Sometimes he dreamt he held her; that he would turn in bed and she would be there. But she was gone and he was old. Nearly seventy. Only cool pa...
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reviews
Jan 18, 2011
Chrissie
rated it: 
NO SPOILERS
Finished: This book has the momentum of a huge wave. It builds slowly but by the end it crashes down on the shore with a tremendous thunder that shakes you. I did not think the beginning very well prtrayed the relationship between Claude and Camille, but as you follow the story an understnading of their life, their troubles, their sorrows and their advances become real. At the end the tragedy of their life comes crashing down on you. At the beginning I was not entralled by More...
Finished: This book has the momentum of a huge wave. It builds slowly but by the end it crashes down on the shore with a tremendous thunder that shakes you. I did not think the beginning very well prtrayed the relationship between Claude and Camille, but as you follow the story an understnading of their life, their troubles, their sorrows and their advances become real. At the end the tragedy of their life comes crashing down on you. At the beginning I was not entralled by More...
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Apr 22, 2011
Christy
rated it: 
A beautiful novel of love and loss, and of love that can never be lost. I recommend this highly. A beautiful portrait of Claude Monet and the love of his life.
6 comments
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Sep 20, 2011
Gary
rated it:
Stephanie Cowell is a wonderfully imaginative and engaging novelist. In "Claude and Camille" she uses elegant prose and descriptive detail in a compelling narrative, telling the story of young Monet and his first wife and model, Camille Doncieux. While the story of a struggling young artist and the woman who sacrifices wealth and social position to share her lover's hard life is a familiar one, Ms. Cowell tells it with great skill and fresh psychological insight. What's more, she re-cr
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Feb 24, 2011
Susan
rated it:
Although this was a fictional account of his life, I seriously felt like this was truly how it all went down for Claude Monet, one of my favorite artists of all-time. As with Marrying Mozart, Cowell weaved the known facts of Monet into this novel and absolutely brought it to life.
Poor (literally) Claude Monet had a rough early life. Even though his parents were comfortable (if not wealthy), his passion for painting and his sensitivity led him away from the prosperous family business an More...
Poor (literally) Claude Monet had a rough early life. Even though his parents were comfortable (if not wealthy), his passion for painting and his sensitivity led him away from the prosperous family business an More...
Sep 11, 2010
Ruth
rated it:
When I began reading this book, I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy it. I know someone recommended it--I can't even remember who--but I was expecting a mainly fictitious book.
I was so excited when I discovered that this historical novel was well-researched and almost completely true! Not only that, the characters in the book seemed to have personality and authenticity.
The author's writing style was superb in this book. She seemed to truly capture the characters of Cla More...
I was so excited when I discovered that this historical novel was well-researched and almost completely true! Not only that, the characters in the book seemed to have personality and authenticity.
The author's writing style was superb in this book. She seemed to truly capture the characters of Cla More...
Aug 04, 2010
Hattie
rated it:
Stephanie Cowell
"He stood on the bridge. I am not done painting my lilies, he thought. There is always, as there is with love, more to say, but now I am tired and pleased."
If I were asked to tell what words first comes to mind when thinking about Monet, I would have to say water lilies. When I began reading Claude & Camille by Stephanie Cowell, I realized Claude Monet's life involved more than the beautiful water lilies he painted in Giverny. For example, I had never More...
"He stood on the bridge. I am not done painting my lilies, he thought. There is always, as there is with love, more to say, but now I am tired and pleased."
If I were asked to tell what words first comes to mind when thinking about Monet, I would have to say water lilies. When I began reading Claude & Camille by Stephanie Cowell, I realized Claude Monet's life involved more than the beautiful water lilies he painted in Giverny. For example, I had never More...
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Jul 22, 2010
Linda
rated it:
Hard as it is to fathom today, Claude Monet spent the first twenty years of his career as the proverbial starving artist. (It's also hard to believe that his name was Oscar!) Stephanie Cowell tells the story of his relationship with the love of his life, Camille Doncieux, who gave up a life of privilege to be with her Claude. The novel is a series of interconnected vignettes depicting Monet as an elderly man recalling his life with Camille. His passion for painting in the new style called Impres
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Jul 06, 2010
Chocolate & Croissants
rated it:
Cher ami, the more I live, the more I regret how little I know.
-Claude Monet, In a letter to Frederic Bazille
Even before I opened the cover of Claude & Camille I knew that I would fall in love with author Stephanie Cowell’s latest novel. Cowell has painted her own canvas giving readers an unique look into Monet’s life.
I first became familiar with Monet as a 20 year old backpacking through Europe. My girlfriend was much more culturally aware than I as she dragged my More...
-Claude Monet, In a letter to Frederic Bazille
Even before I opened the cover of Claude & Camille I knew that I would fall in love with author Stephanie Cowell’s latest novel. Cowell has painted her own canvas giving readers an unique look into Monet’s life.
I first became familiar with Monet as a 20 year old backpacking through Europe. My girlfriend was much more culturally aware than I as she dragged my More...
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Jul 06, 2010
Maltaise
rated it:
Cher ami, the more I live, the more I regret how little I know.
-Claude Monet, In a letter to Frederic Bazille
Even before I opened the cover of Claude & Camille I knew that I would fall in love with author Stephanie Cowell’s latest novel. Cowell has painted her own canvas giving readers an unique look into Monet’s life.
I first became familiar with Monet as a 20 year old backpacking through Europe. My girlfriend was much more culturally aware than I as she dragged my More...
-Claude Monet, In a letter to Frederic Bazille
Even before I opened the cover of Claude & Camille I knew that I would fall in love with author Stephanie Cowell’s latest novel. Cowell has painted her own canvas giving readers an unique look into Monet’s life.
I first became familiar with Monet as a 20 year old backpacking through Europe. My girlfriend was much more culturally aware than I as she dragged my More...
Jul 02, 2010
Susan
rated it:
Forget dry biographies of Claude Monet and his lover-muse, Camille Doncieux. If you want to climb inside Monet's mind and heart, look no further than Stephanie Cowell's luminous novel, CLAUDE & CAMILLE, a brilliant follow-up to her last lovely novel, MARRYING MOZART. If God is in the details, Ms. Cowell creates a divinely nuanced portrait of the great Monet, first introducing the artist as an old man, then flashing back to the signal events and people who nourished his greatness.
Mon More...
Mon More...
Jun 20, 2010
Sarah
rated it: 
You've probably heard of Claude Monet, the painter, does lots of flowers and lily pads? Well this is the story of how he became the impressionist that is known and loved. He struggles with his art, with his friends and of course with his love life. He meets Camille, who turns out to be the love of his life, but does she have a secret? Though they come from different classes and have a difficult life today they are truly in love.
I was pleasantly surprised with this novel. I'm a huge fan More...
I was pleasantly surprised with this novel. I'm a huge fan More...
Jun 01, 2010
Christine
rated it:
Claude Monet glimpsed Camille Doncieux at a train station and was immediately inspired. Some time later he glimpsed her again behind the counter in a booksellers’s shop. So begins the most tempestuous relationship between the artist and his muse. They both swim against the tide of convention and live their lives according to their own whims and means. As the title suggests this is the story of the artist and his muse/lover. It is a good story, but what makes it even better is the back story
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May 23, 2010
Allie
rated it:
Claude Monet, Frédéric Bazille, Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet, and Alfred Sisley were their names, and though they are instantly recognizable to us today, there was once a time when these great artists had to sell off their bed linens to purchase paint, removing the wooden stretchers from their canvases to use as fuel to keep their fires burning for just an hour longer in the dead of winter. It amazes me that they struggled together for so long, sharing a tattered
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Apr 12, 2010
Lucy
rated it:
Claude & Camille is a work of art in itself. Author Stephanie Cowell has reached into the very soul of the artist to bring us a reflective novel on Monet’s life. The artist’s most inner feelings are revealed, leaving the reader filled with the ups and downs of a mind and soul forever battling with its purpose.
This exquisite novel depicts this great impressionist, from his youth to his life with his grand amour, Camille. There were so many ups and downs in this relat More...
This exquisite novel depicts this great impressionist, from his youth to his life with his grand amour, Camille. There were so many ups and downs in this relat More...
Apr 07, 2010
Stephanie
rated it:
"I have so much fire in me and so many plans. I always want the impossible. Take clear water with grass waving at the bottom. It's wonderful to look at, but to try to paint it is enough to make one insane."
Oh, to be young, poor, prodigiously gifted, yet unrecognized; this is the Claude Monet that Stephanie Cowell paints for us in Claude and Camille: A Novel of Monet. I don't know about you, but my vision of Monet was of an old, bearded man in a smock quietly painting his wa More...
Oh, to be young, poor, prodigiously gifted, yet unrecognized; this is the Claude Monet that Stephanie Cowell paints for us in Claude and Camille: A Novel of Monet. I don't know about you, but my vision of Monet was of an old, bearded man in a smock quietly painting his wa More...
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Apr 03, 2011
Taylor
rated it:
I started this book knowing very little about Claude Monet’s background and his love for the charming young Camille. All I knew about him was his painting of the Water Lilies and that’s it so I had no idea if I was going to just like this book or if I was going to fall in love with it. I chose the latter! I absolutely loved it! Like wow!
The author, Stephanie Cowell, did an amazing job telling Claude and Camille’s love story, but it wasn’t just a love story for me. Stephanie really po More...
The author, Stephanie Cowell, did an amazing job telling Claude and Camille’s love story, but it wasn’t just a love story for me. Stephanie really po More...
Aug 07, 2010
Erika
rated it:
“He always began in apprehension. If it worked, there would be a time when the painting took him, when it reached out and he became it, when he smelled of oil and mineral spirits, when he and the air became one.”
Claude and Camille, Stephanie Cowell
Claude and Camille, by Stephanie Cowell, was published in April of 2010 and is 352 pages. It is the story of the impressionist painter, Monet, his love and muse, Camille Donceaux, and his rise to prominence . It spans most of More...
Claude and Camille, Stephanie Cowell
Claude and Camille, by Stephanie Cowell, was published in April of 2010 and is 352 pages. It is the story of the impressionist painter, Monet, his love and muse, Camille Donceaux, and his rise to prominence . It spans most of More...
May 31, 2010
Beth
rated it:
How immersed one can get into fictionalized biography! Monet the artist is Claude; Camille is his love. The author puts us into the life of the group of artisits who worked together, lived their art, begged relatives and friends for money to live on, and created the paintings that gave us our beloved "Impressionists". I followed Claude and Camille throughout her life of love and lonliness crises with this self centered artist workaholic. The author seems to paint the story with wor
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Jan 04, 2011
Patti
rated it:
Claude Monet was obviously a truly talented artist and leader of the Impressionist movement. This book takes a look at some of his most intimate relationships with his family, his close friends and fellow painters, and his love life with Camille Doncieux. While his gift of art is not disputed, I found myself struggling with whether or not I liked him throughout this book. Camille is a sympathetic character, steadfast, loyal, and willing to put her own dreams aside for the relationship.
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May 14, 2011
Donna
rated it: 
I picked up this book at the airport bookshop on my way to France. I thought it would put me in a French frame of mind, but instead I found it as grating as the flight attendant's poorly-pronounced French.
Ms. Cowell may have visited Paris and Monet's Home in Giverny as part of her "research," but her knowledge of the language, culture, and artistic milieu of late 19th-century Paris is so superficial that she should have been embarrassed to tackle the subject. I enjoy histor More...
Ms. Cowell may have visited Paris and Monet's Home in Giverny as part of her "research," but her knowledge of the language, culture, and artistic milieu of late 19th-century Paris is so superficial that she should have been embarrassed to tackle the subject. I enjoy histor More...
Jun 24, 2010
Amy
rated it:
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher.
I love a good piece of historical fiction and I found that in CLAUDE AND CAMILLE. This book follows the tumultuous marriage of Claude Monet and his first wife Camille. It also gives the reader a glimpse into the origins of the Impressionist movement. The book begins with Claude as a young man who spends his days drawing caricatures. He is inspired by an older painter to try his hand at oil painting "en plein air" More...
I love a good piece of historical fiction and I found that in CLAUDE AND CAMILLE. This book follows the tumultuous marriage of Claude Monet and his first wife Camille. It also gives the reader a glimpse into the origins of the Impressionist movement. The book begins with Claude as a young man who spends his days drawing caricatures. He is inspired by an older painter to try his hand at oil painting "en plein air" More...
Apr 06, 2010
JG (The Introverted Reader)
rated it:
This is the story of Claude Monet; his great love, Camille Doncieux; and their life as they struggle together in the years before his fame.
I started reading this not knowing anything about Monet except that I used to have a print of one of his works hanging in my bedroom. I also don't know much about art except that I know what I like. I have enjoyed reading fiction about art and artists in the past, so I thought I'd give this a try.
It was okay. It is always amazing to More...
I started reading this not knowing anything about Monet except that I used to have a print of one of his works hanging in my bedroom. I also don't know much about art except that I know what I like. I have enjoyed reading fiction about art and artists in the past, so I thought I'd give this a try.
It was okay. It is always amazing to More...
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Jul 09, 2010
Linda
rated it:
Hard as it is to fathom today, Claude Monet spent the first twenty years of his career as the proverbial starving artist. (It's also hard to believe that his name was Oscar!) Stephanie Cowell tells the story of his relationship with the love of his life, Camille Doncieux, who gave up a life of privilege to be with her Claude. The novel is a series of interconnected vignettes depicting Monet as an elderly man recalling his life with Camille. His passion for painting in the new style called Impres
More...
Aug 17, 2011
Brittany
rated it: 
I'm quite surprised by the glowing reviews this novel has received. Either I'm missing something, or I know too much. My intuition is telling me that this is again an instance when ignorance is bliss. If you begin this book thinking of waterlilies and pastels, I can see how it'd be pleasant. La di da, fine art, love story, struggling artist, burgeoning career, shades of violet... yeah. And I suppose if you're content with shallow happy things, you could leave it be. I however, am not one of thos
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May 10, 2010
Lyn M
rated it:
I picked up this book because my youngest son, Joe, is a painter, loves Impressionism, and his favorite painter is Monet. Due to this I have come to love Impressionism also, and Monet in specific.
That said, even though this book was about his relationship with his wife Camille, I learned a lot about Monet and the other Impressionists and the tribulations they went through trying to get their paintings recognized as art. In addition, I learned a lot about the life of Monet. It was also a More...
That said, even though this book was about his relationship with his wife Camille, I learned a lot about Monet and the other Impressionists and the tribulations they went through trying to get their paintings recognized as art. In addition, I learned a lot about the life of Monet. It was also a More...
Jun 03, 2011
Rreminger
rated it:
We all know Claude Monet as one of our great and famous Impressionist painters, but what we don't know is much about his private life, written in this book. Monet gave up a comfortable life by deciding not to take over his father's nautical supplies business in a French seaside town, because his passion for painting was so great, he could not think of doing anything other than paint. Sadly, Monet spent over 20 years in which the art world refused to validate his style of painting. As a result, h
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May 23, 2010
Susan
rated it:
I loved Stephanie Cowell's "Marrying Mozart," so I expected no less from her new novel "Claude and Camille", and I was not disappointed. Claude Monet is my favorite painter and I suppose I discovered him as a teenager on one of my frequent visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. On a recent trip to Paris I was fortunate to see more examples of his work at the Musée d'Orsay and to see his wonderfully beautiful water lilies murals at the Musée de l'Orangerie
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Jun 11, 2010
Bobbi
rated it:
This book is the story of Claude Monet and his first wife Camille, his early life as a struggling painter and a glimpse into the life of the Impressionists in their early years. It was a very enjoyable read.
Monet was obsessed with painting at an early age and did not want to take over his father's store. He left home, found himself among like-minded young men in Paris and tried to make a living. Because their art was so different from what was popular at the time, none of them so More...
Monet was obsessed with painting at an early age and did not want to take over his father's store. He left home, found himself among like-minded young men in Paris and tried to make a living. Because their art was so different from what was popular at the time, none of them so More...
Apr 07, 2010
Heather
rated it:
Claude Monet was a struggling young artist who was part of a burgeoning movement – living from sale to sale of his artwork, collaborating with his fellow painters: Frederic Bazille, Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley. Camille Doncieux was a flowering young woman from the upper crust of society who was set to follow the path laid out for her by her parents – the way all respectable young women should. When these two accidentally cross paths, both of their lives change in ways that they could nev
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Jul 29, 2011
I waffled on how to rate this and ended up on the generous side of how I felt. I would start of by saying that a better approach would be to watch "The Impressionists", the BBC mini-series, which covers all of the material in this book and more, and is lushly filmed, with great shots of actual paintings painted by two or ore artists at the same time--I thought it was outstanding, and this book was just ok. The Susan Vreeland style of depicting an artist, with less of a story and more
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