Customer Reviews

Mistral's Daughter

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

 

 

OK, let me start this review by saying that I adore big family-oriented sagas with many sins and oh-so many secrets. I'm always the first in line when any book resembling what is already mentioned comes out. So imagine my joy when picking up (twenty years late, mind you) Mistral's Daughter by the lady of all lady writers, Judith Krantz. _The_ Judith Krantz who made Princess Daisy such a fun and addictive read. Not to mention the classic of all classics, Scruples. Two great books which deserved all of their mega-successes.

Well, dear readers, I guess the saying three's a crowd is true, for Krantz's third novel may have been another smash to many eyes, but not so much to yours truly. Don't get me wrong, all the melodrama is in there : the innocent yet bold heroine, the manipulative and abusive foe, the temperamental but loving hero, steamy steamy love scenes galore... well, you get my drift.

Despite those pluses, somehow Krantz failed to capture the essence of her first two novels. The desire, the need to tell a great story behind the glitz and glamour is there yet missing. It's as if a wall has been built up between Krantz's talent and deadline, and her need to stay on automatic pilot was her safest bet.

Indeed, in her third outing originality is out the door and replaced by a paint-by-the-numbers plot and tiresome descriptions of sceneries and cathedrals. Yes, Mistral is a painter and Krantz tries her best to be true to him, but the line between reality and fiction can only be saved by editing and, alas, in Mistral's Daughter, editing is in constant need.

That said, the novel is still better than many new releases out there. Judith Krantz is best when she lets her imagination run wild, and there are parts in Mistral's that are pure Krantz. The bowl of fruit scene, for instance, where Maggie, dressed in nothing but painted fruits, strutt her stuff (in pre-second World War II) for all the world to see. Krantz can easily make the unbelievable believable. Plus any scenes involving the character of evil Kate is pure delight. The last one in which she discovers she will no longer be needed is so perfectly told I was enthralled by Krantz's talent as a writer. If only these sparks of ingenuity could have been constant, Mistral's Daughter would have been a sure fire hit in my eyes as well.-----Martin Boucher

I like very much the book, but I really like best the mini-series on TV I would like to know where can I buy the video of this movie, and the music of this picture, it was very beautiful I think the name was something like "april in paris" and I believe is french, where can I order it.

Julien Mistral is a painter with great passion for his work. He also has passion for three generations of Lunel women, two of whom are his mistresses and one who is his daughter. With Mistral, nothing can come between him and his work and this obsession, coupled with fateful occurences in the lives of the Lunels is the foundation on which this book is written. Krantz has a way of creating characters which the reader cares about and putting them into situations where their flawed human nature causes many complications in their lives. This book takes the reader behind the scenes of the art and fashion worlds of France and New York, and tells an engrossing and interesting tale. It's a good read!

This was the last Judith Krantz book I read, shortly after it came out, and it remains a personal favorite of mine even though my attention then wandered from Krantz' genre of fiction. Of Krantz' first three books, "Mistral's Daughter" definitely has the best plot, spanning three generations of Lunel women who all find themselves involved, in one way or another, with the same famous painter, Julien Mistral, a Picasso-esque ruthless genius living in France. As the story begins, Maggy Lunel arrives in Paris seeking work as an artist's model, and quickly goes from a shy country girl afraid to undress for a pose to a sexy artist's muse who allows her nude body to be painted as a bowl of fruit and paraded around at a wild party. She becomes Mistral's lover and inspires him to artistic brilliance, only to be shunted aside by the devious rich businesswoman Kate who wants control of both Mistral's body and his career. Fortunately, a rich American falls head over heels for the jilted Maggy and whisks her off to New York, where she becomes the powerful head of a famous modeling agency.

Maggy's daughter Teddy in turn becomes a celebrated photographic model and runs into Mistral during a post-WWII fashion shoot. The two fall madly in love at first sight and Teddy gives birth to the "Mistral's daughter" of the title, Fauve, before tragically dying in a freak accident. The final part of the book deals with Fauve coming of age and showing signs of inheriting her father's artistic talent, but evil Kate threatens to throw a monkey wrench in the works by revealing information to Fauve about Mistral's activities during the war, thus tarnishing his image in Fauve's eyes. Of course, this being a Krantz romance, there will be a happy ending and you can see this one coming a mile away, but all's well that ends well.

There's a bit of sex in this book but nowhere near the amount that populated "Scruples" and "Princess Daisy". On the one hand, it's good that Krantz ceased her practice of including too many minor characters for the purpose of exploring their bedrooms, and paid more attention to moving the plot along. On the other hand, the final portion of the book with teenage Fauve is pretty devoid of sex and seems like Krantz was trying to suddenly write a "serious" novel, with the result being that most of it is simply not that interesting except when vengeful Kate is on the scene. I also have to echo the sentiments of some of the other reviewers - Mistral must have been a heck of an artist, because he is really a jerk and it's hard to see why all these women would be so enthralled by him. It's also hard to see how a powerful character like Maggy would let her beloved and slightly dippy daughter get so involved with a man who not only was once Maggy's own lover, but whom Maggy knows is not a very nice fellow. If you don't get too caught up in asking these questions, and just take the story for granted, it's fun to read and chock-full of all kinds of interesting period detail about the fashion industry just after WWII and the French art scene the 20s and 30s. Because it's enjoyable despite a few flaws, I give it five stars.

I love how it spaned time and generations, somethig that all could relate to.It is true that at points it was far fetched, but isn't that why we read? To have something that we have not yet experienced in the physical....

This book is fairly predictable, but it's an enjoyable read. I've read it a couple times. I think I appreciate the glimpse into the world of high fashion, as well as Europe in a long glimpse of the 1900's.

I'd never read Judith Krantz before I picked up "Mistral's Daughter." It's not the kind of fiction I usually read. Unlike Krantz, I don't like to read about "beautiful, rich, sexy people." I'm not interested in the glamorous lives of the preternaturally privileged. Long descriptions of what people look like (and, dear lord, what they're WEARING, brand names and all) bore me to tears. Flawlessly beautiful and infinitely alluring characters simply make me want to roll my eyes.

"Mistral's Daughter" is guilty of a multitude of trashy-fiction sins. Most of the characters are shallow or inconsistent or both. If I'd had to read even one more description of how perfectly, entrancingly, enviably beautiful one of the Lunel women was, I believe I would have jerked my short, brown hair right out of my plump and spherical head. Krantz takes us into the minds and hearts of her characters at crucial moments of their lives, yet few of them ever move beyond one-dimensional caricatures. We have the Canny Innocent, the Worldly Friend, the Unpinnable Flirt, the Aloof Genius, the Conniving Bitch, the Selfish Snob, the Wonderful Guy. Krantz's attempts at giving her characters some depth often result merely in their coming across as inconsistent. There are moments of purple prose that will surely make more sensitive readers cringe, and two characters actually fall in love at first sight, at which point I had to restrain myself from heaving the book across the room. For the most part, this is a superficially deep book about some profoundly shallow people.

But oh, what a book it is! What a vast, sprawling, generous, delectable saga! This is the story of three generations of women whose lives are inseparably bound up with that of tempestuous artistic genius Julien Mistral. Maggy Lunel comes to Paris as a teenage innocent, and her passionate affair with Mistral inspires him to produce some of his finest work, only to end when Mistral betrays her. Twenty-five years later, Mistral finds the love of his life in Maggy's daughter, Teddy. Mistral already has a daughter, Nadine, from his passionless marriage to the controlling Kate, but it is Fauve, the daughter Teddy bears him, who will grow up to discover a genuinely shameful secret about him and challenge him as no one ever has before. This is a book to get lost in, to give yourself over to and be swept away into another world. From the bohemian life in 1920s Paris to the energetic New York fashion world in the postwar years, Krantz has a firm grasp of the worlds in which her characters move, and brings them so vividly to life you'll feel as if you were there. Krantz's musings on the creative process will have artistic types nodding their heads in recognition, while the aforementioned passages of purple prose are tolerably interspersed among pages of solid, occasionally delightful, writing.

As silly as it sounds, I picked up this novel because I was thoroughly enchanted with the name of one of the characters, "Fauve," which is French for "wild beast" and yet possesses a certain feminine grace. Fauve is as fascinating a character as Mistral himself; she is intelligent, inquisitive, witty, artistic, versatile. The titular "Mistral's daughter," Fauve is the central character of the first chapter, which is set out of chronological sequence and takes place near the end of the events of the story - then isn't seen again until about halfway through this 500-page novel. Ultimately, though, this is the story of Fauve and of Mistral. This is not to say that there's a single wasted incident; everything that happens is relevant. The conclusion delivers just the right amount of redemption, and there isn't a single major character in the novel who doesn't end up with just the precise amount and variety of happiness that he or she deserves.

Nearly thirty years ago a reviewer described this novel as "quality trash," and I can't argue with that. But sometimes quality trash is just what you need. "Mistral's Daughter" is the literary equivalent of going on vacation.

Judith Krantz is a Francophile. Many parts of this book read like an extended love letter to the country, the language and the lifestyle. Fortunately, Krantz has also populated her book with interesting, dynamic characters whose lives allow Krantz to depict at length Paris and the Provençal countryside. Beginning in Paris in the 1920's and continuing until 1975 with stops in 1950s New York, World War II era Félice, and Rome in 1975, Krantz' generational saga is lush with descriptiveness, quirky secondary characters, almost sympathetic villains, and more information about art and modeling (both for painters and for fashion magazines) than anyone would care to know. The story is so beguiling, however, that one barely notices it goes on for more than 500 pages. There's nothing that could be cut to make a more concise novel without losing some of its charm. Though at the time this book was written, 1975 was almost the present day, because of the overt reference to the year instead of setting the book in the ambiguous "present", the story does not feel outdated.

I found it kind of creepy that all the women in this book have almost a compulsive urge to sleep with this man.
To top it all of he's kind of a jerk all the way around.
If this didn't have Krantz's name on it I'd assume it was written by a very juvenile male.

Judith Krantz has written ten books, and out of those I've read six. This is one of those six, and while I enjoyed reading it, I still wish it was better.

This is the story of a successful painter, Julien Mistral, and his relationships with three women in the span of about 50 years. Maggy Lunel is one of his first nude models, and they share a brief fling. Teddy Lunel is Maggy's daughter from another man, who becomes a big model, falls in love with Mistral and gives birth to his child. Fauve, Teddy and Julien Mistral's daughter, is an aspiring painter like her father, but eventually learns an upsetting fact about her father that forever changes their relationship. This novel, never like any Judith Krantz before or after it, rambles on forever about nothing in particular, and it is very hard to feel you know most of the characters, let alone really care what happens to them. Read it because it's Judith Krantz, but it is by no means her best work.