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Black & White
From the author of Family History (“Poised, absorbing . . . a bona fide page turner”— The New York Times Book Review ) and the best-selling memoir Slow Motion, a spellbinding novel about art, fame, ambition, and family that explores a provocative question: Is it possible for a mother to be true to herself and true to her children at the same time?
Clara Brodeur has spent her entire adult life pulling herself away from her famous mother, the renowned and controversial photographer Ruth Dunne, whose towering reputation rests on the unsettling nude portraits she took of her young daughter from the ages of three to fourteen. The Clara Series, which graced the walls of museums around the world as well as the pages of New York City tabloids that labeled the work pornographic, cast a long and inescapable shadow over its subject. At eighteen, when Clara might have entered university and begun to shape an identity beyond her sensationalized, unsought role in the New York art world, she fled to the quiet obscurity of small-town Maine, where she married and had a child, a daughter whom she has tried to shield from the central facts of her early life and her damaging role as her mother’s muse.
Fourteen years later, Ruth Dunne is dying, and Clara is summoned to her bedside. Despite her anguish and ambivalence about confronting a family life she has repressed and denied for more than a decade, Clara returns. She finds Ruth surrounded, even in her illness, by worshipful interns, protective assistants, and her conniving art dealer.
Once again, she is Clara Dunne, the object of curiosity, the girl in the photos. Except this time she has her own daughter to think about—a girl who at nine looks strikingly like the girl in Ruth’s photos—and she yearns to protect her, to insulate her from the exposure that will inevitably result when her two worlds, New York and Maine, collide.
As Clara charts a path connecting her childhood with her adult life, Shapiro’s novel weaves together past and present in images as stark and intense as the photographs that tore the Dunnes apart. A brilliant examination of motherhood—a novel that pits artistic inspiration against maternal obligation and asks whether the two can ever be fully reconciled— Black & White explores the limits and duties of family loyalties, and even of love. Gripping, haunting, psychologically complex, this is Shapiro at her captivating best.
Clara Brodeur has spent her entire adult life pulling herself away from her famous mother, the renowned and controversial photographer Ruth Dunne, whose towering reputation rests on the unsettling nude portraits she took of her young daughter from the ages of three to fourteen. The Clara Series, which graced the walls of museums around the world as well as the pages of New York City tabloids that labeled the work pornographic, cast a long and inescapable shadow over its subject. At eighteen, when Clara might have entered university and begun to shape an identity beyond her sensationalized, unsought role in the New York art world, she fled to the quiet obscurity of small-town Maine, where she married and had a child, a daughter whom she has tried to shield from the central facts of her early life and her damaging role as her mother’s muse.
Fourteen years later, Ruth Dunne is dying, and Clara is summoned to her bedside. Despite her anguish and ambivalence about confronting a family life she has repressed and denied for more than a decade, Clara returns. She finds Ruth surrounded, even in her illness, by worshipful interns, protective assistants, and her conniving art dealer.
Once again, she is Clara Dunne, the object of curiosity, the girl in the photos. Except this time she has her own daughter to think about—a girl who at nine looks strikingly like the girl in Ruth’s photos—and she yearns to protect her, to insulate her from the exposure that will inevitably result when her two worlds, New York and Maine, collide.
As Clara charts a path connecting her childhood with her adult life, Shapiro’s novel weaves together past and present in images as stark and intense as the photographs that tore the Dunnes apart. A brilliant examination of motherhood—a novel that pits artistic inspiration against maternal obligation and asks whether the two can ever be fully reconciled— Black & White explores the limits and duties of family loyalties, and even of love. Gripping, haunting, psychologically complex, this is Shapiro at her captivating best.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
99 people are currently reading
1516 people want to read
About the author
Dani Shapiro
22 books2,612 followersDani Shapiro is the bestselling author of the memoirs Hourglass, Still Writing, Devotion, and Slow Motion, and five novels including Black & White and Family History. She lives with her family in LItchfield County, Connecticut. Her latest memoir, Inheritance, will be published by Knopf in January, 2019.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 249 reviews
April 2, 2021
Ruth Dunne, lives in Manhattan. She is 57 years of age, and is dying of cancer. Her daughter, Clara Broder, 32 years of age, lives in Maine. Clara is married. She and her husband, Jonathan have one 9 year year old daughter, Samantha, who knows ‘nothing’ about her Clara’s past.
Samantha has never met her grandmother, Ruth. Doesn’t even know she exists.
Samantha has not even met Clara’s sister Robin, and her three cousins. She doesn’t know they exist either.
Clara dropped out of high school and fled New York at age 18. It’s been 14 years since she has seen or talk to her mother. Why the complete estrangement- and why hide past history from one’s own daughter?
The answer is not black and white.....
Clara returns home (requested from her sister Robin). Samantha has no idea why her mother has gone to New York. She’s curious and asking her father....but truth is being withheld from the child. (protection of Samantha creates its own repercussions).
But the main focus of the story lies with Clara and Ruth. Clara couldn’t believe how frail Ruth looked sitting in a wheelchair. After fourteen years of no communication- at all- the first words out of Clara’s mouth were, “Hi Mom”.
I tell ya...my eyes watered instantly. At that moment my entire body, soul, heart, mind, ached > I jumped into the pain of my situation....(a daughter I haven’t talked with once since the pandemic- and about a year prior, too)....
For that split second ....I asked myself if this book was healthy for me to continue. ( completely different situations...but I hesitated & debated).
I did take a break. I was walking. I took time for some silence.....enjoying the beauty of nature all around me.
After I felt more composed and centered ...I continued listening.
It’s presumed that the title “Black and White” refers to the black and white photographs (exquisite-exploitive nude photos), that Ruth took of Clara when she was a small child. Similar to the black and white photos that Sally Mann took of children: photos that make many viewers uncomfortable. Art or pornography?
Ruth’s ‘black and white’ photos series of Clara, from toddlerhood to teenager — were hanging in galleries and museums.
Clara was child art-celebrity....but not willingly.
Clara’s shame of her childhood photos were real. She wanted as far away as possible. Her sister, Robin had a different emotion....she felt Clara was the favored child.
There are so many emotional aspects to the story that I think it would make an interesting book club discussion or at least a buddy read.
At some point Clara needs to make a decision....and I must say....it’s very controversial.
I wanted to read this novel because Dani herself talked about this novel in her non-fiction book, “Still Writing” ( which I highly recommend).
So....I was curious....plus I love Dani Shapiro’s writing, anyway. Any day.
NOT a book I haven’t liked of Dani’s .....but ‘emotionally’ this got to me in different ways her others didn’t. And it’s not a matter of better or worse. It’s just that I’m extra sensitive to fraught mother/daughter stories.
So.....
I haven’t come close to tiring of Dani Shapiro. In fact I want more.
My next Dani Shapiro will probably another novel: “Family History”.
Favorite line in this book .....( or the one I’m most left thinking about):
“The worst thing a mother can do to their child is to prevent them from knowing you”.
Samantha has never met her grandmother, Ruth. Doesn’t even know she exists.
Samantha has not even met Clara’s sister Robin, and her three cousins. She doesn’t know they exist either.
Clara dropped out of high school and fled New York at age 18. It’s been 14 years since she has seen or talk to her mother. Why the complete estrangement- and why hide past history from one’s own daughter?
The answer is not black and white.....
Clara returns home (requested from her sister Robin). Samantha has no idea why her mother has gone to New York. She’s curious and asking her father....but truth is being withheld from the child. (protection of Samantha creates its own repercussions).
But the main focus of the story lies with Clara and Ruth. Clara couldn’t believe how frail Ruth looked sitting in a wheelchair. After fourteen years of no communication- at all- the first words out of Clara’s mouth were, “Hi Mom”.
I tell ya...my eyes watered instantly. At that moment my entire body, soul, heart, mind, ached > I jumped into the pain of my situation....(a daughter I haven’t talked with once since the pandemic- and about a year prior, too)....
For that split second ....I asked myself if this book was healthy for me to continue. ( completely different situations...but I hesitated & debated).
I did take a break. I was walking. I took time for some silence.....enjoying the beauty of nature all around me.
After I felt more composed and centered ...I continued listening.
It’s presumed that the title “Black and White” refers to the black and white photographs (exquisite-exploitive nude photos), that Ruth took of Clara when she was a small child. Similar to the black and white photos that Sally Mann took of children: photos that make many viewers uncomfortable. Art or pornography?
Ruth’s ‘black and white’ photos series of Clara, from toddlerhood to teenager — were hanging in galleries and museums.
Clara was child art-celebrity....but not willingly.
Clara’s shame of her childhood photos were real. She wanted as far away as possible. Her sister, Robin had a different emotion....she felt Clara was the favored child.
There are so many emotional aspects to the story that I think it would make an interesting book club discussion or at least a buddy read.
At some point Clara needs to make a decision....and I must say....it’s very controversial.
I wanted to read this novel because Dani herself talked about this novel in her non-fiction book, “Still Writing” ( which I highly recommend).
So....I was curious....plus I love Dani Shapiro’s writing, anyway. Any day.
NOT a book I haven’t liked of Dani’s .....but ‘emotionally’ this got to me in different ways her others didn’t. And it’s not a matter of better or worse. It’s just that I’m extra sensitive to fraught mother/daughter stories.
So.....
I haven’t come close to tiring of Dani Shapiro. In fact I want more.
My next Dani Shapiro will probably another novel: “Family History”.
Favorite line in this book .....( or the one I’m most left thinking about):
“The worst thing a mother can do to their child is to prevent them from knowing you”.
May 1, 2019
****4.5 Stars****
April 7, 2010
I'm so mad at this book. Shapiro spins a fantastic premise - a woman who grew up having her mother obsessively take borderline porno pictures of her as a child to satisfy her artistic cravings as well as the fame this found her, and how this ruined their relationship - and then fails miserably at the execution.
The idea of a mother putting her art first as well as the question of exploitation is interesting, along with the question of privacy - who has the rights to these pictures, really? But all Shapiro dishes out in fact is a lot of melodrama and people constantly interrupting each other in really poor dialog attempts as well as over the top juvenile fantasies of the rich (brand name dropping, celebrity name dropping, lengthy descriptions of size two outfits etc). This had so much potential and not only did it not live up to it but it also gave the reader the distinct feeling that growth on the protagonist's part was embracing her infamy and allowing for it to continue further which I found pretty dubious and troubling.
The idea of a mother putting her art first as well as the question of exploitation is interesting, along with the question of privacy - who has the rights to these pictures, really? But all Shapiro dishes out in fact is a lot of melodrama and people constantly interrupting each other in really poor dialog attempts as well as over the top juvenile fantasies of the rich (brand name dropping, celebrity name dropping, lengthy descriptions of size two outfits etc). This had so much potential and not only did it not live up to it but it also gave the reader the distinct feeling that growth on the protagonist's part was embracing her infamy and allowing for it to continue further which I found pretty dubious and troubling.
April 21, 2023
Speechless. Dani Shapiro’s book possessed me. As my rage built, I really thought I might blow up and be nothing but guts splattered on the walls. But then I didn’t. Instead I felt a kind of catharsis I’ve never felt in real life.
Specifics are unnecessary. Dani Shapiro is one of the best writers I’ve ever read.
Specifics are unnecessary. Dani Shapiro is one of the best writers I’ve ever read.
December 19, 2007
When I first heard about this book, all I could think was, "Uh, Sally Mann?" It seemed ridiculous. But I still wanted to read it.
And it was the equivalent of staying in bed and watching a bad part-Lifetime original movie, part bad indie film. I mean, the bitchy, size two, angry sister and the sister who was the subject of so many provocative photos, taken by her mother. Her mother who is now dying of cancer. Don't they all?
Ruth Dunne. And no one in the book thought to connect her to Joan Didion? Now *that* would have made things very interesting.
I mean, the obvious flaws are there. Melodrama, mental anguish, teenage rebellion, Vanity Fair magazine. And a lot of cliched characters. But I still gobbled it up like candy. Great subway reading.
And it was the equivalent of staying in bed and watching a bad part-Lifetime original movie, part bad indie film. I mean, the bitchy, size two, angry sister and the sister who was the subject of so many provocative photos, taken by her mother. Her mother who is now dying of cancer. Don't they all?
Ruth Dunne. And no one in the book thought to connect her to Joan Didion? Now *that* would have made things very interesting.
I mean, the obvious flaws are there. Melodrama, mental anguish, teenage rebellion, Vanity Fair magazine. And a lot of cliched characters. But I still gobbled it up like candy. Great subway reading.
February 11, 2011
Dani Shapiro is one of my new favorite authors of all-time! Her writing is intimate and candid, though dark and real. Sadly, Black and White is her latest novel and already going on four years old! However, Shapiro has recently released a memoir called Devotion.
Black and White is about Clara, a woman intent on protecting her young daughter Sam from learning the truth about her grandmother Ruth, a famous artist who used Clara by exploiting her naked body as art in the form of photography. When Ruth is living out her last days suffering from cancer, Clara decides to revisit Ruth -- and her past, and eventually must expose her daughter to the real truth about her family.
Black and White is already the best novel I've read so far in 2011 and will undoubtedly belong on my "best of" list. In various synopses of Black and White online, Dani Shapiro is being compared to Anita Shreve and Jodi Picoult, but whoever stated that "fact" is so far from the truth because Dani Shapiro is far above both authors on her own stellar level.
Dani Shapiro is so moving that she'll bring you to tears.
Black and White is touching because Clara is so estranged from her mother that it makes you think twice about the relationships expected to endure and persevere from immediate family even when its healthier not to. Clara's choices are very smart. Reading this novel, I fully agree with Clara on all levels regarding making the decision to break off the relationship with her mother. The evident struggle within Black and White concerns the issue of Clara being honest and up-front about Ruth with her daughter Sam, but I think Clara comes clean and exposes the truth at the appropriate time in Sam's life, when she is old enough to understand.
When Clara finally does reunite with her mother Ruth, we see that sadness is inevitable because all of a sudden, Clara and Ruth must swiftly catch up on their missed years before Ruth dies. I also appreciate and fully understand the white lies Clara continually tells herself over the years in trying to forget her mother and heal from her abuse; thoughts such as "I never think about my mother" and "All that is behind me now". Although Clara is trying desperately hard to move on, this is proof that our family always remains close in our hearts despite how difficult times have been and how we must move on to heal.
Most of all, I love Black and White because Dani Shapiro -- and Clara strongly remind me of myself. Clara mentions at one point how motherhood is a secret club she never received the password for, and I couldn't agree more. Like Clara, I am officially estranged from my mother, and although it is very healthy for me to be apart from her, I can't help but remember the better times and the love and trust I once had for her. It's just what we do.
Family History is another novel by Dani Shapiro that engendered similar emotions and feelings in me when I read it. I HIGHLY and STRONGLY recommend reading Family History (2003) as well, and it was one of the best books I read in 2009.
I'm still trying to track down Dani Shapiro's other novels including Picturing the Wreck (1996), Fugitive Blue (1993) and Playing With Fire (1990). She's got a fan for life in me!
Read more book reviews at http://dreamworldbooks.com.
Black and White is about Clara, a woman intent on protecting her young daughter Sam from learning the truth about her grandmother Ruth, a famous artist who used Clara by exploiting her naked body as art in the form of photography. When Ruth is living out her last days suffering from cancer, Clara decides to revisit Ruth -- and her past, and eventually must expose her daughter to the real truth about her family.
Black and White is already the best novel I've read so far in 2011 and will undoubtedly belong on my "best of" list. In various synopses of Black and White online, Dani Shapiro is being compared to Anita Shreve and Jodi Picoult, but whoever stated that "fact" is so far from the truth because Dani Shapiro is far above both authors on her own stellar level.
Dani Shapiro is so moving that she'll bring you to tears.
Black and White is touching because Clara is so estranged from her mother that it makes you think twice about the relationships expected to endure and persevere from immediate family even when its healthier not to. Clara's choices are very smart. Reading this novel, I fully agree with Clara on all levels regarding making the decision to break off the relationship with her mother. The evident struggle within Black and White concerns the issue of Clara being honest and up-front about Ruth with her daughter Sam, but I think Clara comes clean and exposes the truth at the appropriate time in Sam's life, when she is old enough to understand.
When Clara finally does reunite with her mother Ruth, we see that sadness is inevitable because all of a sudden, Clara and Ruth must swiftly catch up on their missed years before Ruth dies. I also appreciate and fully understand the white lies Clara continually tells herself over the years in trying to forget her mother and heal from her abuse; thoughts such as "I never think about my mother" and "All that is behind me now". Although Clara is trying desperately hard to move on, this is proof that our family always remains close in our hearts despite how difficult times have been and how we must move on to heal.
Most of all, I love Black and White because Dani Shapiro -- and Clara strongly remind me of myself. Clara mentions at one point how motherhood is a secret club she never received the password for, and I couldn't agree more. Like Clara, I am officially estranged from my mother, and although it is very healthy for me to be apart from her, I can't help but remember the better times and the love and trust I once had for her. It's just what we do.
Family History is another novel by Dani Shapiro that engendered similar emotions and feelings in me when I read it. I HIGHLY and STRONGLY recommend reading Family History (2003) as well, and it was one of the best books I read in 2009.
I'm still trying to track down Dani Shapiro's other novels including Picturing the Wreck (1996), Fugitive Blue (1993) and Playing With Fire (1990). She's got a fan for life in me!
Read more book reviews at http://dreamworldbooks.com.
February 4, 2009
Depictions of child nudity or children with nude adults appear in works of art in various cultures and historical periods. These attitudes have changed over time and have become increasingly frowned upon particularly in recent years, and especially in the case of photography. In recent years there have been a few incidents in which snapshots taken by parents of their infant or toddler children bathing or otherwise naked were challenged as child pornography. In May 2008, police in Sydney, Australia, raided an exhibition by the photographer Bill Henson featuring images of naked children on allegations of child pornography. Though these incidents were not proceeded with, they sent a strong psychological message to the community of the embarrassment that can be caused in this ambiguous but sensitive area.
September 30, 2007
This reminded me of a Jodi Picoult novel--a little more subtle, thank goodness, but still an Issue-Driven novel. The main character, Clara, has a problem from her past: in this case, her mother became a famous photographer based on nude photos of the daughter that could be construed as abuse rather than art. Mother and daughter are estranged, then when the mother is terminally ill, Clara visits her. It's not really enough for a whole novel; it would have been a good long story, but there's not even a real confrontation, which makes the ending feel unearned.
November 6, 2014
I fluctuated between 3 and 4 stars, but settled on 3. Dani Shapiro's novel Black and White has aspects that are definitely 4-star. The very premise itself is high-concept and extremely tangled, and left me with an unsettled relationship with the main character and her mother. But the unsettled relationship is also what led me to 3 stars.
Part of the book I wanted to shake Clara and say "Get over it!" Other parts of the book, I wanted to shake her mother and say "What were you thinking?!" There is no real resolution--ever.
The fact that so many reviewers compare this novel to a Lifetime movie or Jodi Picoult novel makes me think they ought to stop watching Lifetime movies and reading Picoult novels. The premise is sound, but so much more could have been done. So much more.
Other than Clara and her mother, the rest of the cast was cardboard cut-outs of stereotypical archetypes: the bitter (size 2, let's not forget) well-to-do NYC attorney married to a cardboard cutout of herself; the flamboyant devil-may-care art dealer, the nosy, naïve intern, the solid-as-a-rock perfect husband…yeah.
The story itself was compelling despite the disappointing ending, I will say that. I don't feel compelled, however, to investigate any other of Shapiro's work.
Part of the book I wanted to shake Clara and say "Get over it!" Other parts of the book, I wanted to shake her mother and say "What were you thinking?!" There is no real resolution--ever.
The fact that so many reviewers compare this novel to a Lifetime movie or Jodi Picoult novel makes me think they ought to stop watching Lifetime movies and reading Picoult novels. The premise is sound, but so much more could have been done. So much more.
Other than Clara and her mother, the rest of the cast was cardboard cut-outs of stereotypical archetypes: the bitter (size 2, let's not forget) well-to-do NYC attorney married to a cardboard cutout of herself; the flamboyant devil-may-care art dealer, the nosy, naïve intern, the solid-as-a-rock perfect husband…yeah.
The story itself was compelling despite the disappointing ending, I will say that. I don't feel compelled, however, to investigate any other of Shapiro's work.
September 20, 2015
When Clara Brodeur was four years old, her mother became famous for taking and publishing nude, extremely revealing photos of her. This continued until Clara was 14, with the last published shots of her showing her decidedly developing body. At the age of 18 Clara leaves home, with no forwarding address given. It is now 14 years later, she is the mother of a 9 year old girl, and Clara's sister summons her home to attend to their dying mother.
To say that Clara is conflicted is an understatement. Through flashback we learn just how she felt all those years earlier when she was made to be the subject of her mother's obsession. Her descriptions of being awakened at night and taken outside to pose in a fountain or wrapped up like a mummy made to lay in a park, are chilling. There is no doubt in my mind that the girl was a victim of sexual abuse. But what were her mother's motivations? Was it just fame she craved? Was she aware of the damage she was doing to her daughter? Should her daughter have any responsibility towards her?
I thought the author dealt with the issues well up to a point. The resolution along with a too quick and tidy ending, were very unsatisfying. Would like to have known more about just what Clara was thinking at the end. And I have one big question - why didn't she seek some sort of counseling to help her understand the feelings she lived with as the result of her mother's behavior?
Still, this is an interesting, thought provoking read.
To say that Clara is conflicted is an understatement. Through flashback we learn just how she felt all those years earlier when she was made to be the subject of her mother's obsession. Her descriptions of being awakened at night and taken outside to pose in a fountain or wrapped up like a mummy made to lay in a park, are chilling. There is no doubt in my mind that the girl was a victim of sexual abuse. But what were her mother's motivations? Was it just fame she craved? Was she aware of the damage she was doing to her daughter? Should her daughter have any responsibility towards her?
I thought the author dealt with the issues well up to a point. The resolution along with a too quick and tidy ending, were very unsatisfying. Would like to have known more about just what Clara was thinking at the end. And I have one big question - why didn't she seek some sort of counseling to help her understand the feelings she lived with as the result of her mother's behavior?
Still, this is an interesting, thought provoking read.
September 24, 2017
So glad I can put this book behind me. It didn't defeat me. I skipped the epilogue. This was an awful story. I can't remember one moment beyond the first few pages where I was not annoyed by the Clara character. Such self-importance. She was just like the mother she hated.
June 29, 2024
This book explores the limits of motherhood and how it intersects with the woman as an artist. It was uncomfortable to read until the ending. It was very well written.
Trigger warning: objectification
Trigger warning: objectification
January 10, 2016
Ugh. I'm not sure why I read so much of this book (about two-thirds) when it was clear after about ten minutes that I couldn't stand the writing style or the main character. I don't doubt that having been the subject of nude photos that made one's photographer mother famous while much of the world tittered about whether the photos were pornographic would leave a person deeply traumatized and likely to want to leave that part of her life in the past. What I don't buy is what a fragile, pathetic mess Clara seems to be.
It's one thing for her to freak out when she learns that the photos of her are being released in a new book now that her mother is on her deathbed, but then she reacts the same way when she learns that her own daughter, having been given no explanation for why Clara has been away for more than two weeks, has made up a story about Clara being sick and getting treatment in NYC. Why would that be surprising, much less leave Clara speechless and panicky? Later we learn she had a similar reaction to learning, when she herself was 9, that her mother's gallery show had been protested by a group who feels that Clara has been exploited by her mother - this is presented as Clara's first inkling that her mother's work could be controversial, but instead of a child's innocent confusion and questions, her reaction is to shut down and run away. You never get a clear sense of when or how being photographed by her mother went from feeling fun to uncomfortable because this book seems to deal only in huge emotional reactions.
The most interesting parts of the story are flashbacks to Clara's childhood, but these are given in such tiny dribs and drabs that you are always left wanting more. I think this would have been a much better book written in chronological order with a more complete rendering of how the photos came to be. And also written by a different author about a different main character.
It's one thing for her to freak out when she learns that the photos of her are being released in a new book now that her mother is on her deathbed, but then she reacts the same way when she learns that her own daughter, having been given no explanation for why Clara has been away for more than two weeks, has made up a story about Clara being sick and getting treatment in NYC. Why would that be surprising, much less leave Clara speechless and panicky? Later we learn she had a similar reaction to learning, when she herself was 9, that her mother's gallery show had been protested by a group who feels that Clara has been exploited by her mother - this is presented as Clara's first inkling that her mother's work could be controversial, but instead of a child's innocent confusion and questions, her reaction is to shut down and run away. You never get a clear sense of when or how being photographed by her mother went from feeling fun to uncomfortable because this book seems to deal only in huge emotional reactions.
The most interesting parts of the story are flashbacks to Clara's childhood, but these are given in such tiny dribs and drabs that you are always left wanting more. I think this would have been a much better book written in chronological order with a more complete rendering of how the photos came to be. And also written by a different author about a different main character.
July 19, 2016
A story of a (1) famous artist, Ruth Dunne, a renowned, controversial photographer. It was Ruth's way of expressing her art by (2) photographing unsettling, nude portraits using her young daughter, Clara, as the major subject in her artwork. As a young girl, Clara left home (NYC), and luckily married a loving, supportive, devoted husband in Maine. Later in life, Ruth asked for Clara and her older sister, Robin, to come see her on her deathbed. The ending is about how Clara and Robin can get along, and to do what is in their mother's best intention. Also Clara's daughter, Sammy, has the opportunity to spend time with her grandmother. Ruth and her daughters, take a trip to the art museum, so she can share with her daughters and grand daughters what her life's work was all about.
January 17, 2019
Clara's story was an interesting one. She left her home in New York to get away from the fame that her mother's art has brought her. Ruth made me very angry during the story when she ignored Clara's honesty about her feelings. Clara told her mom that she hates the pictures, but she acted like her daughters opinions didn't matter, even though it is Clara in her mom's work. I felt bad for Clara's sister because she was ignored by her mother, but she wasn't a favorite character of mine since she seemed cold. My favorite character was Nathan, Clara's dad, when he saw the pictures he was angry at his wife, and he was the only one who Clara revealed he sadness to when she is in the art gallery. After that day Nathan refuses to let Ruth take anymore pictures of Clara when he is there.
June 2, 2013
The short of it: this book had the feel of a date night movie. Predictable and with a feel good story arc and lots of fancy props. The verdict; I expect more from a book than I do from a date night movie.
What was wrong with this book was that... there wasn't anything wrong with this book. The book just wasn't... much of anything. It lacked the humor and complexity to engage, the originality and creativity to surprise. It was good in every way an average person looks good: you're not drawn in and you forget it easily. It's a simple story, predictable I thought, and it develops at a decent pace, but it's a story you think you already heard many times before, redemptive ending and all.
What was wrong with this book was that... there wasn't anything wrong with this book. The book just wasn't... much of anything. It lacked the humor and complexity to engage, the originality and creativity to surprise. It was good in every way an average person looks good: you're not drawn in and you forget it easily. It's a simple story, predictable I thought, and it develops at a decent pace, but it's a story you think you already heard many times before, redemptive ending and all.
May 16, 2008
My mom suggested this one. It's about Clara, 32 year old woman who left home at 18 and never returned. Her mother who is a famous photographer is gravely ill with lung cancer and Clara returns home. I would've given this 5 stars, but there was something about the way that the story was revealed that kind of made it a little slower paced. The dialog had a lot of unfinished sentences because of the fragile topic and I just didn't like that. Kind of took to long to pry the story out.
May 29, 2017
My full review is at: http://elleisforliterature.blogspot.c...
I found that it evoked so many emotions in me for Clara and her situation, both as a child and an adult. I really enjoyed Shapiro's writing style of leaving sentences unfinished and somehow conveying the emotions with even more punch. This is not for everyone but I enjoyed it.
I found that it evoked so many emotions in me for Clara and her situation, both as a child and an adult. I really enjoyed Shapiro's writing style of leaving sentences unfinished and somehow conveying the emotions with even more punch. This is not for everyone but I enjoyed it.
October 14, 2018
This is the first fiction book I read by Shapiro, and enjoyed the storyline quite a bit.
August 28, 2020
Wanted more fury fomr he daughter, but whatever, still an engaging read.
January 25, 2021
Loved it. Dani Shapiro quickly becoming one of my favorites.
September 22, 2025
This story about a woman traumatized by the nude photos her photographer mother took of her as a child is very well-written and interesting. After being estranged from her family for fourteen years, Clara, the main character, learns that her mother, Ruth, is dying. She goes back home with her husband and daughter, and must face her past. The book was absorbing and compassionately written.
September 11, 2020
not fully satisfied with the ending but otherwise loved this story. I continue to be obsessed with Shapiro’s writing.
March 24, 2024
Simply superb. ♥️
March 17, 2021
This novel so intrigued me that I read it all in two long sittings. Clara, now in her 30s, leaves her home and family in Maine to come to her dying mother's side in upper-class New York City. Ruth Dunne became a world-famous, even notorious, photographer by taking pictures of Clara--fully or partially nude--from the age of three until Clara rebelled at fourteen. Clara's mixed feelings about Ruth; her struggles with fame, sexuality, and body image; and her intense desire to protect her young daughter from a similar fate all intertwine. The book moves backwards and forwards in time, revealing Ruth's artistic longings, her intensity and single-mindedness; Clara's growing understanding of what is happening and her wishes both to accommodate and please her mother and to escape; and older sister Robin, always on the sidelines, growing up to become the feminine equivalent of the girls' lawyer father. Clara's husband Jonathan, patient and long-suffering with Clara but firm and supportive when difficulties arise, is a gem. Beautifully written and thought-provoking, "Black & White" has no easy answers and will stay with you for a long time. It could be used effectively in ethics classes.
August 7, 2019
This is the second Dani Shapiro book I've read, and this time it's a novel. Fiction. Although of course, having just read her memoir, Inheritance, I couldn't help but think there were themes and influences from her own life. And this just made the novel that much better.
Again, many questions were raised, especially concerning the rights of parents and children. In this case, the mother, a gifted photographer, became a famous and wealthy photographer by photographing her younger daughter, nude, from the time she was 3 until she finally rebelled at 14. Where the photograph works of art, or pornography? Does a parent have the right to consent for her child? When consenting enriches the parent yet causes emotional abuse to the child?
This was a gripping novel, and I felt the conclusion worked. And once again, I am left grappling with moral and ethical questions!
Again, many questions were raised, especially concerning the rights of parents and children. In this case, the mother, a gifted photographer, became a famous and wealthy photographer by photographing her younger daughter, nude, from the time she was 3 until she finally rebelled at 14. Where the photograph works of art, or pornography? Does a parent have the right to consent for her child? When consenting enriches the parent yet causes emotional abuse to the child?
This was a gripping novel, and I felt the conclusion worked. And once again, I am left grappling with moral and ethical questions!
December 26, 2019
3.5 stars
Interesting story about a woman (Clara) who was photographed by her mother when she was a child. The photos were "works of art" and made her mom famous and rich; but they showed Clara naked and vulnerable. Some, including Clara, saw the photos as pornography. Clara runs away and starts a new life where no one knows about the photos.
Fast forward and her mother is dying. Clara decides to take her husband and 10-year old daughter to meet her and stay with her until she dies. Complications, big emotions, a kind of train wreck and then a satisfying ending. all with gorgeous writing.
Ultimately, nothing in life is ever truly Black & White.
Interesting story about a woman (Clara) who was photographed by her mother when she was a child. The photos were "works of art" and made her mom famous and rich; but they showed Clara naked and vulnerable. Some, including Clara, saw the photos as pornography. Clara runs away and starts a new life where no one knows about the photos.
Fast forward and her mother is dying. Clara decides to take her husband and 10-year old daughter to meet her and stay with her until she dies. Complications, big emotions, a kind of train wreck and then a satisfying ending. all with gorgeous writing.
Ultimately, nothing in life is ever truly Black & White.
August 8, 2017
Black and White is the first Dani Shapiro novel I've read. The writing is pretty descriptive. I was able to imagine the characters and settings clearly in my mind.. Imagine being the adult who was the subject, as a child, of highly lauded and widely viewed collection of nude photographs by your famous photographer mother. It's daunting to consider.
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March 3, 2013This book made me use up an entire evening researching Sally Mann’s children.
September 27, 2017
This is the first Dani Shapiro book I have read. I became interested in reading her books after seeing her interview with Rachael Herron on Youtube. This book was a disappointment.
It starts out interesting enough: a 32-year-old woman (the protagonist, Clara) is woken up in the middle of the night by a phone call from her sister, who pleads for her to come back to New York City where her mother is seriously ill. On the basis of that phone call alone, Clara decides to break her 14-year estrangement from her mother. Within three days she leaves her own family and goes to NYC to see what is happening with her mother - at the same time, she insists that her young daughter (who has long been told that her grandmother is dead) must not be told where she has gone. So begins Clara's 2.5 week sojourn in NYC, where she ends up spending most of her time with her mother.
I had a number of issues with this book:
(a) While engaging at first, the action soon slows to a crawl and it becomes a chore, rather than a joy, to turn the pages;
(b) After some time, the dialogue became irritating because the characters were hardly communicating and leaving far too much unsaid. Is this the way that Shapiro's circle of friends and family communicate, or is the author trying to prevent herself from spelling things out too much (a misguided application of "show, don't tell")? The characters seem capable of discussing only mundane things, and the minute they hit actual underlying problems, they scramble to change the subject. It's like some sort of Midwestern over-politeness on steroids.
(c) Portions of the plot lack realism - I just couldn't buy the turns of plot that were being sold to me. For instance, the fact that Clara just hops on a plane and disappears for 2.5 weeks, and expects her daughter to accept this without providing any explanation. Perhaps this would work in some families where the parents and children have limited relationships, but Clara has been introduced as someone who is very close with her daughter, who has never yet spent so much as a day away from her. Well, the as the SAHM mom of three kids, I just couldn't buy that as a realistic scenario. It struck me as ridiculous! There are several other such grating turns of plot that seem less than believable. Unfortunately, the ending is among those turns as well.
I have to admit that after the first 120 pages, I started skim-reading. I did want to know how the book ended, and I made it through to the end but no longer read every single word. Dani Shapiro seems to be a well-known writer, but this book is a case study in how difficult it can be to write good fiction.
It starts out interesting enough: a 32-year-old woman (the protagonist, Clara) is woken up in the middle of the night by a phone call from her sister, who pleads for her to come back to New York City where her mother is seriously ill. On the basis of that phone call alone, Clara decides to break her 14-year estrangement from her mother. Within three days she leaves her own family and goes to NYC to see what is happening with her mother - at the same time, she insists that her young daughter (who has long been told that her grandmother is dead) must not be told where she has gone. So begins Clara's 2.5 week sojourn in NYC, where she ends up spending most of her time with her mother.
I had a number of issues with this book:
(a) While engaging at first, the action soon slows to a crawl and it becomes a chore, rather than a joy, to turn the pages;
(b) After some time, the dialogue became irritating because the characters were hardly communicating and leaving far too much unsaid. Is this the way that Shapiro's circle of friends and family communicate, or is the author trying to prevent herself from spelling things out too much (a misguided application of "show, don't tell")? The characters seem capable of discussing only mundane things, and the minute they hit actual underlying problems, they scramble to change the subject. It's like some sort of Midwestern over-politeness on steroids.
(c) Portions of the plot lack realism - I just couldn't buy the turns of plot that were being sold to me. For instance, the fact that Clara just hops on a plane and disappears for 2.5 weeks, and expects her daughter to accept this without providing any explanation. Perhaps this would work in some families where the parents and children have limited relationships, but Clara has been introduced as someone who is very close with her daughter, who has never yet spent so much as a day away from her. Well, the as the SAHM mom of three kids, I just couldn't buy that as a realistic scenario. It struck me as ridiculous! There are several other such grating turns of plot that seem less than believable. Unfortunately, the ending is among those turns as well.
I have to admit that after the first 120 pages, I started skim-reading. I did want to know how the book ended, and I made it through to the end but no longer read every single word. Dani Shapiro seems to be a well-known writer, but this book is a case study in how difficult it can be to write good fiction.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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