The Painted Girls: A Novel

This title appealed to me because of the association with Ballet. I have always wanted to learn more about this complex sport/art/science.
This audio started with the story of three sisters in 19th Century France. The story continued along predictable lines by describing the sisters' starvation, constant work at the barre and miserable boarding house living, where they were all crammed into one room with their mother. I continued to listen, waiting for the conflict, the small success or the intriguing character to enter. Short of a couple of appointments with the great artiste, Degas, nothing happened but more suffering. I tired of the constant whining, worrying and grimy encounters with men. There was no reward or romance - just more wailing about circumstances. Also, predictably one sister, working as a laundress, burned a shirt and was "docked one week's wages." Please! How obvious can you be?
I commend anyone who endeavors to write a full-length novel. The technical part - the writing - was well done in this book. Nice description and tone. However, my resources were spent and I expected a fair exchange.

I need something to grab me after the first three hours. I listed to most of the first part, then I quit.

A beautiful carving is made at the expense of all that is thrown away...a thought that describes this story of the young *ballet rat* that poses for Edgar Degas's sculpture, (Little Dancer of Fourteen) her family, and the Belle Epoque period of France. Behind the beauty of the opera, ballet, and the arts, is the contrast of the discarded and impoverished, their hard and sad lives of struggling to make a living.

The Belle Epoque.."the beautiful era"...Van Gogh, Gaugin, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, the birth of Impressionism, the Ballet Russes, Baudelaire, Debussy, Ravel...a primordial soup of creativity in an amazing time. But Painted Girls views only the underbelly of Paris, through the eyes of 3 sisters struggling to pay rent and buy bread--the artists to them are men or patrons who will pay money for *services.* With such a vibrant and creative climate, the author never uses the full palette available, and paints only a watery view of Paris at its artistic height. It ends up being a story that could be told in almost any era.

I thought the first half of the book slow and almost juvenile, told through the younger girl's point of view; then the older sister starts to narrate, and the book quickly goes blue. Definitely not a YA novel! The debauchery the girls have to put up with just to make a living is sad to listen to, and even worse, their acceptance of that fact of life. The focus shifts to the older sister's infatuation with a young man--with all the charm of Bill Sikes--accused of murder. Degas makes just a brief appearance (his sculpture of the girl obviously gained its appreciation after his death), and while a few ballets of the times are mentioned, the listener hears more about the barre work than the lavish productions or famous dancers.

To the patient listener, there is a story, and even some historical bits, but it was much less than what I had anticipated (the 3* overall should probably be 2*)--even with the author's research, and so very slow. The narrator does a good job with the pronunciation of French names, as well as with the different female characters; her attempt at the male voices could have been spared by using Danny Campbell for all of the male parts instead of just the interludes...miniscule issue.

Buchanan has taken some real historical people - some famous, some infamous, some unknown - woven some facts and some fictional plot twists together to create a unified storyline between some Degas' artwork, some historical figures, and the popular 19th century (and some earlier times) pseudo-scientific theory of physiognomy.. It is a really interesting concept for a novel but it falls short in implementation. The Painted Girls is less historical fiction than a period piece (late 19th century Paris, lower socio economic classes), but it's a period piece that provides only glimpses and not a real picture. More like watching the story unfold through a peephole than through a large window. The plot moves at a good pace (I feared the boredom of The Girl with a Pearl Earring, but that was not the case with The Painted Girls) and I definitely enjoyed the sections of the story that wove the artwork of Degas into the story. But, ultimately, I wasn't drawn into the time period and maybe partly as a result of that, I didn't connect with any of the characters. Frustrating people, often making bad decisions, and I just didn't care what happened to them. Overall, I was entertained and learned a bit from the novel, but it was disappointing that a rather creative concept just didn't quite deliver a KO punch.

The performances by the narrators were satisfactory although there is an obvious challenge in a audiobook when the novel's dialog is in English but spoken by characters who actually would clearly speak French. When you read, your brain kind of finds a place where your imagination makes the bridge for that. But listening to American accents throw around French names and places using French pronunciations right in the middle of a sentence is constantly pulling you out of the setting - it is just kind of distracting. This book might be one that just is better read than heard.

I didn't mind spending a credit on the book, but my recommendation for it would be tepid at best.

I would not recommend this book. It failed to hold my interest and I couldn't wait for the
end to come.

No

Honestly, I tried. I even went away, read another one, and came back. Finally just deleted it. the book is beyond boring, and the reader is even worse.

The Storyteller

Mainly, she was monotone. No variance to her voice. I'd drive along, and realize that I flat couldn't remember what she just read.

Editing, and definitely a new reader.

I do not recommend.

There are still things from this book that I wonder about. That may be why I enjoyed it!

Yes, I love Degas paintings. I love ballet. I love historical fiction. Great combo!

The ending was by far the best. I won't give it away.

No, this was my first but she is amazing.

Something about sisters.

Yes, this book provided so much insight into the times and the lives of the young girls in Paris as well as their plight.

The changing from perspective of story. From sister to sister.

No, she was truly wonderful.

Yes

Told from the viewpoints of sisters in an impoverished family with ties to the ballet, the story is surprisingly charming and engrossing -- I say surprisingly because I'm not interested in ballet and don't usually read period fiction. The narrator has a pleasant voice with a likable personality. I would call this elevated light entertainment - you won't learn anything but you won't feel like you've wasted your time on utter fluff, either.

I really enjoyed this fact-based back story to Degas' famous sculpture "The little dancer of fourteen years". The two main characters: Antoinette and Marie, were very appealing and engaging. The subject matter, of the difficult lives of the 'petit rats' who barely lived above the poverty line and hoped for deliverance from the Paris Opera was also fascinating and enlightening. The fact that these ballet girls' lives were intertwined with a number of murders that scandalised 1880's Paris all made for a gripping tale.

There were numerous memorable moments, but Marie's audition for the cadre was a lovely moment.

It was fine, but (unlike The Poisonwood Bible) the voices were not individual enough to separate the characters easily.