The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories [Paperback]

Valerie Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 9, 2006

In this vital and heartbreaking collection of stories, Valerie Martin, the bestselling author of Mary Reilly and the internationally acclaimed Property, turns an unflinching eye upon artists—driven and blocked, desired and detested, infamous and sublime, as they struggle beneath the tyranny of Art to reconcile their audience with their muse.

A painter who owes his small success to a man he despises, discovers that his passivity has cost him the love that might have set him free. A writer of modest talents encounters the old love who once betrayed him; now she repels him, yet the unfinished novel she leaves in his hands may surpass anything he could ever produce himself. An American poet in Rome finds herself forced to choose between her lover and a world so alien it takes her voice away. A print maker, who has reached a certain age, enters so deeply into the magical world of her imagination that she can never find her way back. In captivating, luminous prose, Martin explores the trials and rewards of human relationships and creative endeavor with all the ease and insight of a writer at the top of her form.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Each piece in this suspenseful and piercingly acute collection traces an artist's struggles for excellence and public acclaim, and how those struggles crosscut with relationships that support and undo art. The title story is told by a moderately successful writer who receives the unwanted gift of a very promising manuscript from a former flame who brutally betrayed him. The narrator of "His Blue Period" is a painter who owes his small bit of fame to an egomaniacal former friend; he describes the romantic dramas of their bohemian days, and their consequences. The heartbreakingly fatalistic "The Bower" takes place on a smaller stage: a small college's married drama coach falls for the charismatic student playing Hamlet, but, like Hamlet, everyone's helpless to act. The final story, "The Change," is the most uncanny: a gifted printmaker's husband puts her changing moods down to menopause, but the story's end suggests a much stranger source. Martin's final-page twists create an O. Henryesque poignancy, and these unexpected shifts of perspective tend to increase the stories' emotional heft rather than make for cute denouement. Compulsively readable and impressively perceptive, Martin's stories put art's dark compromises in sharp relief. (May)
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From The New Yorker

In these sly, canny stories about artists and those who are drawn to them, Martin explores the occupational hazards of the creative process. Often, a celebrated painter, writer, or actor is seen through the eyes of an only moderately successful peer or those of a soon-to-be-former lover, with subtle shifts in perspective altering the emotional composition. There is a spareness to Martin's narrative style, but her judicious use of details (such as the red lipstick of a distraught dancer contrasting with the dark circles under her eyes) brings her characters into sharp relief. The narrative dilemmas posed by the stories might seem contrived, but the cool assurance of Martin's voice, and her capacity to say surprising things about ordinary feelings—envy, rage, and despair figure prominently—makes the collection a triumph.
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (May 9, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400095506
• ISBN-13: 978-1400095506
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,043,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Unfinished Artist and Other People, January 18, 2009

By 

jd103 (Yellowstone) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories (Paperback)

(What's this?)

There are people whose life in the arts resembles any other job--think of someone playing the same role in a soap opera for 40 years, or the author of formulaic best sellers--and there are people whose creativity is a deep and intense part of who they are, leaving them always torn between their art and the people they're closest to.

These stories are mostly about the second type of people. And the stories do a great job of displaying them, making me think of actors, writers, and artists I knew 20-30 years ago, but that kind of realistic intensity and self-absorption won't go down easy for all readers.

There are a couple tiny bits of what seems very bad writing here--as much as I tried, I can't imagine how a person can be trapped under the back wheel of a car which came to rest on its top (is she wrapped in between the tire and the fender?)--but overall this is high quality atmospheric work.

I most enjoyed the three stories which are told from a male point of view which is something I think Martin excels at (though it might also indicate a lack of identification with female characters on my part). I haven't followed her recent work, but I loved her early novel Alexandra which is also a haunting work told from a man's perspective.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Portraits of the artist as a hung man, February 16, 2009

By 

Cecil Bothwell "Author of "Whale Falls: A... (Asheville, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories (Paperback)

(What's this?)

If you are inclined to favor the short story to avoid commitment to longer works, don't pick up this book. It will not be put down. Valerie Martin offers up six splendid tales that explore lives driven by artistry. The protagonists cannot escape their art and narratives are rich with unexpected detail and nuanced relationships. Love and jealousy (both amorous and artistic), bad habits and brilliance, insecurity and triumph, rabbits and cats and an owl all move across her stage.

Most of the loves are stressed and some are broken, but unlike the emptiness in Nothing Right: Short Stories, Antonya Nelson's recently released collection which also explores romantic failure, the characters here evoke the reader's deep concern. Martin is author of the Orange Prize winner, Property, which I have not read. I will.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars absolutely brilliant, June 28, 2006

By 

Katherine Kelly "kthrnklly" (Mandeville, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories (Paperback)

these stories were the first encounter i have had with valerie martin. by doing the unthinkable, i judged this book by its cover and was immediately taken in by it. every story was as engaging as the next. i was actually sad when it was over! the title story is incredibly captivating with all its twists and turns. a collection of truly engaging and fascinating stories, you'll devour it in one sitting!