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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful Literary Fiction!, February 4, 2009
This review is from: The Only True Genius in the Family (Paperback)
Claire is a daughter, a wife and a mother. She has a career, a solid marriage and has successfully raised a talented daughter. So what's missing? As the daughter of a legendary American artist and the mother of the hottest new artistic talent to hit the scene in years, Claire is searching for her place in this world. How she finds that place, and what it takes to get there, is the journey explored in Jennie Nash's new novel, The Only True Genius in the Family. I'll share the opening sentence to give you a taste of what you're in for: "My dad died at an incredibly inconvenient time, and I have no doubt that he planned it that way on purpose." Isn't that a great opening line? Thankfully the captivating beginning to this novel went on to become a thought-provoking middle and then a satisfying ending. The Only True Genius in the Family is an exploration of one woman's place in this world. Author Jennie Nash artfully weaves a thoughtful, character-driven story and then laces it with subtle moral dilemmas, continually prompting the reader to step into Claire's shoes. The novel is exquisitely put together, balancing the grieving process that accompanies the death of a parent with the hope we have for our children and then finding our own place in our family dynamics. Recommended for anyone who has ever doubted their place in this world.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not to Be Confused with Chick Lit, March 29, 2009
This review is from: The Only True Genius in the Family (Paperback)
There's a temptation to pass this book off as merely superior chick lit, and in some senses, it does contain similar characteristics. There's a woman and mother at the center of the story, there's family relationships, and a coming to terms with the death of a family member at the core of the novel. Ah, but then, author Jennie Nash raises the stakes by introducing two very unusual subjects so rarely probed in such detail that bring her writing game to an entirely literary level. The first is just how parents injure their children, and how all of us carry the scars of childhood with us throughout our lives, reliving those same behaviors within our own family. The second, perhaps more interesting is the study of creativity. Does it emanate from genius, or is it a seed that we all carry within us that some people are simply more free to express? In "The Only True Genius in the Family," the central character Claire is a food photographer with a successful career. Unless you compare it with her father's, of course. Her father is a true American icon, a landscape photographer in the tradition of Ansel Adams or Edward Weston. Adding to this feeling of self doubt comes Claire's daughter, Bailey, who not only has a special relationship with Claire's impossibly difficult father, but is an outstanding artist in her own right. Bailey is just on the cusp of greatness as she puts on her graduate show for her MFA. A mother shouldn't feel jealous, right? In fact, she is happy for her daughter's success, but there's this unhappy voice within Claire that keeps muttering that both her father and daughter "just had it so easy." Everything they touch turns to gold, and in Claire's case, genius seems to have skipped a generation (or so her father painfully notes). With this rich material, author Nash never gets maudlin, but instead takes us into Claire's world, and allows us to feel her pain, as she literally begins to lose her own creative vision with the death of her father. It's a gripping story that will have you thinking about the characters long after you reach the last page. It's a great read, even for chicks.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting story of family conflict, March 18, 2009
This review is from: The Only True Genius in the Family (Paperback)
This book centers around Claire, a middle-aged married woman with a grown daughter. The novel opens with the death of Claire's father, a famous, "genius" photographer with whom she never got along. Although with the help of her husband, Claire has managed to build a very successful late-life career as a food photographer, she still seems to have bought into the idea that her father's talent has skipped a generation, residing instead with her daughter, Bailey, a gifted younger painter who is on the verge of getting her Master's of Fine Arts degree. With her father's death, the fine balance that Claire has created in her life begins to slowly crumble away. Claire's unresolved issues with her father manifest in tension between her and Bailey, especially given that Bailey, who was always extremely close to her grandfather, is now in control of the bulk of his estate. Claire must find some ways to come to terms with her relationship with her father, her relationship with her daughter, and her own talent and career. This book was a quick and most engaging read. As a main character, Claire is not always likeable; at times her behavior feels annoying and even absurd. However, this might make a good reading club book, especially for a woman's book club consisting mainly of mothers who might relate well to Claire's character.
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