Luncheon of the Boating Party
by Susan Vreeland
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Book Summary Information
Author: Susan VreelandEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2008-02-26
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of Luncheon of the Boating Party
Book Review: Celebrating the goodness of life
Summary: 4 Stars
"Luncheon of the Boating Party" by Susan Vreeland has been heavily reviewed on Amazon and elsewhere since it first appeared in 2007, but it took a recent visit to the Phillips Collection, here in Washington, and another look at the Renoir masterpiece to re-ignite my curiosity about how it came to be painted.
One Amazon reviewer suggested that it took a lot of guts for author Vreeland to undertake the creation of the possible story of Renoir and his models for the painting. Gutsy it was, but also wonderfully successful, I think. Her research into authentic documents and materials was extensive and admirable, and has given this fiction a solid, factual and believable foundation.
As a result, "Luncheon of the Boating Party" is an evocative (and credible) account of many aspects of French life and culture of the 1880s --the changing French art scene with its own politics and personal rivalries; urban life in the Paris of the time; the sport of boating; French bourgeois cuisine; the lasting impact of the Franco-Prussian War on the French people; and French theater among many other things.
While the reviews of this excellent book have been many and often insightful and eloquent, I found it curious that so little has been said about one of the principal characters in the story--Gustave Caillebotte. The author gave this talented, generous and complicated man a major role in the story of the painting, but that does not seem to have grabbed the attention or interest of many reviewers. To her credit, author Vreeland has been fairly direct in identifying Caillebotte as a gay man, and has described with some sensitivity how that must have shaped his relations with the otherwise strongly heterosexual group that he was part of in this story and in the artistic world of the 1880s. Caillebotte was a great friend to Renoir and a quiet hero in this story, but he was also a painter of enormous talent, an art patron with great vision and generosity and a sportsman of considerable reknown. So kudos to Vreeland for giving him some of the credit that he most certainly deserves as an important historic figure.
I got much more from this admirable novel than I expected. It was almost all pure enjoyment. Highly recommended.
Summary of Luncheon of the Boating Party
A vivid exploration of one of the most beloved Renoir paintings in the world, "done with a flourish worthy of Renoir himself" (USA Today)With her richly textured novels, Susan Vreeland has offered pioneering portraits of artists' lives. Now, as she did in Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Vreeland once again focuses on a single painting-Auguste Renoir's instantly recognizable masterpiece, which depicts a gathering of Renoir's real friends enjoying a summer Sunday on a caf? terrace along the Seine. Narrated by Renoir and seven of the models, the novel illuminates the gusto, hedonism, and art of the era. With a gorgeous palette of vibrant, captivating characters, Vreeland paints their lives, loves, losses, and triumphs so vividly that "the painting literally comes alive" (The Boston Globe).
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