Rating: 
Summary: The Art World, Drama and Darkness
Review: "What I Loved" by Siri Hustvedt is a juxtaposition of two stories in one book. It is an amalgamation of the art world, the lurid underworld in the late 70's and 80's, and the human story of two families.Leo Hertzberg, an art historian in New York City, discovers a painting by an unknown artist that catches his eye. He buys the painting, tracks down the artist Bill Wecshler and they become life long friends. This painting has a story of its own, and he needs to understand. He brings the painting home to his wife Erika who also becomes entranced with it. Bill and his wife, Lucille invite Erika and Leo into their lives. Lucille is a bit reticent, and we are unable to get to know her. Something is missing in her. Astoundingly, both women become pregnant within the same period of time, and Matthew is born to Leo and Erika and Mark to Lucille and Bill. But something is awry in the life of Lucille and Bill. Bill has fallen in love with the model, Violet, that was in the original painting that attracted Leo to Bill. Bill leaves Violet and his son Mark and marries Violet. They are happy, so very happy, and life is so good. A tragic death foretells the dark drama of the lives of these people in the next twenty-five years. The lovely story of the art world and the art critics in New York, and the lives full of fun and love have taken a mysterious turn by one of the children born to these couples. A psychological drama overtakes this story. At once erringly familiar and so out of place. I have difficulty sorting the sudden change in fortune of these families, and the loss of family and love. The sense of betrayal is at every corner. The discovery of the dark, deep secrets that need to be fleshed out from corridors that we do not want to go down, is an area best left alone. The lives of Leo, Erika, Bill, Lucille and Violet are changed irrevocably. Nothing can ever be the same again. The art world has come undone, and the crimes that are committed are too ghastly. We are left to try and contemplate the psyches of all involved. How could this happen? Was there something to be done?
I am not sure that I really liked the second half of this novel. It is difficult to place the latter half of the novel with the lives of the couples we have come to know so intimately. We are asked to move from one world into another without time to analyze what is happening. A dark, deep novel that needs to be savored to fully understand. prisrob
Rating:
Summary: An Examination of Loss and Moral Bankruptcy
Review: "What I Loved" is a story about the friendship between an art historian and an artist, and their two families including their two sons who are nearly the same age. It is a novel of loss - the loss of children, spouses, friends and lovers over a span of twenty-five years. It reminds us that change is an inevitable part of life. It is also an indictment of the vacuity and moral ambiguity of modern day life, particularly in the trendy, fast paced New York art world and club scene, where an artist who creates art works of cleverly violent moral bankruptcy can rise to the pinnacle of success; and where the club scene is filled with teenagers whose parents are absent while they chase success, leaving their kids rudderless, rootless and literally and figuaratively empty. A large part of the novel explores one of the teenage sons and his descent into the hellish netherworld of the club scene. Another segment of the book follows one of the characters as she writes a book on 19th century hysteria and it's late 20th-21st century equivalent, anorexia. This is a gripping and atmospheric novel of complex ideas on art and modern day life, and what it means for us and our children. Sometimes sinister, sometimes wretchingly painful, this is a novel definitely worth reading and reflecting upon.
Rating:
Summary: The Art World, Drama and Darkness
Review: "What I Loved" by Siri Hustvedt is a juxtaposition of two stories in one book. It is an amalgamation of the art world, the lurid underworld in the late 70's and 80's, and the human story of two families. Leo Hertzberg, an art historian in New York City, discovers a painting by an unknown artist that catches his eye. He buys the painting, tracks down the artist Bill Wecshler and they become life long friends. This painting has a story of its own, and he needs to understand. He brings the painting home to his wife Erika who also becomes entranced with it. Bill and his wife, Lucille invite Erika and Leo into their lives. Lucille is a bit reticent, and we are unable to get to know her. Something is missing in her. Astoundingly, both women become pregnant within the same period of time, and Matthew is born to Leo and Erika and Mark to Lucille and Bill. But something is awry in the life of Lucille and Bill. Bill has fallen in love with the model, Violet, that was in the original painting that attracted Leo to Bill. Bill leaves Violet and his son Mark and marries Violet. They are happy, so very happy, and life is so good. A tragic death foretells the dark drama of the lives of these people in the next twenty-five years. The lovely story of the art world and the art critics in New York, and the lives full of fun and love have taken a mysterious turn by one of the children born to these couples. A psychological drama overtakes this story. At once erringly familiar and so out of place. I have difficulty sorting the sudden change in fortune of these families, and the loss of family and love. The sense of betrayal is at every corner. The discovery of the dark, deep secrets that need to be fleshed out from corridors that we do not want to go down, is an area best left alone. The lives of Leo, Erika, Bill, Lucille and Violet are changed irrevocably. Nothing can ever be the same again. The art world has come undone, and the crimes that are committed are too ghastly. We are left to try and contemplate the psyches of all involved. How could this happen? Was there something to be done?
I am not sure that I really liked the second half of this novel. It is difficult to place the latter half of the novel with the lives of the couples we have come to know so intimately. We are asked to move from one world into another without time to analyze what is happening. A dark, deep novel that needs to be savored to fully understand. prisrob
Rating:
Summary: An Examination of Loss and Moral Bankruptcy
Review: "What I Loved" is a story about the friendship between an art historian and an artist, and their two families including their two sons who are nearly the same age. It is a novel of loss - the loss of children, spouses, friends and lovers over a span of twenty-five years. It reminds us that change is an inevitable part of life. It is also an indictment of the vacuity and moral ambiguity of modern day life, particularly in the trendy, fast paced New York art world and club scene, where an artist who creates art works of cleverly violent moral bankruptcy can rise to the pinnacle of success; and where the club scene is filled with teenagers whose parents are absent while they chase success, leaving their kids rudderless, rootless and literally and figuaratively empty. A large part of the novel explores one of the teenage sons and his descent into the hellish netherworld of the club scene. Another segment of the book follows one of the characters as she writes a book on 19th century hysteria and it's late 20th-21st century equivalent, anorexia. This is a gripping and atmospheric novel of complex ideas on art and modern day life, and what it means for us and our children. Sometimes sinister, sometimes wrenchingly painful, this is a novel definitely worth reading and reflecting upon.
Rating: 
Summary: "Beautiful book!!
Review: Dear Siri, I'm 45, I'm Italian and just finished reading your book "What I loved". What a delight! Beautiflu story, beautifully written. The ending is superb. Please, do write another book soon. I am here waiting for it. Giuseppe
Rating: 
Summary: Not True to Life
Review: From the outset, the narrator in "What I Loved" did not sound like a man. Sure, when writing in the first person, the author can assume any personality she wants, but the character Leo never convinced me of his identity, though I gave him until the very last page. Not only that, but there wasn't much about Leo that was remarkable or even likable; he seems to exist only to react to the other characters.
Ms. Hustvedt tries really hard, but the sudden death of Matt at the end of Part I didn't make me cry or even feel sad. The character Matt was poorly delineated, for one thing. Another problem was that I never got the sense of any of these fictional people belonging to families. So the loss of a son seemed to be just a writer's trick to get on to the next part.
Leo's attempts to straighten out his best friend's son Mark were sometimes ridiculous. That cross-country chase was inexplicable. Who would spend so much time and money, and who would irreparably damage his own health, to follow this selfish, ungrateful adolescent from airport to airport, when he's proved over and over that he's untrustworthy, unlovable, and dangerous?
The relationships between Leo and Erica, then Leo and Violet, were not evocatively portrayed. I never identified with any of the characters. In fact, all seemed selfish and shallow.
The most annoying aspect of "What I Loved" were the unnecessarily long and detailed descriptions of Bill's artwork. This gave me the feeling that the author was saying to her readers, "Look at this! Watch me write!" I hope that wasn't her intention, but that was its effect on me.
And this book starts out as one sort of novel, but finishes as another. Most editors would reject a manuscript that does that. This is a very horrible thing to say: but I wonder, if Siri Hustvedt's husband were not Paul Auster, would this book have been published?
Rating:
Summary: Jerry Seinfeld meets Leonard Cohen
Review: From the very outset, this is a book that draws the reader in with tender prose and gentle tones. Despite some of the grittiness of the subject matter, it remains poignant and dignified. Through the eyes of Leo, who seems both aloof and immersed in the tale, we watch as a small group of New York artists and academics struggle with real-life and the people and topics that compel them. The novel swings pendulously through a range of emotions, not formulaically, but naturally and realistically. It is not a book about "closure" and epiphanies. Moreso, it seems to show that the adult world does not get less confusing and easier as time goes by.
The main characters are painstakingly illustrated, sometimes their absence is more glaring than their presence. Unfortunatley this attention to detail may give the impression of infatuation from time to time, but then again, maybe he is obsessive. Each character does seem slightly neurotic in one way or another. Mostly in a good sense. From the naive, benevolent Leo to the kramer-esque Lazlo to the bizarre behaviour of Mark, they form an interesting troupe.
Sometimes, the personal details and tone given seem so private that it is as though we are reading someone's diary. No one is glorified without being debased, no one is villified without being complimented. These are people who are as fickle and selfish and benevolent as all of us. I don't want to give anything away about the book. Just read it.
Rating:
Summary: you will be carried away
Review: i am still coming down off reading "what i loved" by siri hustvedt. as a native new yorker, i was drawn to the soho setting of this book that chronicles the life of leo hertzberg from the 1960s through the 1990s. he shares a keen friendship with a struggling but ultimately renowned artist and the changes that occur in their lives. the book succeeds on many levels. the writing is beyond exquisite. it is challenging to any reader who wants an author to push our reading experience beyond the banal, to a place where you are thrust into the lives of the characters. their emotions are your emotions. their character foibles are laid out for us to see our own foibles. the characters are deep,multi dimensional and ms hustvedt cuts no corners. her creation is magnificent. not to say the book does not get a little strange, but so does life. the characters deal with the strange twists of events in realistic fashion. characters should reveal facets of the human condition in ways that cannot be revealed by our own real lives. they resoundingly do. i dont believe a book can appeal to all people, but if you want a truly challenging book with deep characters, this is clearly a book you should read.
Rating:
Summary: you will be carried away
Review: i am still coming down off reading "what i loved" by siri hustvedt. as a native new yorker, i was drawn to the soho setting of this book that chronicles the life of leo hertzberg from the 1960s through the 1990s. he shares a keen friendship with a struggling but ultimately renowned artist and the changes that occur in their lives. the book succeeds on many levels. the writing is beyond exquisite. it is challenging to any reader who wants an author to push our reading experience beyond the banal, to a place where you are thrust into the lives of the characters. their emotions are your emotions. their character foibles are laid out for us to see our own foibles. the characters are deep,multi dimensional and ms hustvedt cuts no corners. her creation is magnificent. not to say the book does not get a little strange, but so does life. the characters deal with the strange twists of events in realistic fashion. characters should reveal facets of the human condition in ways that cannot be revealed by our own real lives. they resoundingly do. i dont believe a book can appeal to all people, but if you want a truly challenging book with deep characters, this is clearly a book you should read.
Rating: 
Summary: Women I missed in this novel!!!
Review: I am very asthonished, Hustvedt mentions more than 100 important people in Science, Fine Art, Literature ... but only men, no women. Why? Is our world so andro-centric? Or only Leo the protagonist?
Why Hustvedt developes Marks behavior as a typical borderline personality point by point (see the Theory of Sternberg). It is a little bit boring and like a psychological story, not a novel!
I am angry about the missing women in the novel and angry because nobody of the readers sees it. Hustvedt did it too secretly.
|
