3,5 solid story. quick read

I didn't know quite what to expect from this book, but I got a mix of art, history, and mystery. Claire is a promising artist who has been blackballed by the art world before her career can get off the ground and is trying to find a way back in. She is presented with an opportunity to do something kind of shady for the greater good with the incentive of having a solo show at a top gallery. When she accepts, trouble ensues.

I think Shapiro balances all of the elements well without getting bogged down in too much detail, though I learned a lot about the history of the Gardner Museum, famous art forgers and the techniques they use, as well as an appreciation for classic painting techniques. There are a number of smaller mysteries revealed throughout the book – both relating to Claire's personal life and surrounding the artwork at the heart of the story. Some characters weren't wholly relatable or believable (Claire is just a little too good at figuring everything out while being insanely talented), but I didn't mind because the story moved along at a good pace and I wanted to see how all of the smaller story lines would be tied together at the end.

The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro
Love learning how things are done and how some can get away with it, forging art.
This book is about Claire and 25 years later a stolen painting from a big heist has arrived at her studio. She has been hired out to repaint originals so she can have a showing.
Til the painting shows up....travels overseas and dealings with the Mob appear in this book, such an action packed book. Loved hearing of the way the painting is done, such definite procedures.
Felt story could've been told in ascending chronological order and been a great read. This book jumps around in town and I felt it was hard to follow that way. Few characters, easy to keep track of the main ones.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

So far this year, I think this is a favorite.

The detail and depth of the art component was nearly breath-taking. I can't say that I felt the chemistry behind the romance, but it comforted me.

I like a mystery and this ended up having a mystery at the core. The clues were there and I could have solved it myself, if given the time.

I picked this book because I've wanted to be an artist. The time and energy that our protagonist puts into her work is comforting, like a favorite pair of jeans. I think I would have liked that role, if not for the struggling and poverty part.

See my 2012 review of THE ART FORGER here: http://www.blogginboutbooks.com/2012/10/you-dont-have-to-know-dali-from-degas.html

I liked this book. It was a fun, fast summer read. Not the best written book in the world, but super enjoyable.

Admittedly the characters are all a bit stereotypical and flat. I still grew a bit fond of Claire although she had the habit of repeating herself.
Why five stars then?
Because even despite the characters not being in any way uber remarkable I highly enjoyed the story. It is slow paced in between but filled with so many interesting facts about art that I didn't really felt bored with the slowed down development of the story arc. A few names sparked memories of other books about the topic "art forgery" I read a while ago (especially Han van Meegeren).
What made me give this book five stars in the end was the fact that Barbara Shapiro put a lot of energy and heart's blood into her research or at least that is what I can read between the lines. I love it when a book is alive with the passion of the writer for their topic.

The female lead went from strong to weak as soon as there was conflict and the writing quickly became drawn out and boring towards the middle of the book.

This was great! It's a combination of a mystery and historical fiction, set in Boston and featuring the theft from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I devoured it and really enjoyed all the mentions of various places around the city. The story revolves around a young painter who's asked to paint a forgery of one of the works stolen from the Gardner, and what happens after she does. She is "a woman with a past," as they say, and her past is slowly brought to light through a handful of flashback chapters interspersed through the book. I'm not entirely sure that was necessary - the book could have opened with that stuff and then flashed forward to the present day - but the timing of when those chapters were placed worked well. As you can imagine, there are lots of detailed description of the process of creating a painting, and how to detect a forgery, which I found interesting. I enjoyed this and recommend it, particularly if you've been to the Gardner.