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The author of the very popular Orphan Train tackles the backstory of Andrew Wyeth's famous painting, "Christina's World." Personally, I love the idea of using artwork as a premise of a book, and one of the high points of the novel is its historical accuracy. Kline clearly does her homework (perhaps too well; more on that later), and she's excellent at description, so the house in the picture can be well imagined by the reader including all the amount of work it took for its upkeep.

Unfortunately, you know if I'm pointing out that the descriptions of chores is a highlight, that's not a good sign.

Kline sacrifices almost every modicum of suspense in her storytelling to historical accuracy and character development. Unfortunately, her leading character, Christina, is basically depressed, ill, and boring and stubborn and often selfish. She's really the only character that is fully realized, and she's pitiable, but not likable. Kline attempts to somehow talk the reader into seeing Christina differently at the end of the story, but 10 chapters are hard to erase with some poetic uplifting language at the end. I'm not a person who needs to like a character to enjoy a book, but I do need the character to evolve somehow and/or do something interesting. Christina does neither.

Other than a romance between Christina and Harvard student, Walton, which was nicely done and by far the highlight of the book, there's nothing to the plot. If Christina wants something (other than Walton) it's not articulated, nor does she go after it. Granted, she is ill and crippled, so going after much of anything is difficult, but still. Wyeth was more interesting to me as he struggles to capture his subjects, but his story is a fraction of the tale, and mostly consists of he painted this, then he tried to paint that. There's no tension. The lack of tension is not helped by Kline's love of going back and forth in historical time chapter by chapter. This kinda worked in Orphan Train. I didn't think it worked here, and it made a slow plot even slower.

There is an interesting theme in the book about our own self perception versus the perception others have of us. I think this makes a good topic for book discussion groups, and is a redeeming feature of the story.

Kline really does her homework, and she articulates exactly what is true (lots) and what is not, but she also is a writer who feels the need to include everything she has learned in the story. This lead to a very boring first quarter of the book . . .that was barely relevant to anything going forward.

All in all, this book has its redeeming qualities: strong historical research, a viable romance, and some beautifully descriptive writing. But to me, it was so boring that I just couldn't like it (and believe me, I was trying because I think I'm the only person in the world giving it two stars). If you can't wait for a book to end, it's pretty hard to give it anything higher.

p.s. If you loved this book, please forgive me. I'm definitely in a minority! Not sure what's going on, but I feel like my taste has really diverged from the mainstream in the past few years . . .and it is actually annoying to me! I want to like what others enjoy so I can share in that delight. Lately, it just hasn't been happening. ( )

The story behind Wyeth's painting and the Olson family was interesting, but I didn't feel there was enough meat to make an entire novel. Slow and character-driven. ( )

Set in the early 1900s to 1948, protagonist Christina lives on a farm with her parents and brothers in Cushing, Maine. Christina suffers from a rare muscle disease that increases in severity over time. Andrew Wyeth, an artist, lives nearby and enjoys creating paintings of the farm and its surroundings. This book is based on a real painting by Andrew Wyeth, “Christina’s World.” The author has created a fictional life for the woman in the painting. Christina narrates her life story in non-linear fashion, telling of her relationships, friendships, illness, and family dynamics.

I decided to read this book based on the reference to Andrew Wyeth, whose paintings I admire. I liked parts of this book, especially the segments about the art and the artist. The tone is melancholy. The pace is slow. At times it drifts into melodramatic territory. It is a sad story about a woman who leads a hard life without much hope for the future. I listened to the audio book, capably read by Polly Stone.
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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 multidimensional person with a life worth the exploration. Crippled at an early age, she is a study in self-reliance, strength, and perseverance. She is a study, as well, in the loneliness and isolation that comes with being different.

It’s a good question. How do I think of myself? The answer surprises us both. “I think of myself as a girl,” I say.

One of the themes at the heart of this novel is the difference between how we see others and how they see themselves. Christina encounters so many people who see her as her infirmities, who discount her feeling and her intelligence because she has a broken body. Her brother sees her as his sister, who manages to take care of a home and family despite her limitations and as his playmate and sibling who has shared his life. She sees herself as a whole person, encased in a chrysalis from which there is no escape.

It is this that explains the relationship that forms between the artist and his subject:
Andy doesn’t usually bring anything, or offer to help. He doesn’t register alarm at the way we live. He doesn’t see us as a project that needs fixing. He doesn’t perch on a chair, or linger in a doorway, with the air of someone who wants to leave, who’s already halfway out the door. He just settles in and observes.

As we watch Christina’s life unfold, we see how much of it is dictated by how others see her. We watch her dream and we watch those dreams destroyed, we see windows of opportunity open and close with slams that echo like the screen doors of the old house. We watch her world collapse upon her, and yet we see her struggle to make the most of the life she is given. At the end, these words of Kline’s sum it up completely, The older I get, the more I believe that the greatest kindness is acceptance.

This novel is everything that I look for in a great novel. There are characters that are real and lives that have meaning. There is tension for these characters to transcend and obstacles to power through, and the glory of the human spirit to applaud and descry.

That this is based upon the life of an actual historic person makes it all the more poignant. I will now view Wyeth’s Christina’s World with a new layer of meaning. For as our character, Christina, says, Here is what I know: Sometimes the least believable stories are the true ones.

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