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kamreadsandrecsAsk me "What is the most famous painting in the world?" and I would answer: "The Mona Lisa." Actually, ask most anyone that question and you're likely to get the same answer. There are very few people in the world who do not know about this painting; for a great many people, the Mona Lisa is the first example of "high art" that they encounter. Of course, part of the reason why it's so well known is that it's been at the heart of a boatload of media: songs have been written about it (the Nat King Cole song is a classic), poems (Edith Wharton's poem is but one of many), and movies (Mona Lisa Smile, duh).
But if there is one example of media that has sparked the greatest amount of interest in the Mona Lisa in recent years, it would definitely have to be Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Manipulations of the Mona Lisa were used for many of the book covers and for the movie posters, which is surprising, especially since the Mona Lisa doesn't really play a significant "role" in the novel - that honor goes to The Last Supper. So why use the Mona Lisa when it isn't that significant to the story? Because it happens to be the most famous Leonardo painting, that's why. And because, well, the painting itself embodies mystery. It was not until recently that the identity of the woman in the painting was finally cleared up, and even then there are many theories and counter-theories that still say the woman in the painting is not who some people claim she is. And then there is that famous smile, which is indeed rather secretive and mysterious in its own way.
It should come as no surprise, then, that someone would try to write a novel about La Gioconda, or Lisa Gherardini, as some historians identify the woman called Mona Lisa by the rest of the world. That novelist is Donna Jo Napoli, and the book is titled The Smile.
Obviously, The Smile's primary protagonist is the woman who is the subject of the Mona Lisa, bringing her to life in the context of the world and times she lived in, and then describing how she came to become the subject of a painting described by some to be its creator's greatest masterpiece. This sort of thing is nothing new: it's already been done (and to great effect, mind) by Tracy Chevalier in The Girl with the Pearl Earring, which breathes life into the subject of the Vermeer painting by the same name. As for Sarah Dunant's The Birth of Venus, it's not quite about a specific painting so much as it is about what it meant to be a creative, liberal person at the time that Savonarola came to power, but it does carry a lovely tone that is present in The Girl with the Pearl Earring, as well.
When I picked up The Smile, I was positively intrigued. What better subject for a novel than the subject of the Mona Lisa? How would the author interpret the mass of historical "facts" that have been amassed about it? Chevalier had it easy: Vermeer's painting is notable, but it isn't as famous as the Mona Lisa. How was Napoli going to tell the subject's story? What sort of story would she get?
First of all, she had to have a name: Elisabetta Gherardini. Although I found out the Gherardini part a bit later into the story, it showed that Napoli was going to follow the conventional knowledge regarding the identity of the Mona Lisa's subject. Elisabetta was cast as a country noble, living in a villa outside of Florence, helping her family run a silk-making business. She's characterized as a bit wild and slightly uncivilized (at least by the estimations of the grand folks in Florence proper), since she would much rather work at spinning silk and running around with her best friend Silvia (a servant girl) than sit down to learn Latin and Greek. Nevertheless, her parents have high hopes for her, and plan to marry her off to a suitable man from Florence. But when Lorenzo Il Magnifico's death rocks Florentine society, Elisabetta accompanies her family to Florence to mourn his passing, where she meets Leonardo da Vinci, and Lorenzo's youngest son, Giuliano.
At this point, the story starts getting kind of slippery. There's a lot of story spent on Elisabetta trying to settle into running the household after her mother dies, and then learning to like her stepmother and her family. Then there's learning how to take her place in high Florentine society while helping her father run the family business at the same time. And while all of this is happening, Savonarola comes into power, Elisabetta and Giuliano fall in love, but he's exiled thanks to Savonarola and she has to marry someone else.
When I picked it up, I was expecting something along the lines of The Birth of Venus, except this time I know the painting and the painter involved (neither of these things are made clear in Dunant's book). I was expecting something smoky and sensual, especially since one of the primary characters is a Medici. Initially I thought that the Giuliano de'Medici mentioned was Giuliano di Piero de'Medici, Lorenzo's younger brother who was murdered in the Pazzi Conspiracy, but I was wrong. Still, Medici are always interesting however they come, and throwing Leonardo into the mix made it all but irresistible to me. But I should have remembered one important thing: this is a YA novel.
The fact that this is a YA novel is important, and perhaps the primary reason why I didn't enjoy it so much in the end. YA novels are written for a specific audience, usually people in their mid to late teens. This means that the plot is generally a bit simpler, and the storyline a little less complex. And that smoky sensuality I was looking for? Not so much as a whiff of it.
But when I think about it, I might be putting down YA novels a bit too much. There's dozens of YA novels out there that have a wonderful, intriguing complexity to them that keep me hooked. Hell, all I have to think of is The Hunger Games and I've got complexity tidily wrapped up in a trilogy of mindblowing awesome.
I guess my expectations were simply too great. I cracked the book open expecting The Birth of Venus or The Girl with a Pearl Earring, when I should have expected something a little less. But that does not excuse the general slipperiness of the story, or the fact that I did not feel too invested in the story as a whole. Elisabetta was okay, but not enough to grab me and keep me hooked.
Overall, do I think it's a good book? Well, I think it's mediocre. It's an interesting story about the possible origins of the Mona Lisa, but Elisabetta's connection to Leonardo - the part that really would have made this interesting for me - is flimsy at best, and contrived at worst. While the love story is all right, it's unable to bear the weight of the story. The only thing that I felt was decent about this story was its ending - unfortunately, to get here, you have to slog through the rest of the novel. Whether or not that proves to be a fun ride might depend on the reader, but for me, it was something that I thought I ought to get over with as quickly as I could.
But if there is one example of media that has sparked the greatest amount of interest in the Mona Lisa in recent years, it would definitely have to be Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Manipulations of the Mona Lisa were used for many of the book covers and for the movie posters, which is surprising, especially since the Mona Lisa doesn't really play a significant "role" in the novel - that honor goes to The Last Supper. So why use the Mona Lisa when it isn't that significant to the story? Because it happens to be the most famous Leonardo painting, that's why. And because, well, the painting itself embodies mystery. It was not until recently that the identity of the woman in the painting was finally cleared up, and even then there are many theories and counter-theories that still say the woman in the painting is not who some people claim she is. And then there is that famous smile, which is indeed rather secretive and mysterious in its own way.
It should come as no surprise, then, that someone would try to write a novel about La Gioconda, or Lisa Gherardini, as some historians identify the woman called Mona Lisa by the rest of the world. That novelist is Donna Jo Napoli, and the book is titled The Smile.
Obviously, The Smile's primary protagonist is the woman who is the subject of the Mona Lisa, bringing her to life in the context of the world and times she lived in, and then describing how she came to become the subject of a painting described by some to be its creator's greatest masterpiece. This sort of thing is nothing new: it's already been done (and to great effect, mind) by Tracy Chevalier in The Girl with the Pearl Earring, which breathes life into the subject of the Vermeer painting by the same name. As for Sarah Dunant's The Birth of Venus, it's not quite about a specific painting so much as it is about what it meant to be a creative, liberal person at the time that Savonarola came to power, but it does carry a lovely tone that is present in The Girl with the Pearl Earring, as well.
When I picked up The Smile, I was positively intrigued. What better subject for a novel than the subject of the Mona Lisa? How would the author interpret the mass of historical "facts" that have been amassed about it? Chevalier had it easy: Vermeer's painting is notable, but it isn't as famous as the Mona Lisa. How was Napoli going to tell the subject's story? What sort of story would she get?
First of all, she had to have a name: Elisabetta Gherardini. Although I found out the Gherardini part a bit later into the story, it showed that Napoli was going to follow the conventional knowledge regarding the identity of the Mona Lisa's subject. Elisabetta was cast as a country noble, living in a villa outside of Florence, helping her family run a silk-making business. She's characterized as a bit wild and slightly uncivilized (at least by the estimations of the grand folks in Florence proper), since she would much rather work at spinning silk and running around with her best friend Silvia (a servant girl) than sit down to learn Latin and Greek. Nevertheless, her parents have high hopes for her, and plan to marry her off to a suitable man from Florence. But when Lorenzo Il Magnifico's death rocks Florentine society, Elisabetta accompanies her family to Florence to mourn his passing, where she meets Leonardo da Vinci, and Lorenzo's youngest son, Giuliano.
At this point, the story starts getting kind of slippery. There's a lot of story spent on Elisabetta trying to settle into running the household after her mother dies, and then learning to like her stepmother and her family. Then there's learning how to take her place in high Florentine society while helping her father run the family business at the same time. And while all of this is happening, Savonarola comes into power, Elisabetta and Giuliano fall in love, but he's exiled thanks to Savonarola and she has to marry someone else.
When I picked it up, I was expecting something along the lines of The Birth of Venus, except this time I know the painting and the painter involved (neither of these things are made clear in Dunant's book). I was expecting something smoky and sensual, especially since one of the primary characters is a Medici. Initially I thought that the Giuliano de'Medici mentioned was Giuliano di Piero de'Medici, Lorenzo's younger brother who was murdered in the Pazzi Conspiracy, but I was wrong. Still, Medici are always interesting however they come, and throwing Leonardo into the mix made it all but irresistible to me. But I should have remembered one important thing: this is a YA novel.
The fact that this is a YA novel is important, and perhaps the primary reason why I didn't enjoy it so much in the end. YA novels are written for a specific audience, usually people in their mid to late teens. This means that the plot is generally a bit simpler, and the storyline a little less complex. And that smoky sensuality I was looking for? Not so much as a whiff of it.
But when I think about it, I might be putting down YA novels a bit too much. There's dozens of YA novels out there that have a wonderful, intriguing complexity to them that keep me hooked. Hell, all I have to think of is The Hunger Games and I've got complexity tidily wrapped up in a trilogy of mindblowing awesome.
I guess my expectations were simply too great. I cracked the book open expecting The Birth of Venus or The Girl with a Pearl Earring, when I should have expected something a little less. But that does not excuse the general slipperiness of the story, or the fact that I did not feel too invested in the story as a whole. Elisabetta was okay, but not enough to grab me and keep me hooked.
Overall, do I think it's a good book? Well, I think it's mediocre. It's an interesting story about the possible origins of the Mona Lisa, but Elisabetta's connection to Leonardo - the part that really would have made this interesting for me - is flimsy at best, and contrived at worst. While the love story is all right, it's unable to bear the weight of the story. The only thing that I felt was decent about this story was its ending - unfortunately, to get here, you have to slog through the rest of the novel. Whether or not that proves to be a fun ride might depend on the reader, but for me, it was something that I thought I ought to get over with as quickly as I could.
