It's exhausting to keep up with who's been cancelled. I'd rather just evaluate/enjoy the talent than worry about how someone painted Emmet Till or whether Virginia Wolff was anti-semitic.
I appreciate any review that tells the truth as the reviewer sees it and gives me the information to make a decision, in this case not to read the book. Thank you.
Woman and genius? None other than Mary Ann Evans, AKA, George Eliot. There are very few of any gender who can keep pace with her brilliance. If they didn't spot her at first look, somebody wasn't looking too hard.
From the comments about fabric art and the like it sounds either like you have not looked much into Louise Bourgeois or have, but for some reason don’t want to invoke her name.
Interesting review. I'm halfway through "Vivienne" at present. I'll reserve complete judgment until the end. I share some of these reservations, but still find the work quite intriguing. There is a certain ambivalence throughout, though I don't know if I see it as the author being tentative, or even tame, so much as grappling with a larger cultural ambivalence toward strangeness and controversy, and really art itself. I think it's fair to say that commentary is more dominant than character in the novel, a critique I probably share. It feels like Russo may be grappling with her own cancelation via Vivienne, which are the elements of the novel that so far feel most alive. So mixed feelings thus far, but definitely encouraged to continue.
It's exhausting to keep up with who's been cancelled. I'd rather just evaluate/enjoy the talent than worry about how someone painted Emmet Till or whether Virginia Wolff was anti-semitic.
I appreciate any review that tells the truth as the reviewer sees it and gives me the information to make a decision, in this case not to read the book. Thank you.
Woman and genius? None other than Mary Ann Evans, AKA, George Eliot. There are very few of any gender who can keep pace with her brilliance. If they didn't spot her at first look, somebody wasn't looking too hard.
From the comments about fabric art and the like it sounds either like you have not looked much into Louise Bourgeois or have, but for some reason don’t want to invoke her name.
Interesting review. I'm halfway through "Vivienne" at present. I'll reserve complete judgment until the end. I share some of these reservations, but still find the work quite intriguing. There is a certain ambivalence throughout, though I don't know if I see it as the author being tentative, or even tame, so much as grappling with a larger cultural ambivalence toward strangeness and controversy, and really art itself. I think it's fair to say that commentary is more dominant than character in the novel, a critique I probably share. It feels like Russo may be grappling with her own cancelation via Vivienne, which are the elements of the novel that so far feel most alive. So mixed feelings thus far, but definitely encouraged to continue.
I find it pretty brilliant how Russo uses tweets to reveal backstory. Haven't quite encountered that yet in fiction.
Joan d’Arc? Harriet Tubman? Mme Marie Laveau? CJ Walker?