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The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre

by Dominic Smith (Goodreads Author)

3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 · rating details · 219 ratings · 35 reviews

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Smith's compassionate and thought-provoking novel reinvents a famous life with delicacy and precision. At the age of 12, Louis Daguerre fell in love with women and light on the same day. Several decades later, the founder of modern photography invented a process that ignited 19th-century Paris and secured his wealth and fame. But the...more

Hardcover, 306 pages

Published February 7th 2006 by Atria Books (first published January 1st 2006)

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Mar 11, 2013 David Katzman rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of historical fiction or books about artists, and those who enjoy a non-cliched love story

I’ll admit it. I cried.

To write some back-cover copy, “This is a finely wrought tale of love lost, found, and then lost again.” And then misplaced somewhere in that damn garage. No, seriously, this is quite a lovely book. I chose The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre because I thought it was going to be the portrayal of an artist (the inventor of photography, Louis Daguerre) going mad, wandering Paris and experiencing hallucinations. Something I hope to do someday. I was mistaken. The “mercury v...more I’ll admit it. I cried.

To write some back-cover copy, “This is a finely wrought tale of love lost, found, and then lost again.” And then misplaced somewhere in that damn garage. No, seriously, this is quite a lovely book. I chose The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre because I thought it was going to be the portrayal of an artist (the inventor of photography, Louis Daguerre) going mad, wandering Paris and experiencing hallucinations. Something I hope to do someday. I was mistaken. The “mercury visions” in the title are primarily referring to the surreal quality of the Daguerreotypes, the photo imprinting method Daguerre invented, which use mercury as a fixative. Daguerre does in fact go a bit mad from mercury poisoning, but he doesn’t hallucinate so much as fall into a state of mild to moderate dementia. Even so, I wasn’t disappointed. This is a well-crafted book.

An example Daguerreotype:

The story takes place in the first half of the 19th century in France. Smith manages to conjure this period convincingly and imbues it with a rich atmosphere. Baudelaire plays a supporting role, and I even believed that characterization.

Other than exploring love—specifically what happens when love is abandoned for needs that are more practical—the primary subject matter of the book is the place of photography in the world of art, and art’s value in general. For Daguerre, photography was a way to achieve fame and even immortality for both himself and for moments in time. Many artists consider art to be their route to immortality. And yet ironically, believing the world is about to end, Daguerre is driven to capture a final list of photographs in order to stash them in the crypts under Paris to preserve them after the Apocalypse. (As you might suspect, the Apocalypse is cancelled due to lack of advertising.) Who thinks of Daguerreotypes now? The implication is that art is a rather inadequate means to immortality. There is no way to achieve immortality when life is so fleeting. Instead, we’re better off pursuing love because that at least might fulfill us during our existence. A rather romantic notion, certainly.

However, Smith indicates several times that Daguerre would not have achieved the success and fame that he had if he hadn’t been scorned early in life by his great love. The implication is that love can actually make us complacent and less successful. We throw ourselves more aggressively into “achievement” perhaps if we fail at love. Some might; I suspect others give up pursuing their goals when they find misery in love. For Daguerre, it was like revenge—look how great I became. You could have had me yet chose not to. I appreciate the mixed messages about love, but one of the clear suggestions in this novel is that choosing financial gain over love is a sure route to life-long emptiness.

I can’t say that I agree with any one portrayal of love as representative for all—for others love fulfilled can also lead to lifelong misery—but it’s believable for the characters portrayed within this work and it’s a worthwhile cautionary tale to ponder. The ending is rather tragic and beautiful and unexpected, too.

Despite this being the type of book that I don’t seek out (realist, historical, and in some ways a love story), I looked forward to picking it up and got lost in it. Recommended.(less)

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Aug 07, 2008 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was so into this book until the end. I hate when I read a great story and read a disappointing end. It was all right, but the "love" storyline superseded the "photography" storyline and that's just not what I planned on reading. You could have substituted anyone for Louis Daguerre and acheived the same ending. The history was fascinating, the setting ideal, and Smith certainly knows how to tell a story. But it's like he changed his mind halfway through and went a completely different direction...more

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Sep 12, 2011 Barb rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction-1800s, read-in-2011, fictionz-of-real-people

Smith creates a fictional life for Louis Daguerre, his early years growing up in the country where he falls in love with Isobel Le Fournier, his rise and success as a young man nearly obsessed with his passion for art, and finally his confusion due to illness and disease after having exposed himself to the toxic chemicals used in the process of capturing a moment in time.

I had a varied experience reading this book. The majority of the time I thought it was really well written, funny, engaging, i...more Smith creates a fictional life for Louis Daguerre, his early years growing up in the country where he falls in love with Isobel Le Fournier, his rise and success as a young man nearly obsessed with his passion for art, and finally his confusion due to illness and disease after having exposed himself to the toxic chemicals used in the process of capturing a moment in time.

I had a varied experience reading this book. The majority of the time I thought it was really well written, funny, engaging, interesting and moving. I thought the stories Dominic Smith created to reveal his characters to the reader were lovely, vivid and beautiful. The characters themselves were charming. I loved the references to Daguerre’s passion for art and light and the sacrifices he made to pursue that passion, as well as learning about his accomplishment in creating the popular Diorama.

I loved the sense of humor that Smith infused into the story, I so loved the dinner party with friend and poet Baudelaire, very funny. I enjoyed the relationship between Louis and the female model he meets, and I thought Louis's quest to capture what he felt were ten essential images before the end of his life added an interesting element to the story, as did his quest to find Isobel Le Fournier.

Smith built a beautiful story, right up to the point of climax and then the quality of the story changes almost dramatically. The dialogue no longer seems realistic, the emotions no longer feel authentic and the last seventy pages of the story feel like they were written by someone else altogether, someone less skilled and less attentive to detail or someone in a rush. Because of that I was disappointed with this book. If the author had polished the end of his story to the same degree as the beginning I would have loved it. As it is, I loved much of it but the ending left me with an overall feeling of disappointment. I would certainly try another novel by Dominic Smith and hope that the quality of it was in keeping with the majority of this story.
(less)

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Sep 09, 2011 Alex rated it 3 of 5 stars

There are times when a premise seems so out of the ordinary that a book becomes a sort of destiny. The title alone makes the promise of visions. The end-times list of items that must be recorded sets up a search and also questions of "why those items?" That these elements eventually make a circuitous path to a lost love becomes an intrigue. So if you're like me, you enter the world of Daguerre expecting to be dazzled by strange and fantastic visions, an element of mystery, and a frenzied desire...more There are times when a premise seems so out of the ordinary that a book becomes a sort of destiny. The title alone makes the promise of visions. The end-times list of items that must be recorded sets up a search and also questions of "why those items?" That these elements eventually make a circuitous path to a lost love becomes an intrigue. So if you're like me, you enter the world of Daguerre expecting to be dazzled by strange and fantastic visions, an element of mystery, and a frenzied desire bubbling just below the surface.

What we get at all is almost no discussion of the visions (we learn he foresees the end times, and that everything he witnesses is a portent: so delusions are more accurate). We have a list, made so important, which is largely glossed over. And that love? It is the pining unrequited yearning of a young boy. Quite literally, in fact. It is the romance of Dante and Beatrice: sterile and stagnant.

It is therefore no grand plot, any more than any of our first or most enduring crushes have a grand plot. We called her once. We saw her across the garden. We played together because our mothers were on the PTA together. We stole a kiss or two at some point. You tell that story in your 20s, you look too nostalgic. You carry that to your old age, you're sad at best. To have this bait and switch, where the mad whims of an artist turn into the sad fantasy of an old man, makes the novel quite disappointing. It becomes Nicholas Sparks with historical setting and a bit of research. The worst of it is, you're strung along the whole time, because there could be another vision again. Spoiler: there isn't. But if you like coughing as a plot element, you'll be well served.

What I cannot help but wonder is whether I would have liked this more had I been better prepared for what it ended up being. Smith is clearly no hack with his language, but then, had I felt more properly prepared, I may never have picked the novel up to read it. The sub-thread... the obsession with light and discovery... that, I enjoyed. There was a mystery. It was in the ephemeral vision of Isobel, too frequently reprised to truly remain made of light. But it was also inherent in his art, his passion... the dioramas and how Daguerre is said to have worked with light captured my own imagination. But ultimately, this story was one where these brief passions and intrigues aided a love story that endured for ages without ever scratching the surface, when it would have been so much better served with a love story woven more sparsely through the genius that made Daguerre see the world differently, and the madness that would inevitably unravel him.

(2.5)(less)

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Jun 21, 2009 George rated it 4 of 5 stars

“Louis Daguerre fell in love with women and light on the same day”---pg. 17

‘The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre’, by Dominic Smith is a wonderful and haunting story, well and beautifully told. Dominic Smith is a ‘phraseologist’ of the first stripe. Let me borrow the words to further illuminate this novel, my own being inadequate.

“An unforgettable novel from an award-winning writer, ‘The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre’ is the story of enduring love, fame unraveling, and a prodigious mind com...more

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Oct 02, 2009 Denis rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Here's an intriguing novel that becomes more and more engrossing as the story unfolds, and which ends being actually very moving. Part historical biography (Daguerre basically invented photography, and Smith narrates his life and career through fascinating flashbacks), part bittersweet love story (Smith invents a rather tragic yet very romantic, never really fulfilled, love affair for Daguerre), this book is beautiful written, in a satisfying literary way that, somehow, fits the times and places...more

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Feb 23, 2011 Shan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Okay read. Good to have while just passing time and if you're not a picky reader.

I loved the setting, descriptions and language style, enough to pull you into Daguerre's life, passion and profession. Story wise... Facts coated in candy as someone mentioned before, so yes I learnt some random bits of knowledge, and I enjoyed its general biography-/historical fiction- like aspects And story line.

Wasn't too thrilled on the romance part though. The relationships between each character were not clich...more

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Oct 20, 2012 Hira rated it 2 of 5 stars

If you can stop short of a 100 pages, pick up this book. If you can't, do some research and read an original biography of Daguerre. If you want to give Dominic Smith a chance and read the entire 300+ pages, be prepared to be thoroughly disillusioned in the transition between "a well-crafted story of the coming of age of a visionary" to "the pages that articulate the fate of two star-crossed lovers in the face of death and deprivation." The second part, which is essentially a love story crafted f...more

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Feb 01, 2010 Nancy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-novel

Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre is an often beautifully written story of the development of the daguerreotype and the life of its inventor.
Daguerre is a passionate boy who grows up to be a passionate man, but the mercury used in his photographic process slowly eats away at his brain and body until, at the end, is suffers seizures and becomes erratic in his thinking. It is a sacrifice he is more than willing to make for his art.
When he is a boy, he falls in love with Isobel Le Fournier who i...more

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Jan 26, 2010 Matt Wood rated it 2 of 5 stars

This fictitious account of the life of Louis Daguerre is at a vivid and sensuous tale. Small nuggets of fact coated with a candy sheen of fiction.

1 like · like · see review

Jun 11, 2009 Karyl rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the way this was written. Daguerre suffered from mercury poisoning due to his work developing daguerreotypes, and wandered through the last portion of his life as if in a dream. The writing reflected that, with a strong sense of haze and fog obscuring the details until one thing swims into focus but is quickly swallowed up again. Two-thirds of the way through, however, the writing changes, becomes more hurried and more amateurish. There's a distinct difference from what had gone...more

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Aug 08, 2010 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've heard a lot of people poo-poo this book. I liked it. I'm a very imaginative, creative person... So when the author takes several pages, if not half a chapter, to discuss visually one thing Louis Daguerre is painting and how he paints it, then I'm all for it. However, this is only because the author does a decent job of portraying the mood, atmosphere, and general expression of the paintings and pictures taken.

On the other hand, had it not been for the well-integrated colorful descriptions,...more

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Nov 16, 2008 J. rated it 5 of 5 stars

A clever depiction of Louis Daguerre -- a historical figure -- set against the backdrop of an authentic 19th century France results in this alluring historical novel by emerging novelist Dominic Smith. The beauty of this piece is in the balance between the story -- about a man's obsession with capturing forever a fleeting moment -- and the storytelling.

Daguerre, having invented the daguerreotype, finds that his brain has been poisoned by the mercury process he discovered. Believing the apocalyp...more A clever depiction of Louis Daguerre -- a historical figure -- set against the backdrop of an authentic 19th century France results in this alluring historical novel by emerging novelist Dominic Smith. The beauty of this piece is in the balance between the story -- about a man's obsession with capturing forever a fleeting moment -- and the storytelling.

Daguerre, having invented the daguerreotype, finds that his brain has been poisoned by the mercury process he discovered. Believing the apocalypse is near, he sets out to capture on film 10 images before it commences. His quest leads him to a chance encounter with the daughter of his childhood sweetheart and life-long love, Isobel Le Fournier. Isobel broke Daguerre's young heart by marrying an older man, more stable than Daguerre, whom she viewed as a dreamer. Rejecting him in the manner she did drives Daguerre to attain success and fame, but alas, without Isobel (who from afar watches Daguerre's star rise with more than a little regret), it means little.

At the peak of his artistic popularity, as his madness grows, Daguerre hires Chloe, a middle-aged woman who works in a Paris brothel, to pose for him -- the nude he wishes to capture on film. When he learns she is the daughter of his beloved Isobel, he tries to rescue her from the life she has "chosen" -- never touching her and looking at her nudity only through the lens of his camera. Ignorant that he is her mother's childhood love, Chloe tells Daguerre that her mother forbid her from marrying the man she loved for much the same reason her mother eschewed her childhood love to instead marry a man she did not love -- she wished her daughter to be well-provided for. Now she claims she is incapable of loving any one man, consenting instead to loving her many patrons.

In the end, Daguerre finds his lost Isobel, now widowed, and the love story is brought to a conclusion that some may find unsatisfying but which is the only logical conclusion.

While there may not be any major surprises to "Visions" there are many "a-ha" moments that lure the reader to continue turning the pages. Smith uses no bells and whistles, no tricks to bait the reader, but instead uses good storytelling technique and a passion for language to create a sense of period and to establish relationships between all the main characters. Readers who enjoy well-crafted sentences and beautiful prose will find it easy to immerse themselves between the covers of "Visions."(less)

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Apr 11, 2012 City Girl rated it 2 of 5 stars

Pretty boring...made it almost all the way through and just couldn't bring myself to finish it. That being said the other book by this author is FABULOUS. Beautiful Miscellaneous was a must read. This one....not so much.

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Sep 30, 2012 Colleen rated it 2 of 5 stars

The author mentions a woman wearing a brassiere...in the mid-19th century. An obvious sign that this book was not well researched, and the plot wasn't good enough for me to overlook such inaccuracies.

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Dec 01, 2008 Jamilah rated it 5 of 5 stars

About the creator of the daguerrotype photographic process, his life and art, and his health troubles (including madness) from the mercury used in his work. Also includes a love story, of the tragic, wistful unrequited variety. I loved it!

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Mar 19, 2012 Barb rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very interesting from a historic perspective; author was good at putting the reader right into Paris at the time that Daguerre lived. He dragged it on at the end.

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Jun 05, 2012 Jen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Read this with book club and appreciated it more after the discussion. Glad we talked about it.

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Aug 23, 2011 Michelle Will rated it 4 of 5 stars

I had forgotten about this book until I found the audiobook on our library shelves this morning. I really enjoyed this book. Smith's descriptions of light as seen through Daguerre's eyes were brilliant at times. The history of photography was fascinating and the Paris setting was beautiful and gave new meaning to the City of Lights.

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Aug 08, 2008 Larissa Nash rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2008, lost-interest

Dear Desperately Dull Novel,

Alas, I've given you up. I'm sorry to have abandoned you in the laundry room; I hope your heart isn't broken.

Simply put: you're well-written, but you fail to hold my interest. I hope the lady with the purple basket treats you better than I have.

With Regret,
Larissa

3 likes · like · see review

Jun 15, 2008 Evelyn Porter rated it 3 of 5 stars

Filled with historical detail that brings 19th century Paris alive. An interesting novel about the man responsible for developing the 'daguerreotype' (the precursor to our modern day photograph) and his muse. A good read for those interested in art and photography.

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Nov 04, 2007 Ame Gadsby Shillington rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a fun way to approach the history of photography. The style of mixing the main character's past lost love with the present spiral of insanity was a nice mechanism. I appreciated the background of revolutionary Paris. http://www.usedisbetter.com

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Jan 11, 2008 Marjorie Hakala rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book had an intriguing premise, but it sort of petered out. By the end I almost forgot the main character was Louis Daguerre. Reasonably well done for what it is, but I got the feeling it wanted to be something else.

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Mar 03, 2008 Kris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Enjoyable book. The historical detail and discussion of photography was great. The ebb and flow of insanity was fascinating. However, the conclusion was a little trite, and not particularly satisfying.

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Sep 02, 2008 wendy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This wasn't as good as I thought it would be...his discovery of the daguerrotype was sort of in the background. It was mostly a just ok love story.

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Jan 11, 2008 Richard Kirsch rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Loved this little book. It is a fictional account of the life of Louis Daguerre -- inventor of the daguerrotype.

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Aug 03, 2008 Melanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

So far it is a delightful read, with sumptuous descriptions of the light, color, & texture of 19th century Paris.

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Oct 22, 2008 Bob Rosenow rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful story of 19th century paris. Well told. well researched or very, very inventive.

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Feb 11, 2008 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not a perfect book but lovely, hallucinatory descriptions make it worth the read.

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Jul 01, 2011 Julianna Sauber rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: very-interesting

very interesting for those who like historical fiction and photography.

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About Dominic Smith

Dominic grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Austin, Texas. His short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly.

Dominic is the author of three novels, most recently of "Bright and Distant Shores," which was a selection for Kirkus Reviews' "Best Books of 2011," and shortlisted for Australia's Vance Palmer...more

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