good read. It was really interesting to see the personality and private life of Rembrant told through the book, Some really emotional moments. Well I was really looking forward to reading this book, and its descriptions of the characters and Rembrandt's paintings were great, BUT, I began to wonder very early in the book whether Kim DEVEREUX was overshadowing her passion for Rembrandt by writing a book about erotica.
Although it is partly fictional if the DEVEREUX really found all the sexual evidence of Rembrandt's life she is exceptional.
What relevance the way and how often Rembrandt had sex and with whom, is hard to figure out.
Yes of course he had wives and children, so he did have sex during his lifetime, but to portray in such a manner is mind boggling.
She should probably devoting her writings to porn and erotica and leave historical fiction alone, Rembrandt and his women are an intense mix of emotions, betrayals and feelings in this historical fiction, The genius of an artist does not exclude the weaknesses of a man, but art is a strongest presence in this book and you want to go and find more about his famous work and look at them with a fresh interest.
Prepublication review copy courtesy of sitelinkwww, lovereading. co. uk Rembrandts Mirror, set during the Dutch Golden Age, brings artist Rembrandt into the limelight, The book takes place during the painters later years, plagued by a long series of personal and financial losses.
The novel is anchored by the three women in in his life, Firstly, the reader is introduced to his wife Saskia, who dies inand leaves Rembrandt paralysed by grief, Secondly, Geertje, his housekeeper and lover, And finally, we are introduced to Hendrickje, a young maid who becomes his last great love and muse,
Rembrandt and Hendrickjes love affair is a gradual start, with Hendrickje internalising a lot of her doubts to the reader.
The author has deliberately focused on the women in the book so as to not give away much of what Rembrandt feels or thinks.
He remains a mystery throughout the whole book, seen through the eyes of others,
There is a sense of voyeurism in this novel, Even before Hendrickje and Rembrandt begin their relationship, she watches him and observes his affair with Geertje, Their affair is rough and not based on love, Geertje and Rembrandt meet every night in his room and Hendrickje follows and watches, surprised by their sexual relations outside of marriage and surprised by the almost animalistic nature of their nighttime rendezvous.
Hendrickje grows intrigued by their affair, and through that, the reader first starts to understand her as a character.
Shes naive and young, but shes also extremely observant and intelligent, This book is set in a time where women were either a wife, a widow, a virgin, or they were a whore, and Hendrickjes budding relationship with Rembrandts is a catalyst for her sexual awakening.
She lusts after him, but is also mortified by the prospect of being with a man that she is not married to.
Although Rembrandts Mirror felt a little dry at times with slow pacing, it was a wellwritten characterdriven novel set during a time period that I hadnt read much about before.
Each chapter is named after a painting and the stylistic prose of the book is both visual and artistic.
Kim Devereux was able to take a historical figure known to many, and allow readers to better understand who he couldve been.
She still allows a lot of mystery surrounding Rembrandt, but I think the whole point is that not a lot of people really knew who he was and what he thought.
This is a rich, insightful fiction novel that Id recommend to others,
sitelink com I absolutely loved this book!! I think the author did a great job at organizing the novel.
I love art history so I enjoyed as she basically took me through a learning journey, Each
chapter is named after a painting or sketch that was done by Rembrandt, so before reading I would google the picture and it would give me an image to work with.
I only noticed that she did this probablyorchapters into the book, The lessons I took away from the book mostly have to do with the theme of the book which is the beauty of life, death, friendships and relationships.
Beautifully written and a very enjoyable read, Maybe I'm being harsh with two, but while I enjoyed the very personal story of Rembrandt's loves and late life, there was something missing for me.
Perhaps I needed more history, more weight and truth mixed in with the fantasy of what his love life was like.
Did very much enjoy reading this while living in Holland knowing Rembrandt walked the same streets and areas I've visited is quite amazing.
Knjiga koja će se dopasti svim ljubiteljima kako Rembranta, tako u umetnosti uopšte, Veoma deskriptivna, nabijena jakim emocijama, Zaista sam uživala u ovoj knjizi, Jedini razlog što joj nisam dalaje to što je možda previše dramatična za moj ukus i prepuna patnji koje su veoma slikovito opisane.
Rembrandt surrounded himself with inspirational works of art but his personal life was anything but beautiful, The novel delves into the periods of grief that he endured, his financial woes plus the difficult relationships he established with his livein maids.
For a novel intended to reflect on the master behind beautiful and muchloved portraits and etchings, this novel seemed a little drab.
so much porn its funny but its written rlly well lol Kim Devereux is a credit to her teachers at Edinburgh University and Bath Spa.
She uses words to paint a canvas portraying the light and shadows of life much in the same way as Rembrandt did with paint.
The prose managed to touched my heart and soul with its intensity and intimacy, I really enjoyed this book, I do like reading about people from the past in fiction form, At the back of the book it talks about each of the main people mentioned in the book, This is a story about Rembrandt's wife and loves and some of his paintings, He lived in the, such a long time ago,
This book is beautifully written so a really lovely and easy to read,
My copy: Atlantic Books
ISBN
It's a Trade paper back with beautiful gold edging,
Rembrandt's "seeing" and his techniques spoke to me, I wanted to see images of those paintings! And I wanted to pick up a paintbrush myself,
Some episodes were a little too graphic but maybe that's what life was like back then, . . I was really looking forward to reading this book but was bitterly disappointed, I did not learn anything about Rembrandt I didn't already know and although the writer says Rembrandt led a very interesting life she did not manage to translate that into her book.
I also did not like the fact most of the book was written in the first person from Hendrickje's POV and then suddenly changes to chapters in the third person about what Rembrandt was up to.
The most interesting part was the end of the book where the writer summarises the historical figures and gives a short explanation of some of Rembrandt's paintings, but Wikipedia would probably have been just as informative.
Rembrandt's mirror explores the three women in Rembrandt's life, and the passion of the artist through his last great love, Hendrickje.
It does this while exposing his obsession with life and death, How it influenced his painting style and the greatest artworks he made, In the book, his character is larger than life itself, Totally obsessed with arts. Unconventional and nonconformist. In one scene while teaching his pupils and painting 'Jesus at Emmaus' he encourages them to get to the bible on their own by reimagining events and painting as they see them.
The book opens up with two paintings that go on to punctuate the story until the end, "The Night Watch" and "Saskia lying in bed", Both these spoke to two parts of Rembrandt's life that went on side by side as if irreconcilable, Saskia was his wife who dies at the beginning, The impact of it haunting him forever and underpins the impending question on his art what it means to be human
Rembrandts mirror is a beautifully written and wellresearched book with more than twenty pages at the end dedicated to bibliography and reference.
All these facts cleverly adapted to fiction, creating a rich narrative that borders close to a memoir, The book flows effortlessly from the studio to his kitchen, the streets of Amsterdam to the forest, With passion in between marked by carefully narrated love scenes in front of the naked fireplace and timid kisses in the forest.
The story is very warm and intimate, The writer uses what I call 'language of the skin', carefully constructed sentences that arouses all body senses and drives the point home so sleek and vivid you can't help but see, hear, touch, taste and smell the story.
This is a great read, especially for art lovers, The whole book is centered around Rembrandts' artworks, An imaginative gallery. The detailed and incisive narrations of Rembrandts's paintings were a welcome distraction during this time of lockdown, The writer left a link at the end with picture references, I went through it all, A very rich gallery. sitelink kimdevereux. co. uk/picture . Take a booktrail around Amsterdam setting sitelinkRembrandts Mirror
Oh the writing is like the sweeping brush strokes of an artist who paints with words.
When I read that the author is an awardwinning shortfilm director and producer of documentaries, then you can definitely see this in the writing an the cinematic feel of the novel.
Like many people I admit to knowing little of the man himself but by weaving fact and fiction together I could visualise everything about his life and the women he loved.
The man behind the mirror whose painting reflect everything he saw felt and imagined, telling his story via the paintings and showing how he came to paint them and know the people in his life, who them became his subjects is a very unique way of allowing us to meet the real Rembrandt.
His world is one of debauchery, debt and hard living but also one of art and all that his paintings entail.
He teaches whilst feeling tortured at home, I was in Saskias shoes, and then Geertjes and then finally Hendrickjes and it was like walking through one painting to another and seeing behind them, inside their world, seeing what Rembrandt must have seen.
Fascinating and a remarkable read, So evocative of time and place but also another world, Luckily evoked in paintings around the world and now in this novel,
Must be a film surely! Loved loved loved this book, It was a quick read, and I learned a bit about the painters style, However, I did not like the rush through the main character's life after she finally gets with Rembrandt, I wanted more of their young life and not the pain of death repeated, though it did make me feel sad so it isn't the fault of the writing.
A little gratuitous at times as well, and at random, The writing style of the narrative was different, refreshing, It wasn't the happiest book I have ever read, however, it was tender with emotion and I liked that.
Well written. Read for Novelicious review to follow, Quite readable but I'm afraid it was too much like Girl with the Pearl EAring, but not nearly as good.
Hendrikje, mlada i živahna devojka, odlazi iz svog doma u velelepni Amsterdam kako bi našla posao, Stiže do radionice velikog umetnika Rembranta, pet godina nakon smrti njegove žene, događaja koji on još nije prihvatio i koji ga i dalje proganja.
Hendrikje će se naći u kući punoj tajni i ubrzo otkriti strastvenu romansu između Rembranta i njegove kućepaziteljke Gertje.
Kao skromna devojka iz pobožne porodice, Hendrikje je šokirana pohotnošću njihove veze, ali polako i ona počinje da oseća privlačnost prema genijalnom slikaru.
Vuče je svežina njegovog pogleda na svet i posebna vrsta slobode koju poseduje: Rembrant je tajanstven čovek, umetnik čudnih strasti i okrutnosti rođene iz potrebe da svoju umetnost stavlja na prvo mesto, a veza sa njim mogla bi da joj donese opasnost ili pravu ljubav.
Šta znači biti ljudsko biće, živeti, voleti i umreti Velika su to pitanja, nalik na blistave dragulje na dnu mračnog jezera.
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