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Day of the Bees: A Novel
Day of the Bees celebrates passion and creativity as it explores the links between love and violence, art and war, and reveals the sacrifices made for love?of person and country.
An American art historian is seeking to discover why the famous painter Zermano abandoned his beautiful muse Louise during World War II. Visiting Louise?s cottage in Provence after her death, the ...more
An American art historian is seeking to discover why the famous painter Zermano abandoned his beautiful muse Louise during World War II. Visiting Louise?s cottage in Provence after her death, the ...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
April 20th 2011
by Vintage
(first published 2000)
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As I said in my review of MILE ZERO, Sanchez is an unjustly overlooked writer. This was his first novel in 11 years, and it received only lukewarm reviews in part because a chunk of it is an epistolary novel but also because he was aiming to describe in highly ornate the nature of passion, which struck some readers as overwrought. What's cool about this book is the modernist milieu Sanchez explores. You can't go wrong with a Picasso-esque main character, a beautiful woman, a war-ravaged Europe, ...more
I do not generally like novels in letter form. The letters in this one do a better job of advancing the story than in most of this genre, but in doing so are quite a bit less convincing as correspondence. About half-way through I was ready to bail. But I did not, and am glad for it. There really is quite a good story here, and the characters are strong and compelling.
The plot is very engrossing and it kept me engaged. It's about an artist, his muse and great love, WWII partisans. But the book is overwritten, the prose is flowery, the characters are not well enough developed, and it stretched the boundaries of reality. My internal monologue was on overdrive:"This could not have happened because...". But I enjoyed it and if Allan Furst had written it, it would have been great.
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This book was disturbing at times due to the incident with the soldier while the artist/lover was present. When an incident is so poignant, I realize that the author is good. Truly, I enjoyed the references to Mallorca and to the Spanish painters.
I really enjoyed the author's style of writing. The story line was also captivating though I often became bored with the letters taht told the story...sometimes too much "stuff" that did not move the story line forward.
Well, the only reason I am giving this book 4, not 5 stars, is that it got slow at times (which DID irritate me). Otherwise, it's a lovely, warm story (though there were a couple of descriptions which seemed a bit brutal to me) witnessing a passionate love between a painter and his muse! All that is expected from a good fiction (historical fiction with romance elements) you will find among these pages..no doubt about it! Passionate love...forbidden love...war...sacrifice. Enjoyed the story very ...more
From almost the first page, I was sucked into the romantic prose of Sanchez's writing style. His descriptive use of language was intoxicating and I just found myself lost within this story. I really enjoyed reading this book, and it's letter form didn't irritate me like I thought it might. There are some slow parts, but it's definitely worth it to reach the end.
In retrospect, I'm less enthralled by this book. There is some great writing in it, but some parts don't quite hold together. Sanchez himself however is a very interesting personality. And his first book was hugely important.
http://www.bookpage.com/0006bp/thomas_sa...
http://www.bookpage.com/0006bp/thomas_sa...
This is truly a unique book. There are parts of this book that continue to haunt my psyche. This woman, became part of my life in a strange way.
Loved this book about a woman in the midst of WWII. Great characters and a suspenseful story.
Enjoyed but very heavy going at times.
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