I am a word junkie, I admit it, and I just got a great fix
from Lucy Ives' impossible views of the world. This novel has checked all the
boxes: prose, characters, plot, story within a story, and it's fun.
Reading the first page, I thought, "Hmm, this is a tad
overwritten." By page two, I realized, "No, this is the narrator's
voice, and it's perfect." By page three,
I quickly discovered that Ives also is quite adept at
characterization. Stella Krakus, the protagonist and narrator, is a 30
something curator of the Central Museum of Art in Manhattan, very intelligent, finalizing
a divorce, in love with a colleague who won't love her, and then hooked on an
art history mystery. She is perfectly drawn, the reader "gets" her
and likes her. Stella's mother, Caro, is a self invented, wry, judging woman
who owns a successful print gallery on the upper east side. Ives evokes her distant
personality perfectly, without being heavy handed. I was glad Caro was not my
mother. Frederic Lu is vividly painted as a handsome, brilliant, prince of The
City, who is on the fast track to be the Direct of Central Museum.
The most important character has died before page one: poet
Paul Coral, a long time employee of Central, and secretly an expert printmaker.
We do not encounter him in any flash backs, so his character is slowly drawn by
Stella's discoveries. He is the story within the story, and the mystery in impossible
views. The setup and revelation of this character is skillfully done. This
novel is great writing and a fun read, I highly recommend. I can't wait for Ives'
next novel.
