English is a West Indian language, sir."' ... This was the most astoundingly wonderful read that I was not anticipating and didn't know I needed!

There is much to recommend. The Muse. Not only is the tale of love, danger, betrayal and revolution in 1936 Spain riveting for the impact on the characters, it offers us a time-and-place look at a nation on the verge of darkness, a harbinger of horrors to come. Human drama meets historical madness. Burton’s portrait of 1967 London was certainly interesting, particularly for the challenges faced by non-whites, and for how people born in less central parts of the British Empire relate to the Queen-motherland. But Spain is where the real action is here. Olive is a gifted painter but her pompous father believes women can never be artists. Thus begins the Spanish section of the book set in the turbulent Spanish civil war. It’s beautifully crafted – I loved it, and so will you. The test of making language sound true to period is one even the best writers flunk at some point; anachronism is the sleeping monster of the historical novel. The Muse is strong on the emotional and sensual, less so on the figurative depiction of interior states (“I had to hold in the tsunami of sound I wanted to unleash”). It is a severely competent novel. The craftsmanship is solid, the sincerity of feeling is sustained to the end; none of it is exceptional. Yet who would bet against it selling a million copies like its predecessor?Fleming, Mike Jr. (October 18, 2016). "Paramount & Appian Way Landing 'Truevine' As Potential Leonardo DiCaprio-Starrer". Deadline . Retrieved December 5, 2016.

Spain, 1937. Olive Schloss, the daughter of a Viennese Jewish art dealer and English heiress, follows her parents to Arazuelo, a poor, restless village on the southern coast. She grows close to Teresa, a young housekeeper, and her half-brother Isaac Robles, an idealistic and ambitious painter newly returned from the Barcelona salons. A dilettante buoyed by the revolutionary fervor that will soon erupt into civil war, Isaac dreams of being a painter as famous as his countryman, Picasso. I thought London would mean prosperity and welcome. A Renaissance place. Glory and success. I thought leaving for England was the same as stepping out of my house and onto the street, just a slightly colder street where a beti with a brain could live next door to Elizabeth the Queen."

Set in Calvinist Amsterdam, it follows a new bride in a strange country and the miniaturist who foreshadowed her life with his creations. In a nutshell, this ardent yet poignant book will arrest the minds of the readers that it won't let them look away from its elegance, beauty and pain. If not for the story, read the book for its strong female characters of those long forgotten era. There are two timelines here. One is London in 1967 and the other is in Spain in 1936 at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. This is an exploration of the relationship between art and artists and indeed the role of the muse. It also considers the afterlife of a painting. Burton explores the way men and women are treated differently as artists and there is a sort of artistic detective story.

As it turned out it just took way too long to flesh out details and as the story progresses and connections are made between the two characters and times, it felt a bit like a soap opera. 3 stars which for me means that I liked it but didn't find it to be one that will be memorable. Generally speaking, the story dragged a lot going slowly without a fair amount of action to mention. And the plot felt too contrived as the events forced themselves to fall in place and serve the plot. The plot follows two different but interwined timelines. We have Odelle, a Caribbean immigrant in London in 1967, and Olive Schloss, daughter of an art dealer in Spain in 1937.Verdict: Slightly compelling yet extremely emotional and romantic story laced with history, love and passion for art. Overall I really enjoyed the atmosphere, both the settings and I found the characters to be well written and engaging. The Confession also follows The Muse in establishing a dual time-frame. Episodes set in the present day illustrate Constance’s increasing dependency on Laura as she struggles to break her silence with a new book. These passages are interleaved with scenes from the early 1980s when Constance was at the height of her fame, the author of two influential novels and a much-cited essay on female empowerment. Throughout this halcyon period of large advances and Hollywood film offers, Constance’s closest companion was her lover Elise Morceau; a young, waif-like woman she met while walking on Hampstead Heath in north London. I immensely enjoyed reading Odelle's story. Her voice, her thoughts, everything fit. She's curious, she has a lively mind and she knows that, considering that she's an immigrant and a woman she has to work harder than most people to achieve her goal: becoming a published writer. Odelle is the kind of girl I want to see in books: smart, curious, strong in a quiet but unmistakable way. Her side of the story was lovely and touching. It's funny how Jessie Burton is able to write stories that are quite similar, but that are still able to evoke very opposing emotions in me. Some years ago, I read "The Miniaturist" and I wasn't impressed. I still appreciated the story, though, and so I decided to get "The Muse" as well and read it. I'm so happy I did! It turned out that I liked this novel a lot better, and in many ways I read it at just the perfect time of my life.