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The Nude
A gripping, provocative, and sensual debut novel about an art historian who journeys to a Greek island in pursuit of a found sculpture and quickly finds herself immersed in a cultural tug-of-war and a complicated love affair.
1999: An island off the southern coast of Greece. Art historian Elizabeth Clarke arrives with the intent to acquire a rare female sculpture. But what begins as a quest for a highly valued cultural artifact evolves into a trip that will force Elizabeth to contend with her career, her ambition, and her troubling history.
Disoriented by jet lag, debilitating migraines, and a dependence on prescription pills, Elizabeth turns to her charming and guileless translator to guide her around the labyrinthine island. Soon, the island’s lushness—its heat and light, its textures and tastes—take hold of Elizabeth. And when she’s introduced to her translator’s inscrutable wife—a subversive artist whose work seeks to deconstruct the female form—she becomes unexpectedly enthralled by her. But once the nude’s acquisition proves to be riskier than Elizabeth could have ever imagined, Elizabeth’s and the statue’s fate are called into question. To find a way out, Elizabeth must grapple with her past, the role she’s played in the global art trade, and the ethical fallouts her decisions could leave behind.
The Nude is an evocative and intense exploration of art, cultural theft, and what it means to be a woman helming morally complicated negotiations in a male-directed world.
1999: An island off the southern coast of Greece. Art historian Elizabeth Clarke arrives with the intent to acquire a rare female sculpture. But what begins as a quest for a highly valued cultural artifact evolves into a trip that will force Elizabeth to contend with her career, her ambition, and her troubling history.
Disoriented by jet lag, debilitating migraines, and a dependence on prescription pills, Elizabeth turns to her charming and guileless translator to guide her around the labyrinthine island. Soon, the island’s lushness—its heat and light, its textures and tastes—take hold of Elizabeth. And when she’s introduced to her translator’s inscrutable wife—a subversive artist whose work seeks to deconstruct the female form—she becomes unexpectedly enthralled by her. But once the nude’s acquisition proves to be riskier than Elizabeth could have ever imagined, Elizabeth’s and the statue’s fate are called into question. To find a way out, Elizabeth must grapple with her past, the role she’s played in the global art trade, and the ethical fallouts her decisions could leave behind.
The Nude is an evocative and intense exploration of art, cultural theft, and what it means to be a woman helming morally complicated negotiations in a male-directed world.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published July 23, 2024
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7012 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 188 reviews
October 11, 2024
an art historian visiting a greek island ... life goals.
and true to the theme, this was like a paint by numbers version of a work of art i really like.
it's predictable, paltry. it follows all the typical steps of my favorite subgenre (Woman In Mental Breakdown Lit Fic) without much heart or nuance.
but what it lacks in creativity it makes up for in fun.
sure, this doesn't have much new to bring to the table, the usual mix of violence and chaos and dissociation and gluttony, but it's set in greece and has art descriptions and lots of food.
so i'll take it.
bottom line: a pale imitation of the thing i like is still kind of the thing i like.
(3.5 / thanks to the publisher for the copy)
and true to the theme, this was like a paint by numbers version of a work of art i really like.
it's predictable, paltry. it follows all the typical steps of my favorite subgenre (Woman In Mental Breakdown Lit Fic) without much heart or nuance.
but what it lacks in creativity it makes up for in fun.
sure, this doesn't have much new to bring to the table, the usual mix of violence and chaos and dissociation and gluttony, but it's set in greece and has art descriptions and lots of food.
so i'll take it.
bottom line: a pale imitation of the thing i like is still kind of the thing i like.
(3.5 / thanks to the publisher for the copy)
May 29, 2024
There's much material here that interests me: the business of museum antiquities acquisition and the capitalist commodification of art objects; issues of cultural appropriation and repatriation; representations of gender and sexuality; the organizing scheme of a kind of modern The Magus where actions are endowed with psychological and philosophical import - and yet the whole thing didn't quite come together for me.
Partly it's the slow pace that doesn't gather the kind of momentum I wanted; partly it's the rather overdone figure of Elizabeth with her repressive self as a result of past trauma playing out in a hysterical kind of autophagy. I think, ultimately, the issue for me is that I just don't believe any of this: not the characters, not their interactions, not the game-playing - it feels stylized rather than authentic but not sufficiently so to make that part of the agenda.
Nevertheless, Lindley has brought together some interesting elements, enough for me to check out what she does next. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
Thanks to Verve Books for an ARC via Netgalley
Partly it's the slow pace that doesn't gather the kind of momentum I wanted; partly it's the rather overdone figure of Elizabeth with her repressive self as a result of past trauma playing out in a hysterical kind of autophagy. I think, ultimately, the issue for me is that I just don't believe any of this: not the characters, not their interactions, not the game-playing - it feels stylized rather than authentic but not sufficiently so to make that part of the agenda.
Nevertheless, Lindley has brought together some interesting elements, enough for me to check out what she does next. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
Thanks to Verve Books for an ARC via Netgalley
February 7, 2024
“The Nude" is a remarkable debut, a slow-burn page-turner that turns a sweltering Greek island into a haunting house of mirrors. C. Michelle Lindley would have made Patricia Highsmith and Graham Greene proud.
August 26, 2024
The mood is this novel is powerfully established from the start: An overwhelming sense of imminent disaster, beautifully interwoven with an intense portrait of the small Greek island where the story is set, including its very food, animals, spills, and smells.
The narrator, Elizabeth Clarke, an assistant museum curator specializing in ancient Greek artifacts, has arrived on the island to inspect an unusual statue that has too-conveniently washed ashore--which, if it's authenticated, could ensure her promotion in a toxic workplace of sexual harassment.
Add to that fraught mix hints of Elizabeth's troubled past, sexual abuse by her stepfather, the loss of a beloved sister, overreliance on prescription pills, guilt, and the seductive allure of a young Greek couple.
With the vivid writing and page-turning tension, why don't I rate the novel higher?
Because the plot relies too much on hard-to-believe lapses by Elizabeth.
She is supposedly dedicated to her work and desperate for the promotion. Yet she keeps delaying obvious and important actions, such as looking at crucial photographs, checking in with her boss, and ensuring basic security for the statue, even after a serious breach at the gallery where it's being stored.
I understand that Elizabeth undercuts herself by her bed-hopping and pill-popping, and suffers from (literally) blinding migraines. But we're also supposed to believe that she's pulled herself up in a cutthroat career by her savvy, determination, and strength.
For me, the mix didn't gell. Perhaps the problem is that there was too much self-destruction and gloom from the start, rather than building over time.
Still, this is a beautifully written and impressively researched novel. If you're willing to suspend your disbelief, you can immerse yourself and all of your senses in the island.
The narrator, Elizabeth Clarke, an assistant museum curator specializing in ancient Greek artifacts, has arrived on the island to inspect an unusual statue that has too-conveniently washed ashore--which, if it's authenticated, could ensure her promotion in a toxic workplace of sexual harassment.
Add to that fraught mix hints of Elizabeth's troubled past, sexual abuse by her stepfather, the loss of a beloved sister, overreliance on prescription pills, guilt, and the seductive allure of a young Greek couple.
With the vivid writing and page-turning tension, why don't I rate the novel higher?
Because the plot relies too much on hard-to-believe lapses by Elizabeth.
She is supposedly dedicated to her work and desperate for the promotion. Yet she keeps delaying obvious and important actions, such as looking at crucial photographs, checking in with her boss, and ensuring basic security for the statue, even after a serious breach at the gallery where it's being stored.
I understand that Elizabeth undercuts herself by her bed-hopping and pill-popping, and suffers from (literally) blinding migraines. But we're also supposed to believe that she's pulled herself up in a cutthroat career by her savvy, determination, and strength.
For me, the mix didn't gell. Perhaps the problem is that there was too much self-destruction and gloom from the start, rather than building over time.
Still, this is a beautifully written and impressively researched novel. If you're willing to suspend your disbelief, you can immerse yourself and all of your senses in the island.
January 20, 2024
this felt like an unhinged pretentious fever dream, in the best possible way. 💛
the vibes reminded me a lot of some of my very favorite books: the secret history by donna tartt, american psycho by bret easton ellis, the bell jar by sylvia plath, and animals by emma jane unsworth. the writing style of this novel is not going to be for everybody, but there are many beautiful quotes throughout.
I will definitely try getting my hands on a physical copy of this book for future rereads, because I feel like this story could mean different things for you at different points of life and I am sure that there was lots of symbolism that I missed upon my first read.
beautiful. messy. real.
thank you, net galley, for allowing me to read a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.
the vibes reminded me a lot of some of my very favorite books: the secret history by donna tartt, american psycho by bret easton ellis, the bell jar by sylvia plath, and animals by emma jane unsworth. the writing style of this novel is not going to be for everybody, but there are many beautiful quotes throughout.
I will definitely try getting my hands on a physical copy of this book for future rereads, because I feel like this story could mean different things for you at different points of life and I am sure that there was lots of symbolism that I missed upon my first read.
beautiful. messy. real.
thank you, net galley, for allowing me to read a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.
June 13, 2024
Not sure I was their target audience or reader.
September 6, 2024
The blurb is a bit misleading, hinting at a sense of urgency which the protagonist’s pill-addled first-person narrative doesn’t quite capture. Nor does the novel have anything intelligent to say on cultural theft and ownership, agency and sexism in the art community… in the late 90s, which is a weird choice, given that the author spends mere paragraphs on the scandals, but okay.
Sometimes the protagonist remembers she has a job and came to Greece to see about a statue. I took her a heck of a long time to look at photos of the damn thing… because the plot needed her to, I guess.
“Erotic thriller” says a blurb. Oh, please! It’s queerbating at its laziest, a drawn-out and then story amounting to questionable life choices. Flashbacks are there because Elizabeth needs a backstory. It could be tragic if she felt or made you feel anything about the things she remembers. Events happen on the island because we need more pages (the goat incident was idiotic and added absolutely nothing to the plot). Then she travels. The end. That’s it. That’s the novel.
I blame the pills. I might need one too because I haven’t facepalmed this hard in a long time!
Sometimes the protagonist remembers she has a job and came to Greece to see about a statue. I took her a heck of a long time to look at photos of the damn thing… because the plot needed her to, I guess.
“Erotic thriller” says a blurb. Oh, please! It’s queerbating at its laziest, a drawn-out and then story amounting to questionable life choices. Flashbacks are there because Elizabeth needs a backstory. It could be tragic if she felt or made you feel anything about the things she remembers. Events happen on the island because we need more pages (the goat incident was idiotic and added absolutely nothing to the plot). Then she travels. The end. That’s it. That’s the novel.
I blame the pills. I might need one too because I haven’t facepalmed this hard in a long time!
March 18, 2024
I felt sooo pretentious reading this I loved it. The true definition of Literary Fiction. I love a novel where I feel like I’m learning things and this was a really fascinating exploration of the ethics of the antiquities business and the dark history of museums. I also love a book about obsession between women, especially when that obsession is kinda gay, so I obviously loved the relationship between Elizabeth and Theo. So sexy and messy. This was so beautifully written I honestly can’t believe it’s a debut. Loved it.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC!
September 5, 2024
In 1999, historian and curator Elizabeth Clarke was dispatched to an unnamed Greek island to inspect and hopefully secure a statue of a nude woman. It’s been recently plucked out of the sea and is potentially a major acquisition. If it’s authenticity can be confirmed and a deal can be done, that is.
We learn that Elizabeth is an ambitious woman and that a potential promotion has been dangled by her boss if everything works out. We are also made aware that she’s had a difficult time with previous personal relationships. She’s soon introduced to an interpreter who has been hired for her, called Niko, and also Theo, his wife. They’re an attractive and interesting pair. Will Elizabeth form a relationship with one or the other, or even both? It’s possible, but certainly not a given.
Another factor here is that there is some resistance to the thought that the statue may be removed from what local people consider to be it’s historic home. The debate around whether it’s acceptable to remove artifacts that have symbolic and cultural roots, despite the claimed rationale that it is to allow them to be viewed by a much wider audience, is to be a constant shadow in the background.
It’s an atmospheric story, and though Elizabeth isn’t the most engaging presence, I did find sufficient intrigue here to retain my attention. I also enjoyed the descriptions of this sunny place - I’ve visited a number of Greek islands, and the portrayal here is certainly in accord with my own experiences. The addition of a few shady characters – including a fellow employee of the museum – also adds some spice to proceedings.
I enjoyed the book’s literary style and also the sense of ambiguity that surrounds just about every relationship here. It’s an enjoyable read that kept me entertained and interested throughout.
My thanks to VERVE books for supplying a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
We learn that Elizabeth is an ambitious woman and that a potential promotion has been dangled by her boss if everything works out. We are also made aware that she’s had a difficult time with previous personal relationships. She’s soon introduced to an interpreter who has been hired for her, called Niko, and also Theo, his wife. They’re an attractive and interesting pair. Will Elizabeth form a relationship with one or the other, or even both? It’s possible, but certainly not a given.
Another factor here is that there is some resistance to the thought that the statue may be removed from what local people consider to be it’s historic home. The debate around whether it’s acceptable to remove artifacts that have symbolic and cultural roots, despite the claimed rationale that it is to allow them to be viewed by a much wider audience, is to be a constant shadow in the background.
It’s an atmospheric story, and though Elizabeth isn’t the most engaging presence, I did find sufficient intrigue here to retain my attention. I also enjoyed the descriptions of this sunny place - I’ve visited a number of Greek islands, and the portrayal here is certainly in accord with my own experiences. The addition of a few shady characters – including a fellow employee of the museum – also adds some spice to proceedings.
I enjoyed the book’s literary style and also the sense of ambiguity that surrounds just about every relationship here. It’s an enjoyable read that kept me entertained and interested throughout.
My thanks to VERVE books for supplying a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
May 21, 2024
sultry, disorienting, addicting read. best fiction of 2024 for me so far. big one for my fellow fans of “woman goes mad during european work trip” lit
July 30, 2024
I’m always interested in books that spotlight my own primary profession (for better or for worse. Mostly worse, in this case), but that also makes it easier as a reader and reviewer to spot the flaws, of which this book has many.
“Who owns the art?” and other questions of cultural right of return is a very trendy topic in fiction right now and unfortunately, like most books that try to tackle it, this is a well-meaning but badly oversimplified portrayal of the situation. And it’s tough to listen to a lot of what feels like performative moralizing about a statue from the protagonist while she’s at the same time potentially breaking up a marriage and badly damaging her own mental health with drug use.
I don’t believe this person is capable of holding down this job or would ever have been trusted to attempt to make an acquisition like this (delicate and waaay up the chain on who’s involved even under the best of circumstances), which is just one of the many elements of this story that strains credulity, and not in that fun “wow, this is wild” kind of way.
But in the end, the whole package just never comes together into any kind of cohesive whole despite the really clear attempts to marry Elizabeth’s damaged emotional state to some kind of pathetic fallacy of the statue. And frankly, the whole thing—Elizabeth most of all—is just not very likable.
There are loads of good books out there that touch on this theme. You can skip this one.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
“Who owns the art?” and other questions of cultural right of return is a very trendy topic in fiction right now and unfortunately, like most books that try to tackle it, this is a well-meaning but badly oversimplified portrayal of the situation. And it’s tough to listen to a lot of what feels like performative moralizing about a statue from the protagonist while she’s at the same time potentially breaking up a marriage and badly damaging her own mental health with drug use.
I don’t believe this person is capable of holding down this job or would ever have been trusted to attempt to make an acquisition like this (delicate and waaay up the chain on who’s involved even under the best of circumstances), which is just one of the many elements of this story that strains credulity, and not in that fun “wow, this is wild” kind of way.
But in the end, the whole package just never comes together into any kind of cohesive whole despite the really clear attempts to marry Elizabeth’s damaged emotional state to some kind of pathetic fallacy of the statue. And frankly, the whole thing—Elizabeth most of all—is just not very likable.
There are loads of good books out there that touch on this theme. You can skip this one.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
June 23, 2024
A little slow for me, a little weird.
Definitely readable, just parts of it are not really believable.
A drug salad high with a few drops of crazy mixed in for flavor.
Strangely enough, it keeps you reading with an almost mystical allure and a need to finish.
Interesting locations and topics, just not a good match for my taste.
<-- The Fine Print -->
*This book was won in a contest.
All opinions stated here are my own and I didn't receive any compensation for my stated opinions. Thank you to the author, the publisher and Goodreads for this contest.*
Definitely readable, just parts of it are not really believable.
A drug salad high with a few drops of crazy mixed in for flavor.
Strangely enough, it keeps you reading with an almost mystical allure and a need to finish.
Interesting locations and topics, just not a good match for my taste.
<-- The Fine Print -->
*This book was won in a contest.
All opinions stated here are my own and I didn't receive any compensation for my stated opinions. Thank you to the author, the publisher and Goodreads for this contest.*
March 25, 2024
I love a slightly insufferable female main character that slowly loses her mind throughout the story then at the end gets a little bit of redemption with a side of homoerotic female friendships along the way. This book serves that purpose and the setting is gorgeous.
May 3, 2024
The Nude is a deep dive into an art appraisers life when she is sent to Greece to procure a desired piece. You get dragged through the depravity, destruction, debauchery and downfall of the main character Elizabeth's life. Clawing and biting anyone in her path as she tries to get herself out of the hole she and life dug for her. The Nude shows life in perspective. Our desperate need for control through the fallacy of hierarchy, ownership and power. We all want the piece of the pie no matter the consequence. Tainting that which we covet making it dark and ugly through our actions.
I supremely enjoyed this novel. It was wonderfully written showing the dark side of us all with the backdrop of a beautiful island. If I were to do story math, I would get vibes of Vickie, Christina, Barcelona and The Talented Mr. Ripley. The story plot is not the same to these but you get that feeling in your gut and fall for the visuals. A group of characters that are damaged and unlikeable but like any train wreck, you have to look and see the carnage.
Highly Recommend! 5 Stars!
August 26, 2024
I've mulled it over and as much as a two star rating always feels a little cruel to give, unfortunately this is a textbook two star book for me. When push comes to shove, I didn't like it nor would I really recommend it to anyone else and for me, that's two-star material. My biggest gripe with the book overall wasn't any of the plot points/details themselves–on paper this book is my perfect cup of tea–but rather that it felt like the author was trying to do too much in one short book. I had absolutely no idea what to focus on and I flipped the final page feeling confused more than anything else.
Was The Nude a mysterious, chaotic unravelling of an overworked and overmedicated woman trying to do her best at a job that expects the worst from her?
Was it a treatise on the state of art acquisition and the way that greed and ambition steals from everyone involved, both the people whose countries created the art and those who sacrifice their morals to sell it?
Was it about a girl who had both witnessed and experienced so much abuse by the men in her life that she's willing to sacrifice everything just to make that past feel like it meant something?
Was this a sensual and atmospheric story of obsession and desire with sapphic undertones of self discovery?
The answer is: it was trying so hard to be everything that it ended up being nothing. Elizabeth's constant looming migraines and references to her medication only really served to make her nervous and her storytelling slightly unreliable. The art-theft aspect was really interesting and appropriate for the contemporary conversations that countries are having about returning art to its rightful home, but it never felt like Elizabeth herself had that much of a stake in the ethics of what she was doing. It seemed to make her slightly uncomfortable, but you got the feeling throughout the narrative that she didn't really care how she got what she wanted out of the art world, only that she got recognition for playing her part well.
Her relationship with Theo kept being floated as this sort of side-plot infatuation that never really amounted to anything except a sense of ~sensuality~ that never really went anywhere? She had more chemistry with the statue she was there to buy than Theo and I didn't really get why we were spending so much time with the translator and his wife. As a person that is 10x more likely to pick up a book when it's billed as having ~sapphic intrigue~ I was, admittedly, very let down. (and no, the reveal in the final chapter didn't make up for anything, I had guessed that from the jump anyway.)
There were just SO MANY subplots that left me going huh? and not in a good way. Like what was that whole scene with the taxi driver and his family and the goat? an excuse for Elizabeth to finally reveal what happened to her sister? I read the whole book and I still don't understand why the sister was relevant to anything, except maybe a reason why she got hooked on so many psychotic drugs/started having migraines. The blackout scene with Leon? I could really go on and on.
Overall, if you're looking for a sexy summer read to immerse yourself in the feelings of a Greek island or the next selection in your ~unsettled, professional woman starts spiraling~ reading list there are better books out there. (10/10 cover though)
Was The Nude a mysterious, chaotic unravelling of an overworked and overmedicated woman trying to do her best at a job that expects the worst from her?
Was it a treatise on the state of art acquisition and the way that greed and ambition steals from everyone involved, both the people whose countries created the art and those who sacrifice their morals to sell it?
Was it about a girl who had both witnessed and experienced so much abuse by the men in her life that she's willing to sacrifice everything just to make that past feel like it meant something?
Was this a sensual and atmospheric story of obsession and desire with sapphic undertones of self discovery?
The answer is: it was trying so hard to be everything that it ended up being nothing. Elizabeth's constant looming migraines and references to her medication only really served to make her nervous and her storytelling slightly unreliable. The art-theft aspect was really interesting and appropriate for the contemporary conversations that countries are having about returning art to its rightful home, but it never felt like Elizabeth herself had that much of a stake in the ethics of what she was doing. It seemed to make her slightly uncomfortable, but you got the feeling throughout the narrative that she didn't really care how she got what she wanted out of the art world, only that she got recognition for playing her part well.
Her relationship with Theo kept being floated as this sort of side-plot infatuation that never really amounted to anything except a sense of ~sensuality~ that never really went anywhere? She had more chemistry with the statue she was there to buy than Theo and I didn't really get why we were spending so much time with the translator and his wife. As a person that is 10x more likely to pick up a book when it's billed as having ~sapphic intrigue~ I was, admittedly, very let down. (and no, the reveal in the final chapter didn't make up for anything, I had guessed that from the jump anyway.)
There were just SO MANY subplots that left me going huh? and not in a good way. Like what was that whole scene with the taxi driver and his family and the goat? an excuse for Elizabeth to finally reveal what happened to her sister? I read the whole book and I still don't understand why the sister was relevant to anything, except maybe a reason why she got hooked on so many psychotic drugs/started having migraines. The blackout scene with Leon? I could really go on and on.
Overall, if you're looking for a sexy summer read to immerse yourself in the feelings of a Greek island or the next selection in your ~unsettled, professional woman starts spiraling~ reading list there are better books out there. (10/10 cover though)
January 8, 2024
The premise was everything I could want in a book and yet this was a big DNF. The writing style was so dull, nothing about this was gripping, it felt like reading a grocery list. Big yikes.
ARC provided by NetGalley.
ARC provided by NetGalley.
September 19, 2024
The Nude is a lot more character-based than I initially thought it would be, going in.
What I believed would be a book about an affair, set on a Greek island, is more of a character study on someone deeply affected by grief. So much of this book is internal.
The narrator, Elizabeth, is a woman who has grown up under an oppressive thumb of grief, stemmed from losing her younger sister. In adulthood, she is swarmed with migraines, abusing medication and sex to cope. She’s overly ambitious, choosing her career over everything else—even as it knocks down any stability in her life.
And, yes, it’s also set on a Greek Island.
What results is a beautiful blend of fractured moments, as we follow her around the island, trying to make sense of who she is and what she wants. If she can even untangled the two.
The writing was lush and vivid; the moments where the narrator dips in and out of lucidity were written so well that I, at times, felt out of it myself.
A full-body reading experience!
What I believed would be a book about an affair, set on a Greek island, is more of a character study on someone deeply affected by grief. So much of this book is internal.
The narrator, Elizabeth, is a woman who has grown up under an oppressive thumb of grief, stemmed from losing her younger sister. In adulthood, she is swarmed with migraines, abusing medication and sex to cope. She’s overly ambitious, choosing her career over everything else—even as it knocks down any stability in her life.
And, yes, it’s also set on a Greek Island.
What results is a beautiful blend of fractured moments, as we follow her around the island, trying to make sense of who she is and what she wants. If she can even untangled the two.
The writing was lush and vivid; the moments where the narrator dips in and out of lucidity were written so well that I, at times, felt out of it myself.
A full-body reading experience!
March 19, 2024
SET ON A SULTRY GREEK ISLAND, THE NUDE IS A SEDUCTIVE DEBUT ABOUT ART, CULTURAL THEFT AND FEMALE DESIRE
The Nude is not about cultural theft. It's barely about art, and also not entirely about female desire. It's actually mostly about trauma and self-harm, with a bit of sexism on the side.
The writing is uneven; at times so delicately capturing the human experience ("Grief isn't only about loss. It's also about which parts of a person you are forced to keep"), at others simply awkward ("my brain manifested a shareable thought", "anything longer would distress my already fragile circadian rythym") or riddled with unnecessarily difficult words ("his eyes yoked mine", "some hazy, aspatial establishment", "unlit votive candles").
The descriptions of food and art made me want to hop on a flight to Greece immediately, or at least drop by the nearest museum. The dailogue, however, was often nonsensical. There's one scene, a dinner conversation about the distructive behaviors of Western museums, that's meant to come off as intellectual but is actually completely void of meaning, just a bunch of artsy-sounding non sequiturs
Elizabeth Clarke herself is a pretty unlikeable woman, but incredibly self-aware, which made her obviously distructive behavior less frustrating to read through. As the story progressed her past came to light, and her character began to make sense to me, which is when I realized this book had nothing to do with art and everything to do with trauma and self harm. In that respect, Elizabeth did go through an emotional process from start to end, and the story wrapped up well.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
The Nude is not about cultural theft. It's barely about art, and also not entirely about female desire. It's actually mostly about trauma and self-harm, with a bit of sexism on the side.
The writing is uneven; at times so delicately capturing the human experience ("Grief isn't only about loss. It's also about which parts of a person you are forced to keep"), at others simply awkward ("my brain manifested a shareable thought", "anything longer would distress my already fragile circadian rythym") or riddled with unnecessarily difficult words ("his eyes yoked mine", "some hazy, aspatial establishment", "unlit votive candles").
The descriptions of food and art made me want to hop on a flight to Greece immediately, or at least drop by the nearest museum. The dailogue, however, was often nonsensical. There's one scene, a dinner conversation about the distructive behaviors of Western museums, that's meant to come off as intellectual but is actually completely void of meaning, just a bunch of artsy-sounding non sequiturs
Elizabeth Clarke herself is a pretty unlikeable woman, but incredibly self-aware, which made her obviously distructive behavior less frustrating to read through. As the story progressed her past came to light, and her character began to make sense to me, which is when I realized this book had nothing to do with art and everything to do with trauma and self harm. In that respect, Elizabeth did go through an emotional process from start to end, and the story wrapped up well.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
June 16, 2024
Publishing July 23, 2024
The Nude is C. Michelle Lindley’s disorienting and captivating debut novel. Set on a Greek island, Elizabeth is sent to secure the sale of an artifact for her museum. Although, it seems fishy from the jump. What befalls her is the unraveling of herself and a clear knowledge that not everything is as it seems. This is literary fiction at its finest whilst evoking a sour feeling amongst its reader as you try to determine where it will go.
Grappling with reality, she loses her mind and succumbs to the allure of all around her. Feels inexplicably like a fever dream or migraine haze. I can’t say there’s a single likable character, but that adds to the power of the read.
tldr; i’m always a fan of a pretentious story where the woman slowly loses her mind
Thank you to the author and publisher for providing an advanced copy through Netgalley.
The Nude is C. Michelle Lindley’s disorienting and captivating debut novel. Set on a Greek island, Elizabeth is sent to secure the sale of an artifact for her museum. Although, it seems fishy from the jump. What befalls her is the unraveling of herself and a clear knowledge that not everything is as it seems. This is literary fiction at its finest whilst evoking a sour feeling amongst its reader as you try to determine where it will go.
Grappling with reality, she loses her mind and succumbs to the allure of all around her. Feels inexplicably like a fever dream or migraine haze. I can’t say there’s a single likable character, but that adds to the power of the read.
tldr; i’m always a fan of a pretentious story where the woman slowly loses her mind
Thank you to the author and publisher for providing an advanced copy through Netgalley.
September 11, 2024
this book started out really strong for me as a slow-burn literary thriller, but by the end elizabeth's unreliability as a narrator (which i do enjoy when done well) got repetitive and the story felt pointless, like it was trying to tackle too many concepts but lacked follow-through on any of them. there were a lot of side plots that ended up leading nowhere and this frustrated me as well. i will say the writing style was where i thought the book really shone, but ultimately that's not enough to make a plotless novel interesting or to give mysteriously flat characters depth.
August 10, 2024
There is so much to love here: the protagonist is an art historian, the book raises salient questions about the provenance and ownership of art in addition to the creation of art, it transports you to Greece, it is very much concerned with memory and how past trauma influences our present lives. The writing is beautiful, and it's similar to both Highsmith's novels and Kitamura's "A Separation."
The characters, though...i felt like I was in Greece observing them through an opaque lens. I just didn't like them very much; they felt so removed and distant, even though they were interesting.
The characters, though...i felt like I was in Greece observing them through an opaque lens. I just didn't like them very much; they felt so removed and distant, even though they were interesting.
November 5, 2024
This book had the potential to be really interesting with its complicated characters and conversations about repatriation and who owns art, yet the author fumbled the bag big time with a terribly unlikable protagonist and ending that falls completely flat. There was almost no build up and no skin in the game from the reader’s perspective. I felt extremely let down after I had to struggle through to the ending.
The plot follows assistant antiquities curator Elizabeth as she travels to Greece to procure a newly discovered marble statue that has the potential to level up her career. She has a tenuous relationship with her boss and encounters translator Niko and photographer Theo early in arrival to Greece. While checking out and preparing the statue for sale, she becomes entangled in Niko and Theo’s lust and longing while disasters befalls the statue. Conversations also emerge around the statue itself and the ethics of western acquisitions of eastern art and antiquities. Why do Greeks have to visit the US and Britain to see pinnacle works of art made by the hands of ancient Greeks? Ultimately a decision is made on the statue that all parties have to live with.
This book had me shaking my fist at the sky, screaming, “so what!!!” after basically every plot point and action. The author doesn’t make it clear why any of the events that happen to Elizabeth in Greece matter to the ultimate storyline/purpose of the book. And the curveball tossed at the ending is surprising but also not well supported. The book felt really half baked as a whole. I also think there could have been more thoughtful conversation on repatriation as a whole, and the protagonist could have been less of a total drug addict. If you happen to stumble on this at your local bookstore or library, it’s a skip from me.
The plot follows assistant antiquities curator Elizabeth as she travels to Greece to procure a newly discovered marble statue that has the potential to level up her career. She has a tenuous relationship with her boss and encounters translator Niko and photographer Theo early in arrival to Greece. While checking out and preparing the statue for sale, she becomes entangled in Niko and Theo’s lust and longing while disasters befalls the statue. Conversations also emerge around the statue itself and the ethics of western acquisitions of eastern art and antiquities. Why do Greeks have to visit the US and Britain to see pinnacle works of art made by the hands of ancient Greeks? Ultimately a decision is made on the statue that all parties have to live with.
This book had me shaking my fist at the sky, screaming, “so what!!!” after basically every plot point and action. The author doesn’t make it clear why any of the events that happen to Elizabeth in Greece matter to the ultimate storyline/purpose of the book. And the curveball tossed at the ending is surprising but also not well supported. The book felt really half baked as a whole. I also think there could have been more thoughtful conversation on repatriation as a whole, and the protagonist could have been less of a total drug addict. If you happen to stumble on this at your local bookstore or library, it’s a skip from me.
June 16, 2024
Thank you to Atria Books and Goodreads for this ARC giveaways copy!
The year is 1999, and Elizabeth Clarke has arrived on a small Greek island to oversee the curation of a significant ancient nude sculpture. This acquisition could make or break Elizabeth’s career—namely her impending, long-desired promotion—but there are forces at work on the island, determined to ensure that another priceless piece of history doesn’t leave Greece’s shores.
Here, in their debut, author C. Michelle Lindley has infused all of the intoxicating Italian atmosphere of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Call Me By Your Name, topped off with my the art symbolism that worked so well in Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch. This is another can’t-stand-it-but-can’t-look-away entry in the drugged and depressed female character canon, alongside Ottessa Moshfegh and Emma Cline’s recent work, The Guest. Throughout, the question is posed: is anything about the curation of ancient art, specifically those pieces bought by and displayed in different countries from which they were found, ethical?
I weirdly really enjoyed this book, which I was surprised by, given it is so outside of my usual wheelhouse.
Official Rating: 4.5 stars rounded up.
The year is 1999, and Elizabeth Clarke has arrived on a small Greek island to oversee the curation of a significant ancient nude sculpture. This acquisition could make or break Elizabeth’s career—namely her impending, long-desired promotion—but there are forces at work on the island, determined to ensure that another priceless piece of history doesn’t leave Greece’s shores.
Here, in their debut, author C. Michelle Lindley has infused all of the intoxicating Italian atmosphere of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Call Me By Your Name, topped off with my the art symbolism that worked so well in Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch. This is another can’t-stand-it-but-can’t-look-away entry in the drugged and depressed female character canon, alongside Ottessa Moshfegh and Emma Cline’s recent work, The Guest. Throughout, the question is posed: is anything about the curation of ancient art, specifically those pieces bought by and displayed in different countries from which they were found, ethical?
I weirdly really enjoyed this book, which I was surprised by, given it is so outside of my usual wheelhouse.
Official Rating: 4.5 stars rounded up.
November 27, 2025
(2.5)
CWs: implied past child sexual abuse
CWs: implied past child sexual abuse
February 27, 2025
I liked this, but I'm not entirely sure why. I liked the writing style and descriptions. It was much slower paced than I expected, and relatively predictable. This made me miss Greece so badly!
November 21, 2025
Committed the crime of being boring.
September 1, 2024
2.5
I REALLY wanted to like this book. It has a lot of things going for it -
an Art History degree on the page and behind it
themes of femininity and feminism and how they intertwine
themes of a loss of sense of self for various reasons / how we see ourselves vs how we are seen by others
But this read was a slog and the main character was insufferable. I was prepared for a slow burn but not a glacier. By the time we got to the end nothing was going to make all of that dragging feel worth it. It was obvious there was meant to be this tension building, but it just didn't hit that level for me. I can slow burn if the burn arrives at some point, but this one didn't.
I also wasn't ready for an amazingly self-obsessed and arrogant but equally insecure character. She never gains an insight about herself, but I also don't think we are supposed to find her unlikable. She never crescendos into a villain or wrath, and this isn't a slice of life book. I could never gel the character into a satisfying existence. I don't need to like a character to like a book, and I don't need characters to be damned or redeemed to like a book. Something was missing here.
The saving grace of this book is the prose itself. The sentences and imagery are usually strong! The pacing was off, the development not quite what I needed, but there IS a foundation here. Despite all of the things I've said above that would lead to belief to the contrary, I would read this author's next book and I hope she keeps writing.
I REALLY wanted to like this book. It has a lot of things going for it -
an Art History degree on the page and behind it
themes of femininity and feminism and how they intertwine
themes of a loss of sense of self for various reasons / how we see ourselves vs how we are seen by others
But this read was a slog and the main character was insufferable. I was prepared for a slow burn but not a glacier. By the time we got to the end nothing was going to make all of that dragging feel worth it. It was obvious there was meant to be this tension building, but it just didn't hit that level for me. I can slow burn if the burn arrives at some point, but this one didn't.
I also wasn't ready for an amazingly self-obsessed and arrogant but equally insecure character. She never gains an insight about herself, but I also don't think we are supposed to find her unlikable. She never crescendos into a villain or wrath, and this isn't a slice of life book. I could never gel the character into a satisfying existence. I don't need to like a character to like a book, and I don't need characters to be damned or redeemed to like a book. Something was missing here.
The saving grace of this book is the prose itself. The sentences and imagery are usually strong! The pacing was off, the development not quite what I needed, but there IS a foundation here. Despite all of the things I've said above that would lead to belief to the contrary, I would read this author's next book and I hope she keeps writing.
December 22, 2025
maybe 3.5…. this book was…. idk. like the writing is good but in an intense and grotesque way. which i usually appreciate but it did make me nauseous at times. i was mostly trying to read rly fast so it would be over but towards the end it started having more of an impact on me i think? idk i related to her wanting to feel more present and lose her concept of herself cause i feel like she had intellectualized her thoughts and actions to lowkey an insane degree. i didn’t rly like the actual ending tho it was kinda lame
June 19, 2024
DNF, though thanks to Goodreads for the ARC.
The beautiful, idyllic setting of Greece in 1999 was not enough to compel me to finish a novel in which surface level characters have repetitive, vapid conversations (with nothing to do about the supposed plot of the novel) on an endless loop. Maybe more about the statue comes into play eventually, but by page 70 more random characters that walked around with sticks up their bums were consistently being introduced as Elizabeth fumbled to understand the nuances of everyone around her. My eyes consistently drifted from the page every two sentences so I'm just deeming this one not worth my time.
The beautiful, idyllic setting of Greece in 1999 was not enough to compel me to finish a novel in which surface level characters have repetitive, vapid conversations (with nothing to do about the supposed plot of the novel) on an endless loop. Maybe more about the statue comes into play eventually, but by page 70 more random characters that walked around with sticks up their bums were consistently being introduced as Elizabeth fumbled to understand the nuances of everyone around her. My eyes consistently drifted from the page every two sentences so I'm just deeming this one not worth my time.
November 26, 2025
this was awful (complimentary)
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