Books by the writer/singer/comedian Steve Martin are usually not what you expect, if you expect antics of The Jerk or SNL. His books are usually smartly written, with enjoyable characters and witty to a fault. AOoB, not so much.
Lacey Yeager is a head strong, beautiful young woman who bursts on the art scene of the early 90's. This is the protagonist. Unfortunate circumstances. This is the antagonist. Daniel Franks is an old friend and one time lover of Lacey. This is your narrator. The rest of the book can really only be deciphered if the reader has had at least one Art History class of the Great Masters. It is a simple and sometimes fun romp through the art world, especially critiques and personal opinions on art, the art scene and artists themselves. The story and protagonist reminding me of a dying sun. Bright and shining for the first two parts, but as we enter part three, it fades and leaves you with nothing but empty coldness.
The book cover is pretty amazing though.
Not sure if you heard about this, but people were pissed when they found out Steve-o only wanted to talk about art and not crack jokes:
ReplyDeletehttp://consumerist.com/2010/12/crowd-gets-refund-because-steve-martin-no-longer-wants-to-be-funny.html