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Loading... The lost mother : a story of art and love (edition 2009)by Anne Summers
Work InformationThe lost mother : a story of art and love by Anne Summers
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  jody12 | Jan 30, 2017 |   Firstly, we found the title slightly misleading … implying a more mother/daughter narrative. Instead, Summers sets her nose to the grindstone trying to uncover the circumstances around two portraits her mother sat for in her childhood for the artist Constance Stokes. Those of us who finished this book felt the author lost her way. And although we found the world of Australian artists in Melbourne during the 20s and 30s extremely interesting, and Stokes herself an intriguing character, the genealogy of the art collector Lydia was drawn out and dreary with little to connect us. Why Summers felt she needed to tread this path we are not sure, but Vanessa felt that the author and Lydia shared some personality traits which could explain her fascination with this Russian immigrant. As a group, there was little love for this book. Some believed the writing poorly thought out with nothing to set it apart or make it anything special. Cathy went into the book with high hopes but found it to be not what she had hoped. Although readable, she felt the author went off on tangents that did not really interest her. To us, Summers seems to have written this book for the express purpose of recording her findings during the search for her mother’s lost portrait (the whole existence of which we are not even confident still survives). Regardless of her reasons or rationale, our group could not rate this read higher than five to six and would only describe it as a put-downable coffee table book (Mary’s words). There was however, some interest in her highly respected reputation as a writer and we will no doubt be picking up something else of hers in the near future. (  ) DaptoLibrary | Mar 18, 2014 | no reviews | add a review
Awards
"My mother had just turned ten in mid-1933 when a young woman approached her as they were both leaving Mass at St Joan of Arc's in Brighton...The woman was an artist and she would like to paint her portrait... After her mother's death in 2005, Anne Summers inherits a portrait of her mother as a child. Mesmerised by this image, she finds herself drawn into the story of how the portrait was painted and eventually found its way into her family. She soon learns the artist painted another portrait of her mother; this time as the Madonna. In a gripping narrative that is part art history, part detective story and part meditation on the relations between mothers and daughters, Anne's search for the Madonna painting and the mysterious Russian emigre collector who bought both paintings takes her down unexpected paths. Her search soon turns into a parallel quest to rescue Constance Stokes, the artist, from obscurity, and to learn why the collector suddenly abandoned the paintings. Along the way Anne finds she must face the truth of the relationship she had with her mother. In turn hypnotic and moving, The Lost Mother is a powerful exploration of art No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers  
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)306.8743092Social sciences Social sciences, sociology & anthropology Culture and institutions Marriage, partnerships, unions; family Intrafamily relationships Parent-child relationship Mother-child relationship Biography And History BiographyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.9)
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Wikipedia in English (4)
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Firstly, we found the title slightly misleading … implying a more mother/daughter narrative. Instead, Summers sets her nose to the grindstone trying to uncover the circumstances around two portraits her mother sat for in her childhood for the artist Constance Stokes.
Those of us who finished this book felt the author lost her way. And although we found the world of Australian artists in Melbourne during the 20s and 30s extremely interesting, and Stokes herself an intriguing character, the genealogy of the art collector Lydia was drawn out and dreary with little to connect us.
Why Summers felt she needed to tread this path we are not sure, but Vanessa felt that the author and Lydia shared some personality traits which could explain her fascination with this Russian immigrant.
As a group, there was little love for this book. Some believed the writing poorly thought out with nothing to set it apart or make it anything special. Cathy went into the book with high hopes but found it to be not what she had hoped. Although readable, she felt the author went off on tangents that did not really interest her.
To us, Summers seems to have written this book for the express purpose of recording her findings during the search for her mother’s lost portrait (the whole existence of which we are not even confident still survives). Regardless of her reasons or rationale, our group could not rate this read higher than five to six and would only describe it as a put-downable coffee table book (Mary’s words). There was however, some interest in her highly respected reputation as a writer and we will no doubt be picking up something else of hers in the near future.