A Vincent Van Gogh Novel

Leaving Van Gogh by Carol Wallace

Carol Wallace's historical novel covers the last year of Vincent Van Gogh's life.  It opens with Theo, Vincent's brother, discussing Vincent's mental health issues and inquiring about whether Dr. Gachet could help Vincent, if he moved to the French town of Auvers-sur-Oise, located just outside Paris.  Theo wants Gachet to supervise his brother. Gachet, a known patron of the arts and an amateur artist himself, agrees and is immediately drawn to van Gogh's luminous work.

Wallace tells the story of Vincent's last several months from the perspective of  Paul Gachet, a doctor specializing in mental illness.  Gachet befriends Vincent and invites him to his home while trying to determine the nature of Vincent's mental problems.  Gachet finds Van Gogh to be an irresistible puzzle, a man whose mind, plagued by demons, poses the most potentially rewarding challenge of Gachet’s career.  Wallace poses the moral dilemma of whether to facilitate the death of a loved one who is suffering. Gachet, still guilty that he refused his consumptive wife's plea to help her die years earlier, decides to help Vincent by leaving his loaded gun where Vincent will find it.  

Wallace accepts the scenario that Vincent Van Gogh shot himself in the chest.  Chances are she was writing her novel at the time that biographers, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, were publishing their work,  Van Gogh: The Life.  In their biography of Van Gogh, they conducted a careful analysis of the facts and documents available on how Vincent died, and present a very credible case refuting the popular notion that Vincent Van Gogh committed suicide.  Without using the traditional story line of how Van Gogh died, Wallace would not have had a basis for telling her story from the perspective of Dr. Gachet providing Vincent with the means to end his tortured life.

I do agree with Library Journal's concluding statement the novel does a fine job of offering insight into the "damning, draining combination of genius and madness" while telling the story of the final few months of van Gogh's tortured existence.  I also agree you should read this haunting novel with a volume of van Gogh reprints at your side for reference.  Wallace does a great job through the novel in describing and explaining Vincent's unique painting style, which has captivated audiences of his work ever since.

Related to Sherlock Holmes?

Garment of Shadows: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes   by Laurie King

You really can't claim this is a Sherlock Holmes novel, because Mary Russell is the primary protaganist.  Sherlock unfortunately takes a backseat to his wife in this story, which is part of the Mary Russell Mystery Series.  To quote from a Publishers Weekly review,  "(this is definitely Mary’s story; Holmes functions more or less as her very able sidekick)". 

I did read the first novel in Laurie King's series, entitled The Beekeeper's Apprentice, which was much more enjoyable than this latest novel in the series.  Probably because Sherlock Holmes played a more prominent role in that first book in the series.  Since that first book, a romantic attraction obviously developed between Mary Russell and Sherlock, because they are now married in this edition.  I confess I have not kept up with this series, so maybe I would have enjoyed this issue more if I had read more of the Laurie King novels which preceded this one.

Garment of Shadows includes none of the usual entries in which Holmes displays his amazing powers of observation and deduction.  Too bad, because that is what makes Sherlock Holmes stories so enjoyable.  The reviews of this novel do claim that King takes a different tact with her storyline, incorporating real historical events and characters, while Russell and Holmes seem to play a bit of a periphery role, until the climax, when they expose the spy within the household of Morocco's French Resident General Maréchal Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey, who is a real historical figure.  The plot of this novel also deals with real historical events between the French, Spanish and the local Rifi Republic, who would like to control their own country without the imperial powers of France and Spain involved.

Kirkus Reviews sums up this latest Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes' novel accurately with, "Both Holmes and Russell are muffled, and the story requires a good deal of potted history. More likely to appeal to lovers of Morocco than lovers of Sherlock Holmes."

A Sophie's Choice Situation

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

This story will stay with you.  Alyson Richman's prose is at times poetic.  According to Richman, she started out wanting to write about artists in a Nazi concentration camp, and found herself tying this concept together with a "beautiful", but at times heart wrenching, love story.  The story begins at the end and comes around full circle.

It is a novel of first love set in pre-war Prague, just prior to the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia.  The dreams of the two young lovers, Josef and Lenka, are shattered when they are separated by the Nazi Invasion.  Josef's family was able to get visas for themselves and his new wife, Lenka.  However, Lenka's family is not able to leave Prague.  This forces a "sophie's choice" for Lenka.  Should she choose to escape with her new husband, or stay behind with her family?

Richman's incremental descent into the horrors of the Holocaust lends enormous power to Lenka's experience.  Believe me you will have tears in your eyes more than once during this beautifully written story.  Richman does not shy away from her description of the ghettoes, the camps and the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis.  I strongly recommend you get to know Lenka' and Josef.

I was just finishing this story, when the news broke in the New York Times about how the actual numbers from the Holocaust were underestimated.  Researchers from the United States Holocaust Museum, Geoffrey Megargee and Martin Dean, estimate that 15 million to 20 million people died or were imprisoned in some 42,500 Nazi ghettos and camps throughout Europe.  The total is three times higher than most historians had previously estimated.  This is the link to The New York Times story if you have not seen it.  After reading this article, get a copy of The Lost Wife.  You won't put it down.
 

Die Hard Cardinal Fan

Stan Musial: An American Life   by George Vecsey

In 1999, the Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig decided to try a marketing ploy to create fan excitement, involvement and participation. Baseball fans were asked to vote on the top 25 players of the twentieth century. Selig did anticipate there would be some significant players from the past that would be overlooked, so he did set up a panel of experts to rectify any oversights.

One of the most glaring oversights was the omission of Stan Musial from the St. Louis Cardinals.  Musial, a first ballot Hall of Famer and widely considered in baseball circles to be one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, is perhaps the most underrated athlete of all time.  Sports journalist and writer, George Vecsey, with his recent book (2011) Stan Musial: An American Life, sets out to correct this oversite and give Musial his due as one of the greats in baseball.

This book was fairly well timed, because in less than two years, baseball and the city of St. Louis, would be mourning the passing of one of its greatest ballplayers.  On January 19, 2013 at the age of 92, Stan the Man Musial passed away.  Vecsey uses this biography to illustrate what a great player and person Stan Musial was. Vecsey really doesn't spend much time talking about specific games or Musial's play in the field.  Instead  he tells Musial's life story through the remembrances of those who played beside, worked with, and covered “Stan the Man” over the course of his nearly seventy years in the national spotlight.  Vecsey equates the quiet, dignified and gentlemanly way Musial conducted his life to the fact he is often underrated and overlooked when discussing baseball greats.

But consider these statistics and ask yourself if Stan the Man doesn't belong in the top tier of great baseball players.  During his long career (1941-1963) with the St. Louis Cardinals, Stan Musial batted .331, amassed 3,630 hits, won three National League MVP awards, and was named to 24 All Star teams.  Definitely recommended for any die hard Cardinal fan, but also for any baseball lovers or afficionados.

Story of the First Encyclopedia

The Philosopher's Kiss by Peter Prange

Anyone who has followed this blog knows by now my love for historical fiction.  The amazing aspect of this work of historical fiction is how much of it is TRUE.  All of the characters in The Philosopher's Kiss are real.  This is the story of the development and creation of the first comprehensive encyclopedia.  For history buffs, the individual responsible for the creation and concept of developing a comprehensive book of knowledge, the acclaimed French Encyclopédie, is the French philosopher, Denis Diderot.

The story follows a young Sophie Volland (a historical figure about whom little is known).  There is a historical record that Diderot was in communication with a Sophie Volland. Since so little is known about Volland and her relationship to Diderot, Prange uses the character of Sophie to explore the conflict between the pursuit of secular knowledge that characterized the Enlightenment and the autocratic power of the Catholic Church and the French monarchy.  Diderot's concept of developing a bible-like encyclopedia, containing all "human knowledge", becomes a threat to the Catholic Church and their control over the citizenry and influence on the monarchy.  Diderot is quickly persecuted and the lives of everyone associated with the production of the encyclopedia, including such famous names as Voltaire and Rousseau, are in danger.  

This historic tale is compelling and well written, and Prange particularly brings Paris to vivid life, and what it was like to live at a time when expressing new ideas or espousing a different viewpoint could place your life in danger. (Come to think of it, has much really changed?  Back then they had the Bastille and the guillotine, today we have semi-automatic rifles and Guantanamo.)  This historical novel does make you think.

Unfortunately Sophie, his heroine, is less interesting than the supporting characters, particularly the king's mistress, Madame de Pompadour and the king's censor, Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, who ultimately saves Diderot and the encyclopedia.  You will have to read the book to learn what happens to Malesherbes. 

More on the Dragon Tattoo

The Tattooed Girl: The enigma of Stieg Larsson & the secrets behind the most compelling thrillers of our time.

This book is a fascinating collection of stories and commentary.  John-Henri Holmberg, a Swedish author and close friend of Stieg Larsson for more than three decades, provides a unique insider’s look into the secrets of the author’s imaginative universe, his life, and his ideas for future books-including the mysterious “fourth book” in the series, which Larsson had started but not finished at the time of his death. 

Through insightful commentary and revealing interviews with other Swedish crime writers, you will enter the unique world of Lisbeth Salander, Mikael Blomkvist—and of Stieg Larsson himself. You will discover the fascinating real-life experiences and incidents involving Swedish politics, violence against women, and neo-Nazis that are at the heart of Larsson’s work.  Reading this book convinced me the literary world, and the world of investigative journalism, is going to sorely miss the work and writings of Stieg Larsson.  I only hope the "fourth book" in the Millennium trilogy will somehow find its way into Eva's hands, so that she can bring Stieg's world and story back to life. 

This book also proved to be a great source to learn about other writers of Swedish crime thrillers.  I have ended up purchasing a couple of additional titles of Swedish thrillers.  Any fan of the Millennium trilogy and eager to learn more about Stieg Larsson, should take the time to track this book down.  It will show you how even an interesting and well written nonfiction title can quickly absorb you.

A New Historical Thriller

The Yard  by Alex Grecian

"Nobody noticed when Inspector Christian Little of Scotland Yard disappeared, and nobody was looking for him when he was found."  

This is a great opening line for the start of a historical thriller. 

The Place:  Victorian London.  The date:  1889, Jack the Ripper's reign of terror is finally over.  However the city of London is not resting easily, since the Ripper was never apprehended.  Scotland Yard is scrambling to deal with the ever increasing murder rate in London, by establishing a "Murder Squad".  Since they were unsuccessful in tracking down "Saucy Jack", you might say the Yard is also dealing with a public relations problem in addition to the growing crime rate.  The people of London don't trust the police, and now someone is killing them. 

Grecian grabs your attention with that opening line, and does a fairly decent job of building suspense and introducing several interesting characters.  This is Alex Grecian's first novel, and he loses some of the suspense or it begins to lag, when he starts each subsequent chapter bouncing the reader from one central character to another.  This technique is necessary when you have several different strands to your plot, which need to be tied together at some point.  As an example, at the end of one chapter, the wife of the main character, Inspector Walter Day, is found by her cleaning lady on the floor in her bedroom and is barely breathing.  The cleaning lady runs outside to find someone who will summon a doctor to the house.  The chapter ends with a description which leads you to believe she may have been assaulted by the murderer.  The incident occurs about half way through the book, but the reader does not learn what has happened to Day's wife until the end of the novel. 

However Grecian has done his research and many of the characters, Inspector Walter Day, Dr. Bernard Kingsley and Sir Edward Bradford are all based on real people in the annals of Scotland Yard.  Dr. Kingsley is based on the Yard's first forensic pathologist and Sir Bradford is the real name of a Scotland Yard Commissioner of Police, who introduced sweeping changes and innovations to the Yard.  Since I am a sucker for historical fiction, and I like the characters, I will be looking forward to Grecian's second novel with these characters, scheduled to come out in May 2013, entitled The Black Country.