Customer Reviews

Johanna

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

 

 

A very entertaining book which focuses on the true "unsung hero" of the Van Gogh saga: Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Theo's wife. Cooperstein has done a very good job of researching Johanna's story as well as Dutch life at the turn of the century. Cooperstein tells her tale through a series of fictionalized letters and private journal entries. The result is often moving and quite effective (when Johanna writes, for example, "the brother who ruined my life has become my life."). What's particularly surprising is that the author wrote this book five years before the publication of the 101 existing letters between Johanna and Theo, "Brief Happiness: The Correspondence of Theo Van Gogh and Jo Bonger". Remarkably, the "voice" that Cooperstein has given Johanna is quite close that found within her actual letters.

The book falters from time to time, particularly with the sexual references which seem out of place and contrived. Johanna's final resignation to Vincent is also a bit disappointing. But an excellent exploration, nonetheless, of the admirable life of Johanna van Gogh-Bonger.

I loved this book, but then again I am a sucker for epistolary novels and books about Van Gogh. In my opinion, Cooperstein did terrific research on the life of Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, the wife of Van Gogh's brother, Theo, and on the life and times of Vincent Van Gogh at the turn of the century. The details in the book lent great authenticity to this novel. The author reveals what happened to Van Gogh's works after his death, and the effect he had on those whom he left behind.

Many of Van Gogh's works and much of his correspondence were preserved or rescued by Johanna, who was determined to make sure that Vincent's lifework was appreciated and valued in an art world which considered it worthless. She was quite a woman and realized, early-on, the magnitude of what was at stake.

Although this book is fiction, I loved the portrait the author presented of this dynamic, independent woman. Without her determined efforts, the world might have lost much of Van Gogh's work as well as his letters and journals. What a loss that would have been.

This book is really a good work if you're interested on Vincent van Gogh. It lets you know about what happened after Vincent: you may know about how the paintings were done, but here you will find out how did they become known to the public, how the "Vincent legend" got through all the obstacles to be what it is today. You will find also what happened to Theo van Gogh after Vincent's death, and that it wasn't him that made all the work to promote his art, but his wife, Johanna (to whom the book is devoted). Claire Cooperstein did a really great job by putting together a story by using only letters and entries on Jo's diary, (a fact that discouraged me when I first saw the book, but left me more than satisfied). They're not real, they're "faction", but this is the kind of "faction" that made books like Irving Stone's "Lust for Life" a great and illustrative read. This one's really worth it.

I had lived in Holland ever since I was a little girl, and when I had to move to California for college, I was miserably homesick. Johanna made me feel like I was back in Holland. It is extremely well written; I was completely fooled by Cooperstein's reconstruction of Johanna's diary. This novel is without a doubt, beautifully written.

I was disappointed in the interpretation of Johanna's feelings towards her brother in law. From the letters of Vincent Van Gogh as well as the memoirs of Johanna Van Gogh it was my impression that Johanna was a stronger and more supportive person than this tale leads us to believe.