Knopf/Bloomsbury, March 31, 2016.
Three Stars
Annie has always been unlucky in love. Finally, she
thinks she has found a good man, so she sets out to a thrift shop to find him a
perfect, unique gift. She comes home with a dirty old painting, only to
discover that her boyfriend has left her. The painting remains in her little
apartment as a sad reminder – but it also brings with it a lot more drama than
Annie bargained for.
Meanwhile, Annie is also dealing with her alcoholic
mother who ends up moving in with her after being arrested, but that becomes
the least of her problems as Annie gets drawn into the drama of the London art
world and discovers that a variety of experts are attempting to track down her
painting. She learns that it is in fact an 18th century masterpiece
by Watteau, and its beauty speaks to her – literally. The painting herself actually
narrates parts of the novel, and she tells a pretty amazing story. She speaks about
her illustrious former owners, including Marie Antoinette and Queen Victoria.
The speaking painting is somewhat gimmicky, but the history was interesting
enough to make it worthwhile.
The painting, which shares its title with the novel,
also has darker historical secrets – they aren’t all frivolous and fun. As research
begins on the painting, its provenance is called into question. It may have belonged
to a Jewish family previous to World War II, and there is a lot of uncertainty
as to how it ended up in a junkshop.
The novel opens up with preparations for an auction
in which “The Improbability of Love” will be sold. The entire plot is building
up to this big event, but when it finally happens, it falls flat. The action
starts slow, but then the story moves in so many different directions – while it
did get stronger as the various storylines came together, everything just kind
of fell apart in the end. It was still fun to read, but even though it had so
much potential, it just became very silly and awkward.
Rothschild is on the board of the National Gallery in
London, so she knows well the rich and famous of the art world, making it likely
that the novel is mostly satirical. The artistic details are meticulously
researched, but there was too much detail and it became tedious to read. Annie’s
character was very strong, but there were too many other points of view.
Finally, while the painting’s narration is quirky and interesting, the style became
overdone as it carried on. This novel is a Bailey’s Women’s Prize finalist, and
while I do think it is clever and interesting, I’m not sure it belongs on that
list.
I received this novel from Knopf/Bloomsbury and NetGalley
in exchange for an honest review.
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