Mistral's Daughter

Rating:
Summary: it was a very good book, I like the way it is written.
Review: I like very much the book, but I really like best the mini-series on TV I would like to know where can I buy the video of this movie, and the music of this picture, it was very beautiful I think the name was something like "april in paris" and I believe is french, where can I order it.

Rating:
Summary: I thought that it was quite impressive.
Review: I love how it spaned time and generations, somethig that all could relate to.It is true that at points it was far fetched, but isn't that why we read? To have something that we have not yet experienced in the physical....

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing but still good.
Review: Judith Krantz has written ten books, and out of those I've read six. This is one of those six, and while I enjoyed reading it, I still wish it was better.

This is the story of a successful painter, Julien Mistral, and his relationships with three women in the span of about 50 years. Maggy Lunel is one of his first nude models, and they share a brief fling. Teddy Lunel is Maggy's daughter from another man, who becomes a big model, falls in love with Mistral and gives birth to his child. Fauve, Teddy and Julien Mistral's daughter, is an aspiring painter like her father, but eventually learns an upsetting fact about her father that forever changes their relationship. This novel, never like any Judith Krantz before or after it, rambles on forever about nothing in particular, and it is very hard to feel you know most of the characters, let alone really care what happens to them. Read it because it's Judith Krantz, but it is by no means her best work.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing but still good.
Review: Judith Krantz has written ten books, and out of those I've read six. This is one of those six, and while I enjoyed reading it, I still wish it was better.

This is the story of a successful painter, Julien Mistral, and his relationships with three women in the span of about 50 years. Maggy Lunel is one of his first nude models, and they share a brief fling. Teddy Lunel is Maggy's daughter from another man, who becomes a big model, falls in love with Mistral and gives birth to his child. Fauve, Teddy and Julien Mistral's daughter, is an aspiring painter like her father, but eventually learns an upsetting fact about her father that forever changes their relationship. This novel, never like any Judith Krantz before or after it, rambles on forever about nothing in particular, and it is very hard to feel you know most of the characters, let alone really care what happens to them. Read it because it's Judith Krantz, but it is by no means her best work.

Rating:
Summary: Mistral's women
Review: Julien Mistral is a painter with great passion for his work. He also has passion for three generations of Lunel women, two of whom are his mistresses and one who is his daughter. With Mistral, nothing can come between him and his work and this obsession, coupled with fateful occurences in the lives of the Lunels is the foundation on which this book is written. Krantz has a way of creating characters which the reader cares about and putting them into situations where their flawed human nature causes many complications in their lives. This book takes the reader behind the scenes of the art and fashion worlds of France and New York, and tells an engrossing and interesting tale. It's a good read!


Rating:
Summary: AN ALMOST MISS
Review: OK, let me start this review by saying that I adore big family-oriented sagas with many sins and oh-so many secrets. I'm always the first in line when any book resembling what is already mentioned comes out. So imagine my joy when picking up (twenty years late, mind you) Mistral's Daughter by the lady of all lady writers, Judith Krantz. _The_ Judith Krantz who made Princess Daisy such a fun and addictive read. Not to mention the classic of all classics, Scruples. Two great books which deserved all of their mega-successes.

Well, dear readers, I guess the saying three's a crowd is true, for Krantz's third novel may have been another smash to many eyes, but not so much to yours truly. Don't get me wrong, all the melodrama is in there : the innocent yet bold heroine, the manipulative and abusive foe, the temperamental but loving hero, steamy steamy love scenes galore... well, you get my drift.

Despite those pluses, somehow Krantz failed to capture the essence of her first two novels. The desire, the need to tell a great story behind the glitz and glamour is there yet missing. It's as if a wall has been built up between Krantz's talent and deadline, and her need to stay on automatic pilot was her safest bet.

Indeed, in her third outing originality is out the door and replaced by a paint-by-the-numbers plot and tiresome descriptions of sceneries and cathedrals. Yes, Mistral is a painter and Krantz tries her best to be true to him, but the line between reality and fiction can only be saved by editing and, alas, in Mistral's Daughter, editing is in constant need.

That said, the novel is still better than many new releases out there. Judith Krantz is best when she lets her imagination run wild, and there are parts in Mistral's that are pure Krantz. The bowl of fruit scene, for instance, where Maggie, dressed in nothing but painted fruits, strutt her stuff (in pre-second World War II) for all the world to see. Krantz can easily make the unbelievable believable. Plus any scenes involving the character of evil Kate is pure delight. The last one in which she discovers she will no longer be needed is so perfectly told I was enthralled by Krantz's talent as a writer. If only these sparks of ingenuity could have been constant, Mistral's Daughter would have been a sure fire hit in my eyes as well.-----Martin Boucher



Rating:
Summary: The weakest Krantz, but still entertaining
Review: This one is really melodramatic...IMHO Ms. Krantz should stick to the relatively unsentimantal present day (or at least, post-'80s). The action in this one spans nearly 70 or 80 years, from the turn of the century to the late '70s/early '80s. The main problem is the central figure - in this case, a Picasso-esque artist called Julien Mistral (the Mistral of the title, which is not the infamous mistral wind of Provence, though I guess his character is supposed to be like that wind or something). The heroines are three women - the Maggy, her daughter Teddy, and granddaughter Fauve. Parts of the story are so melodramatic and hokey they will make you laugh out loud, though I don't think that was the author's intention. Still, this is far better than any Romance genre novel out there, and just as romantic as any of them.