Now that I've finished the book, I understand why the authors took 600+pages to get to the last two years of Van Gogh's life, during which his most interesting work was completed. While it was slow going, the detailed discussion of the artist's family relationships and artistic philosophy and development was helpful in understanding how radical paintings like Starry Night and the sunflower and olive tree series are. I found the discussion of Starry Night's production to be the most poignant moment of the book, and this particular discussion made Van Gogh, who to that point seemed like a parasitical and unpleasant drain on everyone around him, much more sympathetic. Like most readers of this biography, I worked through hundreds of pages just to get to the appendix and the authors' speculation on the real cause of Van Gogh's death. They offer an interesting alternative to the commonly accepted suicide version, one that tries to answer lingering questions about the events surrounding the artists' death. A compelling narrative and a beautiful discussion of Van Gogh's work--one which I recommend.