Changing blogging domain and site

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Dear blogger friends, Lately, I had a few problems with the Blogger web site for my blog The Content Reader . I took this as a sign that I should finally create a web site of my own. I have been checking out other options, but could not get my act together. Finally, I have managed to create a basic web site with Wix, which I hope will be developed over time.  It has not been easy to find my way around. One thing one can say about Blogger is that it is easy to work with.  This site will no longer be updated Follow me to my new domain @  thecontentreader.com Hope to see you there.  Lisbeth @ The Content Reader

Paris in July 2021 - Loving Modigliani: The Afterlife of Jeanne Hébuterne by Linda Lappin

It is already 10 July and this is my first post for Paris in July 2021. I am on the road in our camper van and it has been difficult to find time to blog. I have been reading a few books and made a French dinner so there are some posts coming up soon. 

However, I would like to start with a book I read and reviewed in May. It is such a wonderful and interesting historical fiction of Jeanne Hébuterne who was the muse of Amedeo Modigliani. Linda Lappin has written a novel, not only of the life of the two artists, but also of Paris. We meet Paris in the past and present. Both are as exciting as they can be, although the past gives us a kind of magic and dark side of Paris. 

"Amedeo Modigliani, embittered and unrecognized genius, dies of meningitis on a cold January day in Montparnasse in 1920. Jeanne Hébuterne, his young wife and muse, follows 48 hours later, falling backwards through a window. Now a ghost, Jeanne drifts about the studio she shared with Modigliani—for she was not only his favorite model, but also an artist whose works were later shut away from public view after her demise. Enraged, she watches as her belongings are removed from the studio and her identity as an artist seemingly effaced for posterity, carried off in a suitcase. Thus begins Loving Modigliani, retelling the story of Jeanne Hébuterne’s fate as a woman and an artist through three timelines and three precious objects stolen from the studio: a diary, a bangle, and a self-portrait of Jeanne depicted together with Modi and their daughter. A century later, Jeanne Hébuterne’s artwork will be rescued from oblivion."

 


I am fascinating by historical fiction about artists. They seem to be people so different from the rest of us. As we admire their free spirits, the sacrifices they make for their art and the simple, and often, poor lives they live (at least before they become famous), we can stay outside and look in. 

 The beginning of the novel takes you straight into the action and into a paranormal and gothic world.

"The ringing in my ears ceased with the dull thud of a heavy weight hurled out from a high window, crashing into the courtyard. I blacked out as a wave of pain surged through my body, traveling to the tips of my fingers and the roots of my hair. I'd barely had time to glimpse my brother André's face gawking through the open window frame, to hear the neighbours cat yowling on the balcony below us or the precipitation of feet on the stairs. Then there I was, conscious again, rather bewildered but intact, suspended in the air a few inches above that bloody heap on the cobblestones. A taut, transparent string protruding from my belly seemed to be attaching me to it."

It is an excellent opening to the story. Jeanne's travel in the other world continues over time. She is looking for Modigliani with whom she wants to be re-united. With the help of a cat she wanders restlessly around this new, unknown world, searching for her man. Going in and out of different 'doors' she enters other time zones and dimensions, where she soon becomes aware of what is happening with her inheritance. It is magically written and we are there with Jeanne as she roams around the streets of Paris that is so well known to her. It is a mixture of fantasy, gothic and magic and Lappin makes it look so true. First I thought we were going to stay in this world the whole book, and I was a little bit disappointed. But, as the story continues I found it a rather genius way of telling the story. But Lappin does not let us stay there, she has two other story lines up her sleeve. 

In the second part the story moves to 1981 and an American art student in Paris on a scholarship. She encounters a woman who new Jeanne. As strange things are happening she is drawn deeper and deeper into the life of Jeanne and Modigliani. Underlying secrets coming up to the surface, and lost paintings see the daylight again. To find out the secret, the two of them goes on a trip from Paris, to the French Riviera, to Rome, in search of answers. 

The third part takes place some ten years later in Venice when an art critic is organising the first ever exhibition of Jeanne Hébutern's works. All of a sudden a lost painting is turning up. And, we hear from Jeanne again. She, still invisible to the world, but her art is about to come out of its hiding. 

After her death at only 22 years old, her brother, André, collected and kept her art in the family. Her relationship with Modigliani and her work was shameful for them.  Only after André's death could her drawings and paintings be shown to the public. Jeanne is one of all those muses to famous painters and sculptures that were talented and could have made a career of their own. 

Linda Lappin has written a magical and fantastic story of the life of Jeanne Hébuterne. Thorough research and dedication to the object, she has given us the pleasure, for a moment, to get to know Jeanne, her life, feelings and inheritance. The story is treated with love and sensitivity. Well written both in prose, story development and historical facts, it contains fantasy, magic, suspense and gothic elements. It is a tribute to Jeanne Hébuterne and her art. One of the best historical fictions I have read.  

I received the novel via NetGalley and Linda Lappin for an impartial review. The views above are my own. 

Comments

  1. This sounds like a unique novel, as well as a fascinating one. Thank you for the review.

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    1. I think it is. It took me by surprise and I really loved the way Linda Lappin built up the story.

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  2. Modigliani's partner's story is so sad! It doesn't take a supernatural novel to see the tragedy in her short life. I've always been so depressed when I have read about her desperate death.

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. Yes, indeed. I had never heard about her before reading the novel. It is a really sad story. I am sure she could have done something of her own paintings had she choose to live. Anyway, Linda Lappin really made her come to life.

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    2. Jeanne's death is extremely sad and tragic - and her brief, intense held some very painful moments -- but within that parenthesis there was joy -- the joy of Loving Modigliani, of making art, of choosing her unconventional life, and of living at the heart of a unique moment in the history of art. That is why the book isn't just about Jeanne's life and death, but about her afterlife -- in a mythic dimension where she may find an eternal reunion with M. and in our dimension, where her work is finally rediscovered and celebrated.

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    3. Jeanne's end was tragic - but I believe she also experienced great joy in her brief life - the joy of loving modigliani, of creating art, and of living at the heart of an unrepeatable moment in the history of art. In writing this book, I did not want to emphasize the pain and tragedy -- but to explore her afterlife ... both in a mythic dimension where she and M still thrive, and in our own world, where her work has been rediscovered and celebrated. that's why I took the ghost approach -- to see how she still lives (and loves) in the mundus imaginalis

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    4. It was so cleverly done. I think that is why her story has stayed with me for a long time, even now I still think of it. You have made a beautiful contribution to her life and work.

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  3. Paris is always good for stories about famous people, every other one must have been an artist or something.

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    1. Yes, there seem to be so many of them. All the sad stories of artists and other famous people. Maybe there is something in the atmosphere that make people miserable? When one thinks of it, there are more miserable stories coming out of Paris than any other city. Except for London, maybe?

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    2. I always thought that sad stories make better stories. I'm sure there are million of happy people living in Paris, I've met a few of them. I guess more artists are unhappy than ordinary people.

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  4. I want to read this book just about more than any I've recently heard of. I would be interested even before your review -- Modigliani is one of my favorite artists of that period and I knew a little of his life with Jeanne, though not a great deal about her. But after reading this -- well, I must find this book and move it to the top of the pile when I do. Your review is outstanding -- not only in terms of praise but in the way you have told the story.

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    1. Thank you Jeanie for your nice words. I find it extra difficult to write reviews when I am reviewing on behalf of the author. No problem with a positive review this time though. Linda has approached Jeanne's story in a wonderful way. It is indeed a tribute to Jeanne and her sad fate.
      I had to look up Modigliani. I have heard his name but had no idea how he painted. I must say it not really my cup of tea, and it must have made a stir at the time.

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  5. So glad you enjoyed it. We recently featured it on France Book Tours. You can also watch this webinar we organized on the topic of art in historical fiction, Linda was one of our 4 authors: https://francebooktours.com/2021/05/13/french-artists-in-fiction-four-lives-four-authors-webinar-video-and-winners/

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    1. Yes, I know it was, but I did not have time to read it then. Thank you for the link, I will have a look at it.

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  6. thank you for posting -- as I have said before - this is not only about Jeanne's short, intense life and its painful end -- but about her afterlife and the rediscovery and celebration of her work.

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    1. You did it so very well. I was a little bit surprised in the beginning since the afterlife continued and I thought it would be so until the end of the novel. However, then the other, present time story took over. It is so well done and you managed to tell her story and her rediscovery in such a clever way. Her story still stays with me.

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