Customer Reviews

Frida's Bed

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes, I am astounded that nobody has written a review of this brilliant novel capturing the thoughts and last days of Frida's life. My God! The book has stayed with me even days after reading it. I so connected with Frida and her pains: both physical and mental. The author draws you in completely. I would have only wished for some paintings to accompany the prose...she makes several references to how several of Frida's paintings came about and it would have been lovely to reference them as I was reading. A good companion book to her biography, I'm sure.

This was a brilliant and enlightening story, in which Kahlo is an occasional narrator. She was born with spina bifida, developed polio at a young age, which caused extreme pain and atrophy of her right leg, and barely survived a horrible accident aboard a streetcar as a young woman, which led to chronic debilitating pain and disability throughout the rest of her life. Her mother gave her supplies to paint during her convalescence from the accident, and she turned to painting to take her mind off of the pain, and as a mode of self expression.

She boldly took several of her works to the famed muralist Diego Rivera, referred to as "the Maestro" throughout the book, who almost immediately recognized her talent and her beauty, leaving his wife to marry the much younger Kahlo. Their marriage was a necessary but not happy one, as her art flourished with his support but his wanton infidelities took an emotional toll on her.

Drakulic does a masterful job in unveiling Kahlo, and Frida's Bed feels less like a novel than a short autobiography. The author includes several descriptions of Kahlo's portraits within the story, but prints are not included. I had the catalogue from the museum exhibit, Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera, and could quickly refer to these prints. However, someone reading this novel without access to these prints, whether online or on paper, would not gain the same experience and understanding of her work.

The last 30-40 pages were somewhat tedious and repetitive, but Frida's Bed was a fascinating psychological, medical and historical analysis of the life and work of Frida Kahlo, and is highly recommended.

Several years ago, a contemporary Mexican restaurant opened in Chicago. The restaurant was called "Frida". I went over there with some friends and the little place was full of Frida Kahlo's reproductions. It was amazing to have a dinner in a place surrounded by a very unique set of paintings.

Recently, I was browsing through the bookstore and I came across book about Frida Kahlo written by a Croatian writer Slavenka Drakulic. I have read all of Ms. Drakulic's books and I simply had to pick up this one and see how she saw Frida, Frida's life and works and depicted them in this book. Thanks to translator Christina Zoric, this is a lovely piece of book that described Frida's life from her early childhood until the day she died at the age of 47. Most people like to mention Frida as a wife of a famous and controversial Mexican painter Diego Rivera. But like many talented women of her time, Frida has fought hard, to preserve her own artistic identity and overcome the fame of her better known husband. The fact that Louvre museum purchased one of her works (her portrait) and had it on display during her lifetime, makes her one of the few women recognised or her unique talent.

What is unique about this book is that author focuses on Frida's physical sufferings from her injures incurred early in her life and emotional hurt that spanned from Frida's relationship with Diego Rivera. She was Diego Rivera's third wife and yet, he married her twice and spent 25 years being married to her. Their relationship was unconventional and it certainly helped shape Frida's artistic sensibility. But hurt both emotional and physial was Frida's only weapon in fighing her mood swings, disappointments and need for acceptance by other people. In this beautiful novel, author Slavenka Drakulic is able to capture all of those feelings and emotions in a breathtaking sweep. Fabulous read.

I bought this book since it's about Frida Kahlo and I'm glad I read it. While her thoughts are created by the author, I found the feeling to be very authentic. It was also informative regarding her surgeries and people in her life. The reason I only gave it three stars instead of four is that the reader needs to pay attention to the jumps in the story from past and future as they aren't always obvious immediately. I also felt the end was dragged out at least twice as far as it needed to be with repetitious thoughts. I'd still recommend it if you have an interest in Kahlo.

Frida's Bed is one that you think about long after you've read it! If you're a Frida fan you'll want to read this.

Fascinating book by an unusual author for this topic. Very well written and
interesting if you have access to paintings of Frida Kahlo to see as you read
about them. The story is painful to read since it elaborates her physically
illness and great suffering.