<![CDATA[The Great Man: A Novel]]>

false <![CDATA[The Great Man: A Novel]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173455432m/290742.jpg 290742 4 From the acclaimed author of The Epicure's Lament, a novel of literary rivalry in which two competing biographers collide in their quest for the truth about a great artist. Oscar Feldman, the "Great Man," was a New York city painter of the heroic generation of the forties and fifties. But instead of the abstract canvases of the Pollocks and Rothkos, he stubbornly hewed to painting one subject—the female nude. When he died in 2001, he left behind a wife, Abigail, an autistic son, and a sister, Maxine, herself a notable abstract painter—all duly noted in the New York Times obituary. What no one knows is that Oscar Feldman led an entirely separate life in Brooklyn with his longtime mistress, Teddy St. Cloud, and their twin daughters. As the incorrigibly bohemian Teddy puts it, "He couldn't live without a woman around. It was like water to a plant for him." Now two rival biographers, book contracts in hand, are circling around Feldman's life story, and each of these three women—Abigail, Maxine, and Teddy—will have a chance to tell the truth as they experienced it. The Great Man is a scintillating comedy of life among the avant-garde—of the untidy truths, needy egos, and jostlings for position behind the glossy facade of artistic greatness. Not a pretty picture—but a provocative and entertaining one that incarnates the take-no-prisoners satirical spirit of Dawn Powell and Mary McCarthy. 2239300 14 8 2007 The Great Man: A Novel total:743|5:91|4:289|3:242|2:100|1:21| 743 2558 1299 255 5 1 false false Wed May 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri May 16 15:44:30 -0700 2008 Thu May 22 15:01:04 -0700 2008
Kate Christensen’s newest novel The Great Man, for which she recently won the 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction, is actually about three women and thei...more...]]> 2 1 false false Sat Aug 02 07:04:26 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 07:09:47 -0700 2008
The story is about an artist, after his death, and the women who surround him; his wife (and their grown au...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 06 08:15:05 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 06 08:20:19 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 02:09:15 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 02:21:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Jun 01 13:18:14 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 13:30:47 -0700 2009
Yes, it's great to read a novel about smart, interesting women. Yes, it does my heart good to see those older women portrayed as alluring people who still have sex.

BUT THE SENTENCES. The sentences! Christensen can't write a clean sen...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Oct 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 12:57:52 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 06:02:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 18:10:47 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 18:18:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 06 11:35:14 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 06 11:36:43 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 16:59:31 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 17:21:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Oct 04 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Nov 17 21:31:45 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 17 21:32:31 -0800 2009
The style of this novel is very unique and hooks you from the start. I couldn't put it down. The four women who loved this (not-so) great man are so sensitively crafted by the author that you both, at once, admire them and question their devotion to suc...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Mar 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 07 17:03:43 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 29 12:36:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Dec 27 13:26:36 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 19 17:31:54 -0800 2009
Refreshingly, Christensen's book gives us four very sympathetic female characters over the age of 70 who, in traditional views of the life a "great man" (in this case, a fictionalized artist named Oscar Feldman), would be margina...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jul 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 05:37:41 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 13:06:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jul 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 08:36:04 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 12:24:40 -0700 2008 3 1 false false Tue Aug 12 12:19:38 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 12 12:19:38 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Mon May 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 23 07:03:21 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 08:04:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 05:20:17 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 05:29:44 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 24 08:59:09 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 24 08:59:47 -0700 2008 1 more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Sep 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 08 17:37:28 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 08 17:59:32 -0700 2008 T...more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Aug 27 06:48:23 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 01 13:21:28 -0700 2008
I found Abigail, the wife of the "Great Man", to be one-dimensional, though it could be said that the husband not only cheat...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=290742