The Art Forger

By: B. A. Shapiro

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Length: 10 hrs

Publisher's summary

On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art, today worth over $500 million, were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. It remains the largest unsolved art heist in history, and Claire Roth, a struggling young artist, is about to discover that there's more to this crime than meets the eye.

Making a living reproducing famous artworks for a popular online retailer and desperate to improve her situation, Claire is lured into a Faustian bargain with Aiden Markel, a powerful gallery owner. She agrees to forge a painting - a Degas masterpiece stolen from the Gardner Museum - in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But when that very same long-missing Degas painting is delivered to Claire's studio, she begins to suspect that it may itself be a forgery.

Her desperate search for the truth leads Claire into a labyrinth of deceit where secrets hidden since the late 19th century may be the only evidence that can now save her life.

©2012 Barbara Shapiro (P)2012 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"A clever, twisty novel about art, authenticity, love, and betrayal. B. A. Shapiro knows about Degas, and she knows about art theft and forgery, and she also knows how to tell a gripping story." (Tom Perrotta)

Unexpected

I enjoyed the story overall. The love of art is very apparent. It was almost too much in the first 17 chapters with all the ohhh and aww over the painting. And went a bit too technical for those who do not have the same understanding for art as the main character. However I found myself relating to Claire, she just wanted to be accepted and important in a world that wrote her off. That I got. I liked the ending, I thought she was going down. I wish there was more on the aunt, her feelings although detailed brief were a lot more transparent than Claire's were. Overall a worth the time read.

Not Nasal, but breathy...still kind of annoying

I didn't agree from the sample that I heard that the reader was "nasal" but eventually I did decide that she was irritatingly breathy in her speech. Still, overall it was not a bad experience. The story was interesting enough although I found the conclusion a little rushed and anticlimactic. I would consider it very light listening.

Narrator takes a little getting used to

What three words best describe Xe Sands’s voice?

In the end, I enjoyed this narrator, but the breathy overly sexual interpretation of the men's voices, I found off-putting. Either I got used to it or it was less obvious a few chapters in and I enjoyed the narrator.

Perhaps with a different narrator

I liked the story but think perhaps I should've tried it as a hardcopy. The narrators voice seemed like she was always on the verge of crying-always so quavery. By the end it really grated on me.
I'm not sure if it was the narrator or the actual text that made me feel like the main character was a bit weak.

Xe Sands reading of B.A.Shapiro's The Art Forger is really engaging!

The book is interesting and the narrator does a wonderful job of separating the different characters with different voices and inflections. She really made the story enjoyable!

Story not too bad,, Narration quite awful

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The narrator ! It took a lot of effort getting past her voice and focus on the book. Her male characters have a drunken drawl which is really annoying. The story itself was OK although the last one third was really drawn out. The end was expected and there was no great mystery. I liked the parts about Belle and the actual creation of the forgery. The author does a good job of weaving fact and fiction but the plot was a little weak.. The main character was a little too co-dependent for my liking .

What do you think your next listen will be?

A more intriguing thriller

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Xe Sands?

Anyone else

Was The Art Forger worth the listening time?

Not really but not a complete waste either

Spectacular!

Wonderful book! Great story line weaving in real life events with an intriguing past. Performance was a little bit "whiney" as others have described and would not recommend the narrator. Otherwise, enchanting!

Great read!

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes, the plot did keep me on edge -- in a good way.

Which character – as performed by Xe Sands – was your favorite?

The lead woman.

Any additional comments?

Very interesting details about the art world and how to forge a picture. A good number of plot twists. Really enjoyed the read.

An absolute pleasure! Brilliant plot

This book was an absolute delight. I love art, and I have now two copies (not forgeries!!) that my artist aunt has painted for me (acrylic rather than oil, and she signed with her own name, so no one would even be fooled for a second that I have one of Van Gogh's sunflowers, and a painting by Daubigny) and I love them. I told my aunt she HAS to read this book. It is brilliant the way the fictitious story was woven in to the historical mystery of the Gardner heist. Though some events and character-behaviors can be guessed, there are some good plot twists and surprises, and just going along for the ride is great fun. There are also some important points made, like the fact that people see what they want to see. This is true in many aspects of life. The performance was good, but not amazing, in particular Sands' male voices were not so great. They came off sounding like "sexy" voices and intonation all the time, even when it really didn't make sense, and were not distinguishable enough. It didn't hurt my enjoyment of the story at all, but Sands does not deserve 5 stars for her performance.

Fun Read with some plot holes.

The Art Forger offers a quick view into the art world and the process of forgery. It works best when it does just that in fact. unfortunately it sometimes devolves into melodrama with a relationship that seems like it belongs in a romance novel and overly dramatic moments throughout. the main character is believable but most of the supporting cast is as flat as a cardboard cutout. The plot involves the protagonist being hired to produce a copy of a painting by Edgar degas stolen from the Gardner museum in Boston. The heist really happened in 1990 but the painting is ficticious. She copies the painting for a friend brokering an illegal sale. He wants to sell the copy to the shady buyer and return the original to the Gardner. But the concept doesn't work: Forgers produce painting in the style of famous artists not famous paintings, especially if they were hanging in a famous museum in 1990 when there would be high quality photographs of the original and the copy could be compared brushstroke for brushstroke. There is no way any forger could match that. In the story the copy is not meant to be looked at by experts but by the illicit buyer only. It is evaluated by experts eventually though and passes muster. That wouldn't happen, no matter how much the experts may "want to see" it. The reader is pleasant to listen to but gives most characters a very phoney uppity accent, like the stereotypical art snob. That gets a little annoying. Despite all this it was worth listening to and may be for you if you're into the art world.