Book Review: I, Mona Lisa

Author: Jeanne Kalogridis

Pages: 515

Genre: Fiction/Historical

Personal Rating 4/5

From the back cover:

"My name is Lisa di Antonio Gherardini, though to acquaintance, I am known simply as Madonna Lisa. My story begins not with my birth but a murder, committed the year before I was born."

Florence, April 1478: The handsome Giuliano de' Medici is brutally assassinated in Florence's magnificent Duomo. The shock of the murder ripples throughout the great city, from the most renowned artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, to a wealthy wool merchant and his extraordinarily beautiful daughter, Madonna Lisa.

More than a decade later, Florence falls under the dark spell of the preacher Savonarola, a fanatic who burns paintings and books as easily as he sends men to their deaths. Lisa, now grown into an alluring woman, captures the heart of Giuliano's nephew and namesake. But when Guiliano, her love, meets a tragic end, Lisa must gather all her courage and cunning to untangle a sinister web of illicit love, treachery, and dangerous secrets that threatens her life.

Set against the drama of 15th Century Florence, I, Mona Lisa is painted in many layers of fact and fiction, with each intricately drawn twist told through the captivating voice of Mona Lisa herself.

What I enjoyed about this story is how Kalogridis is able to blend common figures from history (daVinci for example), common works of art and architecture and weave them into a story. This is probably why I enjoy historical fiction overall. Kalogridis has taken the figure the painting the Mona Lisa and has created a story around her. It was fantastic. I was able to imagine living in that time period and wearing the clothes, venturing out to the market or fearing the plague. It was a little long and wandered at times or it would have earned a higher rating.

If you enjoy historical fiction you will enjoy this story. If you enjoy "mysteries" you'll enjoy this one as well.

This review will be continued but I'm out of town and giving this book to my grandmother so I wanted to get a little something down before I handed it over.

If you have reviewed this book and would like me to link to your review please let me know in the comments!

Book Review: The House of the Spirits

Author: Isabel Allende

Pages: 433

Genre: Fiction

Personal Rating 1/5

Awards: Panorama Literario Award: Chile (1983), Best Novel of the Year: Chile (1983)

From the back cover:

Here, in an astonishing debut by a gifted storyteller, is the magnificent saga of proud and passionate men and women and the turbulent times through which they suffer and triumph. They are the Truebas. And theirs is a world you will not want to leave, and one you will not forget.

Esteban -- The patriarch, a volatile and proud man whose lust for land is legendary and who is haunted by his tyrannical passion for the wife he can never completely possess.

Clara -- The matriarch, elusive and mysterious, who foretells family tragedy and shapes the fortunes of the house of the Truebas.

Blanca -- Their daughter, soft-spoken yet rebellious, whose shocking love for the son of her father's foreman fuels Esteban's everlasting contempt... even as it produces the grandchild he adores.

Alba -- The fruit of Blanca's forbidden love, a luminous beauty, a fiery and willful woman... the family's break with the past and link to the future.

I hate to write bad reviews but sometimes it must be done. This book was awful. I hated it. What was so horrible about it? I'm not sure. It is difficult to put my finger on it. I know it was easy to just put the book down and forget about it. I didn't care about anyone in the story. I preferred to do household chores than read (now THAT should tell you something). I took me weeks to finish this book. I finished it through sheer will power and determination. It covered 8 challenges for me so there was no way I was going back once I started. I also figured since it had won a few awards it must be decent. This is horrible to say but one of the challenges i read this book for was the Banned Book Challenge...the only thing this book should be banned for is being boring.

It should have been a good story. It went on long enough. It "spanned" generations. So many different story lines evolved, started, stopped. There was love, death, murder, kidnapping, mutilation, war, riots, revolt, marriage, a head in a box, a car crash, magic, green hair...there was so much. This family was an absolute train wreck. It should have been interesting in the "I can't look away car crash type of way". But it wasn't. It was boring. It was difficult to keep track of who was who (that could have been from me putting the book down for days at a time).

Save your time. If you want to try Allende try something besides The House of the Spirits

If you have reviewed this book and would like me to link to your review please let me know in the comments!

Historical Reading Challenge

The Historical Reading Challenge is being hosted by Annie at Reading, Writing, and Ranting

Dates: Aprils 1st - October 1st

Rules: Read 6 Books

Here is my tentative starting list.

1. Number the Stars (Lois Lowry)


2. Beneath a Marble Sky (John Shors)


3. I, Mona Lisa (Jeanne Kalogridis)


4. Harem (Dora Levy Mossanen)


5. The Sixteen Pleasures (Robert Hellenga)


6. The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafron)

Alternates

• Peony in Love (Lisa See)


• The Intelligencer (Leslie Silbert)


• The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Lauren Willig)


• The Masque of the Black Tulip (Lauren Willig)


• The Alchemist's Daughter (Katharine McMahon)


• The Samurai's Garden (Gail Tsukiyarria)


• The Quincunx (Charles Palliser)


• Sophie's Choice (William Styron)


• The Birth of Venus (Sarah Dunant)

Pre-Challenge

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) 3.23.08

ACTUAL LIST

1. Number the Stars (Lois Lowry) 6.19.08


2. Beneath a Marble Sky (John Shors)


3. I, Mona Lisa (Jeanne Kalogridis) 5.26.08


4. Harem (Dora Levy Mossanen)
   
5. The Sixteen Pleasures (Robert Hellenga)


6. The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafron) 6.22.08

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

The House of the Spirits (Isabel Allende)

When We Were Gods: A Novel of Cleopatra (Colin Falconer)