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Summary: The Passion of Artemesia
Review: I was COMPLETELY DISSAPPOINTED with this book. The author had the opportunity to write an incredible novel with deep characters, historic value and a taste of what it would have been like to be a powerful woman in that time period. The characters were shallow, the description of the countries from Rome to Venice were disappointing. Don't buy it...It's closer to a...dime store novel than anything I've read in years and it cost 21.00
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant and Intriguing
Review: Yes, yes, YES. If you want the vulnerability of an initmate visit within an artist's mind and soul, read this book. If you want to compare the difference in time and place for women between centuries, read this book. If you love Italy, read this book.
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Summary: Artemisia- the name alone has passion.
Review: I'm not sure I would say this book is full of passion, but certainly the writer has concerned herself with Artemisia's passion for art, and in that, the descriptions and feelings are endless and beautiful. The story is a good one, it flows beautifully into a reality you can absorb, and it is at times both intense and painfully shallow. Artemisia is not just an artist, she is a woman, a mother, a daughter, a person with deep insights and dark emotions. I think the author does a superb job of keeping the reader spellbound with this easy flowing story, and of joining both reader and characters together in an intricately weaved and artfully told environment. I could read it again, it's the kind of book you feel as though you could always learn something new from. There were parts I thought I should stop and write down, sentences and thoughts so beautifully phrased I wanted to preserve them. But I had borrowed the book, and an anxious next-reader was waiting. Read this book. It's excellent.
Rating:
Summary: absolutely no passion
Review: I really though I would love this book, I love art, love the premise. I'm a voracious reader, but rarely have read a book as poor as this. I kept reading, since I wanted it to improve, but finally gave it up 3/4 through, just didn't care to continue The dialog is really, very poorly written; and the writing is in a very strangely detached style, the "Passion" in the title is never achieved. Last one from this author I'll read.
Rating: 
Summary: A look into a different world.
Review: This was the first book I had read by Susan Vreeland. Normally, I don't like first person narrative, but this book was wonderfully written. The story of Artemisia is one of betrayal and passion, and the slow realization that reality isn't all that it's cracked up to be. She is forced, by circumstance, to be married to someone she doesn't know. HE can't accept that she is a better painter than he. Artemisia spends the majority of her life trying to reconcile her past to her present and to find a balance between her love of painting and the love of her family. I would recommend this book to anyone. Not only does it illustrate a period in history that I don't know much about, but it allows the reader to see behind the paintings. The pursuit of art, for art's sake, is a noble venture, and to see the background makes it even more important.
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Summary: A Picture's Worth 1000 Words - but this book is priceless!
Review: When I attended the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, my favorite times where spent exploring the Detroit Institute of Arts. One semester I took a class on Women Artists and I clearly remember how captivated I was by the story of Artemesia Gentileschi. She was such a strong and heroic woman and immensely talent artist. She was so far ahead of her time. I was forever moved when I visited the DIA and saw her masterpiece "Judith and Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes". Now, almost twenty years later, I discover this book, which describes not just Artemesia's life, but tells me exactly what went into one of my favorite masterpieces! Susan Vreeland has done an incredible job of painting a picture of another age. Her words depict the life of this incredible woman artist in the same way that Artemsia captured essence the subjects of her artwork.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Subject Matter, But
Review: There were enough parts of this book to make me want to read to the end (exploration of an artist's thought processes, street scenes of Italy, the very fact that the character was the first woman admitted to the Florentine academy. Really enjoyed the side story of Graziela and thought that struggle between confinement and freedom, religious sacrafice and artistic freedom could be a book all of its own.) I found this writing detached and cool and very unpassionate. The dialogue was especially weak and it didn't help that it was all in modern vernacular overlaid on top of 1615 Italy.
Rating:
Summary: Out of sync
Review: The story was mildly interesting, but I have to agree with the reviewers who criticized the writing. In general, the dialogue and language sometimes fit the historical period and sometimes seemed to come straight out of a none too literate contemporary novel. "Fine with me," Artemisia says to herself at one point. Vreeland thanks her editor for help given, but either Vreeland didn't take her editor's advice or her editor needs an editor. Vreeland ignores the rule that a possessive pronoun must precede a gerund ("at the risk of you thinking"); she uses "like" as a conjunction ("like Father had written"). The book is flawed with multiple instances of these two sins. Here's a double negative: "I don't need but one." "Kind of long": This is an error one should overcome by middle school. What's wrong with "rather" or "somewhat"? "It wasn't him that was making this difficult." "It was me." "Was it him or me?" "strikingly different than tradition because each of the three stories were the same height": "than" instead of "from" and an error in subject-verb agreement in the same sentence.
Rating:
Summary: An Enjoyable Story
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed following Artemisia throughout this story. The beginning of the story has some strong and painful images which bond the reader to this young woman. I've enjoyed both this story and Susan Vreeland's "Girl in Hyacinth Blue". I've also placed an order for the soon to be released large print version of this book for an elderly relative.
Rating: 
Summary: Sadly Disappointing
Review: Such a letdown after Girl in Hyacinth Blue. This book has none of Girl's poetry or soul. For a better written depiction of Artemisia try Alexandra Lapierre. And no characterization of Galileo can top Sobel. It seems as if Vreeland was writing to make a deadline or fulfill a contract for that critical second book. It's not written from the heart.
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