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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Recommended, with reservations, May 1, 2005
This short novel is by one of my favorite writers, Iain Pears. His novel, An Instance of the Fingerpost, goes down as one of my favorite all time reads. His newest novel, The Portrait, is well written, and intriguing. Saying that, it has its problems. Summary, no spoiler: This story is told entirely by the narration of a painter named Henry MacAlpine. Henry now lives in isolation on an island off the coast of France, and has agreed paint a portrait of his old friend and nemesis, William Nasmyth, a famous art critic. The story takes place over a series of days in the year 1913. As Henry paints this portrait, he reminisces about his relationship with William, and the book is told entirely in the form of a monologue from Henry. The book is filled with a sense of menace, as Henry recalls past events and relationships, and it becomes clear that Something Bad might happen. The story is well told, but because of its form, this monologue, I found it a rather slow read, and had to put it down at times lest it become tedious. In the hands of most other authors, this book would've lost steam early on....but Pears is such an adept writer that he manages to keep you hooked. Highly recommended, and yes, the ending is a goody.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"I am confessing my sins...before I have committed them.", May 1, 2005
In a change of pace from his previous intricately plotted and lengthy novels, Iain Pears here writes a novella-length study of an artist painting a three-part portrait of the most famous art critic in England in the years of 1910 - 1913, a man with whom he has had a significant history over many years. The critic, William Nasmyth, has come to Houat, a small island off the Brittany coast, where the artist, Henry Morris MacAlpine, has been living in exile for several years. As he paints Nasmyth's portrait during the course of several days, MacAlpine addresses him about their past in London, the state of the art world and its artists during these years of post-impressionism, their mutual friends and lovers, and Nasmyth's role in the success or failure of MacAlpine's artist-friends. Sometimes angry and hostile, sometimes snide, and occasionally sentimental, MacAlpine reveals the sordid details of Nasmyth's life and ego-driven personality, which he intends to use in the portrait, a triptych--his view of Nasmyth as he was, as he is now, and as he will be. The artist, articulate and observant, feels totally realistic, a person we come to know, not by what he says, but by what he implies and then forces us to conclude. Nasmyth, we see, loves power, the making or breaking of artists. MacAlpine's friend Evelyn and his model Jacky are depicted realistically, and the reader, who comes to know them through MacAlpine's reminiscences about them, empathizes with them for their treatment by Nasmyth. Gradually, the reader becomes aware that MacAlpine intends to make Nasmyth pay for past crimes, and though the reader may figure out generally how the novel will conclude, Pears has saved some surprises. When the novel draws to its close, the reader feels the rightness of the conclusion. Because the novel is a dramatic monologue, the reader comes to know only the speaker and his point of view. No conversations with other characters exist to show how they interact with each other, and the reader never sees other characters in action. This leads to a novel which "tells about" what happens, instead of recreating it and allowing the reader to share it. The author must build suspense and tension through words, rather than through action scenes, a device which leaves the reader at arm's length. Filled with personal details which reveal the heart and soul of a struggling artist, the novel is a fascinating glimpse of the art world during the age of post-impressionism and of one artist who seeks revenge on a critic. Mary Whipple
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully wicked little gem from a great storyteller, August 10, 2005
Having read and been a great fan of Pears' two previous novels "An Instance of the Fingerpost" and "The Dream of Scipio", both much more voluminous than his latest novel. I thought picking up the much shorter book for a quick read was worth the time and money and most assuredly it was. "The Portrait" is an intriguingly intimate yarn centering around a reclusive painter's decision to accept a commission to paint a portrait of an art critic and former acquaintance. The writer interjects the reader into the artist's small studio on a remote and rugged island off the coast of France and begins to unveil a tale which keeps the reader's attention by becoming evermore dark and suspenseful. I must confess, I did find the plot to be a wee bit transparent by the middle of the novella, but didn't find that that diminished the book in the slightest as I felt as a reader that the plot is almost not as important as the dynamic of artist versus critic which is so expertly written and most certainly applies not only to the characters in the book, but also in a broader and more general sense as a debate between art versus criticism in general, and I might add not a bad little novella of suspense to boot, peppered with wry wit and some of the most well written and quotable lines I have read in any novel as of late. In short I would definitely highly recommend "The Portrait", and would add that any reader who likes this novel and hasn't read any other of the author's works might find it well worth the time to dig into Pears' lengthier tomes.
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