Reviews

• Wonderfully original with characters that leapt out of the pages at you. Hustveldt manages to tell this tale in such a balanced way.

• All'inizio si rimane perplessi, in una sorta di sospensione tra la realtà di un saggio e la fantasia dì un romanzo. Poi, via via che si avanza, si apprezza la genialità della trama. Affascinante spaccato sul mondo dell'arte contemporanea...

• Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. I am heartbroken at the ending and in love with this book. It is raw and deeply emotional on the one hand and urbane and intellectual on the other. I want more books like this. I read it slowly just so that I could savor it a little longer. Hustvedt blends PhD-level theoretical analysis with an engrossing tale populated by wonderfully and grotesquely human characters. I identified with Harriet, with her lumpy old lady body, churning emotions, her constant grasping for more, and a brain too canny for her own good. I loved to hate that insufferable moron Oswald Case. I adored Rachel Briefman and Phineas Q. Eldridge and Bruno. I came to appreciate the central importance of the characters who seemed simple and marginal but who were really essential to the lived reality of the main characters all along - the Kirstens and Sweet Autumns of the world, and the Maisies suspended indefinitely between the ordinary and the artistic. Most of the book had an eerie, ominous vibe as the novel meandered towards Rune's peculiar death - but towards the end, the story veered suddenly into the gnawing brutality of Harriet's all-too-recognizable end. I sobbed through the final chapters. Earlier, I laughed. I raged. I analyzed. I was moved, emotionally and intellectually. This book and its characters will stay with me for a very long time. I believe it is the best book I have ever read, to date. It is perfect for readers like me, and a book like this only comes around very rarely. Of course, if you're not into contemporary critical theory, maybe you won't like this book very much. But for me, a PhD student in political theory who still harbors a full-hearted reader of fiction inside me, this book fit just right.

• Brillant, passionnant alors que les thèmes abordés sont complexes. Personnage de H.B inoubliable Siri Hustvedt est une très grande auteure américaine contemporaine

• Loved this. There are so many aspect I I can relate to as almost 50 year old woman and visual artist. I do not have kids, but did not paint for three years, and live in a remote area- so there are many ways to make your art life difficult – as if it would be other wise so easy, which this book so perfectly depicts. SPOILER/QUOTES ALERT! About the art world: a character of the critic comments: 'If there's one thing that doesn't fly in the art world, it's an excess of sincerity. ' Character of Rosemary Lerner:' It is interesting that not all, but many women were celebrated only when their days as desirable sexual objects had passed.'(as artists) 'The thing that is truly wanted must always be missing. Art dealers have to be magicians of hunger.' '..but I doubt anyone can actually separate talent from reputation when it comes down to it.' 'Art is not allowed to arrive spontaneously unauthored.' And I am sure there have been many many women thinking about a male alter ego. The first time it came in my mind was in the 90's when I was an art student, in a party with older artists, and an old fart shook the hand of my friend, male, but gay, but not mine, because he thought that I was apparently only a girlfriend...Harriet: 'It is so dull, so familiar, so unjust being treated as a woman first, always as a woman. I rebel. Why womanliness first? Why this trait first?' Sorry, digressing. I feel for Harry, I get her. The constant fight because people do not get you could be intelligent, creative, because you are a woman. How DO we perceive? The almost ( but only almost) charicature writings of the male critics and gallerists about the 'situation' were a tragicomedy. But the book is not just setting up opposites of masculine and feminine. There is the mystery of creation, the blending of personalities, the subconscious needs, the traumas that affect everybody. Then there is the thought about the accuracy of memories, which I can also relate to - I mix my memories and tv-series already! With maturation, some 'dear' memories become unimportant or vague stamps of childish moments in one's life. And some other, like a smell of a forest after rain, become dear. I like this every character gets a voice– form. I liked the description of the urge to create, and the importance of validation. Harry was obsessed to get it 'from all' which, understandable, was also hubris. As was Rune's whole career. What part is a need for exhibitionism, and what an creative act? Where do you draw the line with some artists? There were funny moments as well, Bruno's parts, the crystal girl. And the dying scene was great! I underlined a lot of things: 'All thoughts of revenge are born of the pain of helplessness.' 'Human beings are the only animals who kill for ideas.' About Singularity: 'A Zeus dream that avoids the organic body altogether. Brand-new creatures burst forth from men's heads. Presto! The mother and her evil vagina disappears.' Life is multifaceted. Harry had her children, love, creativity, talent, wit, and a few good friends. I really came to like her character. She had even brutal ambition, but not enough compared to the beast of the art world. I recommend.

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