Luncheon of the Boating Party

by Susan Vreeland Narrated by Karen White

Overview

A vivid exploration of one of the most beloved Renoir paintings in the world, ?done with a flourish worthy of Renoir himself? (USA Today)

With her richly textured novels, Susan Vreeland has offered pioneering portraits of artists? lives. Now, as she did in Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Vreeland once again focuses on a single painting?Auguste Renoir?s instantly recognizable masterpiece, which depicts a gathering of Renoir?s real friends enjoying a summer Sunday on a café terrace along the Seine. Narrated by Renoir and seven of the models, the novel illuminates the gusto, hedonism, and art of the era. With a gorgeous palette of vibrant, captivating characters, Vreeland paints their lives, loves, losses, and triumphs so vividly that ?the painting literally comes alive? (The Boston Globe).

Editorial Reviews

Philadelphia Inquirer

Vreeland's most ambitious book yet.

Parade

If a trip to Paris is a bit outside of your price range, Vreeland's new novel is the next best thing.

San Diego Union-Tribune

A masterwork.

Seattle Times

Exquisitely wrought . . . this summer's most satisfying historical novel.

Baltimore Sun

Vreeland takes the big bold brush strokes of Renoir's personal and artistic oeuvre and displays them with her usual vividness in this eponymous novel. . . . Sensual and provocative.

Publishers Weekly

Imagining the banks of the Seine in the thick of la vie moderne, Vreeland (Girl in Hyacinth Blue) tracks Auguste Renoir as he conceives, plans and paints the 1880 masterpiece that gives her vivid fourth novel its title. Renoir, then 39, pays the rent on his Montmartre garret by painting "overbred society women in their fussy parlors," but, goaded by negative criticism from Emile Zola, he dreams of doing a breakout work. On July 20, the daughter of a resort innkeeper close to Paris suggests that Auguste paint from the restaurant's terrace. The party of 13 subjects Renoir puts together (with difficulty) eventually spends several Sundays drinking and flirting under the spell of the painter's brush. Renoir, who declares, "I only want to paint women I love," falls desperately for his newest models, while trying to win his last subject back from her rich fiance. But Auguste and his friends only have two months to catch the light he wants and fend off charges that he and his fellow Impressionists see the world "through rose-colored glasses." Vreeland achieves a detailed and surprising group portrait, individualized and immediate. (May) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Narrated by Renoir and the friends he featured in his famed Luncheon of the Boating Party, this work allows us to visit 19th-century France. With an 11-city tour. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

OCT/NOV 07 - AudioFile

In the style of her earlier work, GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE, Vreeland revisits the art world—this time the world of the Impressionists, specifically Pierre-Auguste Renoir. This fictionalized account of one of his most famous works is clever and multifaceted. Karen White’s performance is eloquent and sweetly enthusiastic. She pays special attention to the French pronunciations, which are murmured gracefully and without pretension. The narrative has slower moments wherein it seems Vreeland tries too hard to instruct rather than artfully illustrate; regardless, Karen White’s reading is pleasant, and the descriptions are vivid and sparkling. This audiobook makes for good entertainment, transporting the listener to France and teaching a little art history at the same time. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169237153
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	05/03/2007
Edition description:	Unabridged

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