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I'm afraid I'll be in the minority with my rating, but don't let that deter you from picking this up. I admire an author that can weave a story from an object. Christina is a strong, well drawn character and setting was spot on. I hadn't heard of Andrew Wyeth so researching his work was interesting. Where the book lost me was that it seemed to wane on and on and on.
"I wanted to show.......both the desire and the hesitation."You know it well. It's the famous painting by Andrew Wyeth in which a young girl's image is set within the Maine landscape of house, of barn, and of an ocean of endless grass. Wyeth seems to reveal nothing as he casts her likeness from behind. Yet, her thinly posed arms are stretched outward in familiar motion. This is, indeed, Christina's World.Generation after generation of the Hathorne clan have lived and farmed on this plot of land
Don't you wonder sometimes who the people in paintings were? Like Mona Lisa. She was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, who commissioned the painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. But what do we really know about her?It was the same mystery behind the artist Andrew Wyeth's famous painting, titled Christina's World, which draw me to this book. The book has ..kind of.. this painting as a cover. But when I realized that this novel was written by Christina Baker Kline, the author of Orphan Train, one of my...
I had a framed print of "Christina's World" in my room as a teen and often wondered about the woman in the faded pink dress. I also imagined myself as her. Unfortunately, as depicted in this novel, Wyeth's muse is fairly dull. Christina's constricted, shallow life (mostly self-imposed) makes for an uninspiring read. I do like the setting and some of Kline's descriptions.
Andrew Wyeth, his painting Christina's World would immortalize this young woman and her life. In fact many of his paintings would feature this farm, where he would visit and paint in the summers for twenty years, a farm that Christina's family had owned and lived in for generations. Cushing, Maine, how the family came here and whom there ancestors were is an interesting back story in itself.Although Wyeth makes an appearance here and there, for the most part this is the story of Christina, her f...
I had read several good reviews for this book by people whose opinions I trust so I expected that I would like it too. I was surprised by how much I liked it and how very readable it was! I found it very hard to put down.I was not familiar with Andrew Wyeth or his famous painting entitled Christina's World but it made for an excellent story. Poor stubborn Christina with her deformed limbs and constant pain was nevertheless a wonderful character. As the book progressed I began to wonder how on ea...
The books that I've read (so far) by Christina Baker Kline are:The Exiles - Outstanding!Orphan Train - Very good!A Piece of the World - It's okay.This biographical fiction about Christina Olson, the subject in the painting titled "Christina's World" rendered by American artist, Andrew Wyeth, has its pros and cons. It should be noted that Christina was afflicted with (what neurologists now believe) a degenerative muscular disorder called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.Here are my reasons for this ra...
4.5 stars. I loved The Orphan Train and, happily, I enjoyed this just as much. 'Christina's World' is a work of art that has been made more special to me after learning the story behind it. I don't know that I particularly liked Christina, but at the same time I felt a deep connection to her. We can all be tied to anchores and while some are able to pull themselves free, others let it pull them under. I think in the end Christina found her world and, I hope through it all a bit of contentment. M...
At times I thought of Helen Keller....wishing Christina Olson - [of this story] - had half the opportunities Helen Keller did. I was aching at times for Christina. This was a gut wrenching sad story. I shed tears a couple of times - and found myself thankful for a relief of the 'smallest' gesture-of-expression-of sibling-love. The touch of a hand between Christina and her brother, Al, was one of the most beautiful moments in this novel to me. There were a couple other 'golden box' beautiful scen...
”Over the years, certain stories in the history of a family take hold. They’re passed from generation to generation, gaining substance and meaning along the way. You have to learn to sift through them, separating fact from conjecture, the likely from the implausible. Here is what I know: Sometimes the least believable stories are the true ones.”Their home at Hathorn Point in Cushing Maine was on land claimed by three men, two brothers, Samuel and William Hathorn, and William’s son Alexander. The...
4.5 starsI love the painting, Christina's World. It's one of the few pieces of art I feel a strong connection to and I was thrilled to find out the author wrote this historical fiction book on the real life Christina who inspired the painting. Art is so subjective as each person takes away something different but in my opinion this book really captured the essence of who I imagined the girl in the painting to be and also reading about her makes me look at it in other ways as well. Really a fanta...
I was very excited to see this book as I really enjoyed Orphan Train. When the description mentioned that this is fictional story weaved around a true figure in a well know painting I was even more excited because I was hoping it would be as interesting as Girl with a Pearl Earring.But sadly, this was just not my cup of tea.I get that Christina suffered. She was a perfectly healthy child deformed by a disease – which to my untrained ears that sounded like polio – and for the rest of her life she...
What she wants most--what she truly yearns for--is what any of us want; to be seen. And look. She is.I don't know about you, but this painting has fascinated me for years. As soon as I heard about this book by Christina Baker Kline, I knew I wanted to read it. Unfortunately it got buried in my TBR until I had the opportunity to choose a book for a Zoom book group. There is was on the list! This title was the perfect choice. My group was not large, but we had a delightful discussion about the set...
"What she wants most - what she truly yearns for - is what any of us want: to be seen."Christina Olson lived her life mostly as a shut in, born with a degenerative disease that will take the use of her legs in childhood. The famous painter Andrew Wyeth befriends her, and will use her home and land to paint some of his most famous works, including the painting that now resides in the Museum of Modern Art, "Christina's World". A story told through Christina's eyes as she bravely deals with the har...
3.5 starsUnlike most people, I was not a huge fan of Orphan Train. So, I wasn't sure how I'd like Kline’s latest book. And the beginning was so slow and dry I thought, well, here we go again. But stick with it and you will be rewarded. The main character is Christina, the subject of Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World. It seemed to take forever before I felt invested in Christina. Not until her relationship with Walton did she come across as three dimensional. The meat of this book is all in the se...
3 stars. A quiet and melancholic novel.This tells the story behind the inspiration of the famous painting by Andrew Wyeth titled “Christina’s World”. Christina’s family has lived in their quaint home on acres of land for generations. Christina has a physical disability with her legs which causes countless trips and falls and injuries over the years. This novel tells her story of isolation from the world — the limitations she faces physically and those she places on herself as a way of protection...
Over the years, certain stories in the history of a family take hold. They're passed from generation to generation, gaining substance and meaning along the way. You have to learn to sift through them, separating fact from conjecture, the likely from the implausible. Here is what I know: Sometimes the least believable stories are the true ones. Well, I'm extremely grateful that I don't wear mascara because I'm a blubbering mess right now. This absolutely mesmerizing fictional memoir of Christina
Andrew Wyeth spent his summers in Cushing, Maine with his family. It is here where he first met Christina Olson who later becomes the inspiration for his painting “Christina’s World”. Christina lived a tough life along with her brother Al on the neighboring farm. Their dilapidated home lacked modern day conveniences and had fallen into disrepair. Andrew encounters the Olsons through their neighbor Betsy and he decides to express their lives via a painting. As Andrew puts paint to canvas, the det...
Born in 1893, Christina Olson became ill at a young age, and from that day forward, her debilitating illness continued unabated. Doctors had no idea what was wrong with her, but over the years she continued to get worse. Her life was centred around the home she’d been born in – the family farm in Cushing, Maine. Christina lived with her mother, father and grandmother plus three brothers, and the duties of keeping the farm running increasingly fell on her shoulders. Made to leave school by her fa...
I have long been fascinated with the artwork of Andrew Wyeth, and particularly his body of work centered around Christina Olson and her rustic home in Maine. I knew, therefore, that a well constructed book about those persons would be interesting to me. For once, I got more than I anticipated. This book is marvelous.I must say, in fairness, that this is more about Christina herself and has less to do with Andrew Wyeth or his art than I had thought it would. No problem. Christina is a complex and...