The Incantation of Frida K.

Rating:
Summary: An absorbing and engagingly imaginative read
Review: The Incantation Of Frida K. by Kate Braverman is a work of sophisticated fiction that brings the reader along on an imaginary tour of the late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo's life. A profound and vivid testimony of the years hard living and equally hard playing, as well as an inward journey at the moment of death, The Incantation Of Frida K. is an absorbing and engagingly imaginative read.

Rating:
Summary: Take a wild trip into the mind of Frida Kahlo
Review: The Incantation of Frida K. by Kate Braverman

Here is yet another telling of the fascinating life of Frida Kahol, done in an unusual way by author Kate Braverman. The story is told by Frida while she is in a drug-induced state as she lays on her deathbed. Because of her state of mind, the book seems to read like a hallucinatory dream, with spurts of reality mixed in.

Frida tells her life story in bits and pieces, from the first day she meets her future lover and husband, artist and communist Diego Rivera, to her own exploits as a celebrated artist and fellow communist, and the accident that left her a cripple all her adult life. Since her memories are being told while in a drug-induced state, it is difficult to determine what is fiction and what is fact.

I found this a highly unusual book and rank it among my top 20 books of 2002. It is definitely not the book to read for one that wants to know more about Frida, but it is more of a work of art. Kate Bravermen takes the reader into the mind of an eccentric artist, and it is a fascinating journey.

Rating:
Summary: An Everlasting Pain
Review: The Incantation of Frida K: The first parargaph was irresistable and left me curious. Her story is like no other, its compelling and mysterious. Told by Frida herself, she goes through many various stages in her life. While becomming addicted to morphine and cigarettes you really get to know her pain and thoughts.