For those that like literary fiction this is the book for you. This is the story of Christina Olson's life. She is the woman who posed for Andrew Wyeth in the famous painting "Christina's World". In the painting she is in the grass, looking towards the house where she lived with her brother. Christina had a disease that in later years, eventually kept her from walking. She would scoot around in a chair in the house or if she went outdoors, she usually crawled. Andrew Wyeth was obsessed with her home, which was large and he took over a bedroom and used it as his studio. It was interesting to learn how Christina coped with her life. She always felt "different" and had trouble making friends and letting people into her life. ( )

What a wonderful listen!!!

I have a special place in my heart for the artists Wyeth as my Wyeth was named after them. A little known fact is that Andrew Wyeth’s father, NC Wyeth’s first name was actually Newell, that is what the N stood for! Pretty fun stuff!

I have been to the Olsen House and have taken pictures there and walked around the property (although now I really want to go again!) it is a beautiful area, but it is easy to see how it must have been a lonely place too. A person had to have certain strength to live where Christina did and to care for her family and maintain the house despite her disability. But that strength could easily become hard and dark I can imagine and I think the growth in her character in this story was realistic and beautiful. ( )

S L O W ( )

The author of the very popular Orphan Train tackles the backstory of Andrew Wyeth's famous painting, "Christina's World." Personally, I love the idea of using artwork as a premise of a book, and one of the high points of the novel is its historical accuracy. Kline clearly does her homework (perhaps too well; more on that later), and she's excellent at description, so the house in the picture can be well imagined by the reader including all the amount of work it took for its upkeep.

Unfortunately, you know if I'm pointing out that the descriptions of chores is a highlight, that's not a good sign.

Kline sacrifices almost every modicum of suspense in her storytelling to historical accuracy and character development. Unfortunately, her leading character, Christina, is basically depressed, ill, and boring and stubborn and often selfish. She's really the only character that is fully realized, and she's pitiable, but not likable. Kline attempts to somehow talk the reader into seeing Christina differently at the end of the story, but 10 chapters are hard to erase with some poetic uplifting language at the end. I'm not a person who needs to like a character to enjoy a book, but I do need the character to evolve somehow and/or do something interesting. Christina does neither.

Other than a romance between Christina and Harvard student, Walton, which was nicely done and by far the highlight of the book, there's nothing to the plot. If Christina wants something (other than Walton) it's not articulated, nor does she go after it. Granted, she is ill and crippled, so going after much of anything is difficult, but still. Wyeth was more interesting to me as he struggles to capture his subjects, but his story is a fraction of the tale, and mostly consists of he painted this, then he tried to paint that. There's no tension. The lack of tension is not helped by Kline's love of going back and forth in historical time chapter by chapter. This kinda worked in Orphan Train. I didn't think it worked here, and it made a slow plot even slower.

There is an interesting theme in the book about our own self perception versus the perception others have of us. I think this makes a good topic for book discussion groups, and is a redeeming feature of the story.

Kline really does her homework, and she articulates exactly what is true (lots) and what is not, but she also is a writer who feels the need to include everything she has learned in the story. This lead to a very boring first quarter of the book . . .that was barely relevant to anything going forward.

All in all, this book has its redeeming qualities: strong historical research, a viable romance, and some beautifully descriptive writing. But to me, it was so boring that I just couldn't like it (and believe me, I was trying because I think I'm the only person in the world giving it two stars). If you can't wait for a book to end, it's pretty hard to give it anything higher.

p.s. If you loved this book, please forgive me. I'm definitely in a minority! Not sure what's going on, but I feel like my taste has really diverged from the mainstream in the past few years . . .and it is actually annoying to me! I want to like what others enjoy so I can share in that delight. Lately, it just hasn't been happening. ( )

The story behind Wyeth's painting and the Olson family was interesting, but I didn't feel there was enough meat to make an entire novel. Slow and character-driven. ( )