What I loved
Siri Hustvedt, Sceptre 2003

At first this book didn’t really grab me. The story of Leo, an art historian living in New York, and his relationships with his family and friends, wasn’t entirely boring, but it wasn’t dramatically exciting either. The characters were believable but not terribly engaging, the situations interesting but not page turning. At some points it felt that the author was in over her head trying to make the protagonist have insightful thoughts about the lives of those around him, but these thoughts were sometimes jarring and out of place. The highpoints were the discussions of the adults’ work; Violet’s investigations into hysteria, Bill’s exploration of life through painting, Leo’s dissection of art and Erica’s brief comments on literature.,

The story picked up when the character of one of the son’s became more extreme. The confusion that surrounds Mark’s actions and provocations is intriguing, and the story takes on aspects of a thriller as Leo is assaulted, exploited and led on a wild goose chance across the Midwest. We are introduced to a group of shady characters that inhabit the darker side of the art world, and are presented with a startling insight into their lives. The influence of the unpredictable Teddy Giles casts an ominous shadow on the proceedings, and the everyday occurrences become less familiar and more intriguing. The last third of the book was stimulating read, and well worth the slow build up.