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The Dissemblers
The Dissemblers is the story of a woman searching for greatness and beauty, only to find that neither greatness nor beauty are exactly what she thought.
Ivy Wilkes always assumed she would achieve greatness as a painter. She moves to Santa Fe in search of the light and landscape that inspired her idol, Georgia O Keeffe. At first, Ivy embraces life in the artsy desert town, working in the O Keeffe museum by day and spending her evenings with Omar, the seductive cousin of her upstairs neighbors. But when Ivy s own painting stagnates, she finds herself paralyzed by the fear that she will never paint anything of worth. Unable to create anything original, she begins imitating Georgia O Keeffe's work and is enticed by an offer to create O Keeffe forgeries to sell on the black market.
The paintings sell, but Ivy's secrets isolate her from those she loves. When a mysterious man appears at the museum, asking questions about O Keeffe forgeries, Ivy's bonds of love and friendship are tested. In her struggle to find her own artistic voice, she navigates the space between pride and guilt, love and selfishness, with devastating consequences.
Rendered in concentrated prose, The Dissemblers explores themes of isolation and misunderstanding. The emotions are subtle, and the characters continually thwart their own best intentions and harbor mutually exclusive desires.
Ivy Wilkes always assumed she would achieve greatness as a painter. She moves to Santa Fe in search of the light and landscape that inspired her idol, Georgia O Keeffe. At first, Ivy embraces life in the artsy desert town, working in the O Keeffe museum by day and spending her evenings with Omar, the seductive cousin of her upstairs neighbors. But when Ivy s own painting stagnates, she finds herself paralyzed by the fear that she will never paint anything of worth. Unable to create anything original, she begins imitating Georgia O Keeffe's work and is enticed by an offer to create O Keeffe forgeries to sell on the black market.
The paintings sell, but Ivy's secrets isolate her from those she loves. When a mysterious man appears at the museum, asking questions about O Keeffe forgeries, Ivy's bonds of love and friendship are tested. In her struggle to find her own artistic voice, she navigates the space between pride and guilt, love and selfishness, with devastating consequences.
Rendered in concentrated prose, The Dissemblers explores themes of isolation and misunderstanding. The emotions are subtle, and the characters continually thwart their own best intentions and harbor mutually exclusive desires.
- GenresFiction
199 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 18, 2012
New Mexico is a complicated area of the United States – so much so that the state adds the designation USA on its license plates confirming that New Mexico is indeed part of the United States. First time novelist, Eliza Campbell, born and bred in New Mexico, is not murky at all. In The Dissemblers, she renders an accurate portrayal of Santa Fe and an intimate look into the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in concise and sparse prose.
Campbell writes sparingly as her subject commands. Not an extra word or punctuation mark to slow the reader down. No babbling dialogue that one skips over after the first few pages. She paints a distinct portrait of a young artist whose talent unfolds through her intense study and replication of paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe. Like much of the protagonist’s information, these paintings are kept private, studies for her own education. Written in the first person, it takes pages to learn the character’s name but it does not matter – the story is intriguing.
It is through random meetings and happenstance that Ivy Wilkes’ work falls into the hands of supposed friends, Maya, Omar, and Jake. A spider’s web of truth and deception unfurls as Ivy follows her “friends” into a world of art forgery. Ivy’s fear, akin to writer’s block, renders her incapable of painting from her own vision as she parrots the work of a master in search of her own worth and point of view.
Romantic relationships in The Dissemblers are portrayed in extreme as depicted in on again, off again moments. Each character uttering painful, hurtful insults including Omar to Ivy when he says, “You’re in love with your loneliness. You isolate yourself and that is your fucking muse.” Campbell’s dialogue is taught and rife with reality as she doesn’t spare the reader from how people really speak.
Books about the art world abound, wonderful books such as Steve Martin’s The Object of Desire; Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton and The Girl with the Gallery by Lindsay Pollock. The Dissemblers is unique in its focus on two artists, one dead, one living, who approach the same subject matter one as a self-expression and the other as an educational adventure. Both painting stunning work that is echoed by the sparseness of the desert location, and the bare bones writing style of Ms. Campbell.
A recipient of Wellesley’s Mary Elvira Stevens Fellowship, Campbell (thelizacampbellsite.com) holds an M.F.A. in Writing from the University of San Francisco. She received her B.A. in English from Wellesley College and currently resides in Boulder, Colorado. The Dissemblers is her first novel and her career is off to a superb start.
The Dissemblers
By Liza Campbell
Published by Permanent Press
ISBN# 9781579622053
Cover Design: Lon Kirschner
Campbell writes sparingly as her subject commands. Not an extra word or punctuation mark to slow the reader down. No babbling dialogue that one skips over after the first few pages. She paints a distinct portrait of a young artist whose talent unfolds through her intense study and replication of paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe. Like much of the protagonist’s information, these paintings are kept private, studies for her own education. Written in the first person, it takes pages to learn the character’s name but it does not matter – the story is intriguing.
It is through random meetings and happenstance that Ivy Wilkes’ work falls into the hands of supposed friends, Maya, Omar, and Jake. A spider’s web of truth and deception unfurls as Ivy follows her “friends” into a world of art forgery. Ivy’s fear, akin to writer’s block, renders her incapable of painting from her own vision as she parrots the work of a master in search of her own worth and point of view.
Romantic relationships in The Dissemblers are portrayed in extreme as depicted in on again, off again moments. Each character uttering painful, hurtful insults including Omar to Ivy when he says, “You’re in love with your loneliness. You isolate yourself and that is your fucking muse.” Campbell’s dialogue is taught and rife with reality as she doesn’t spare the reader from how people really speak.
Books about the art world abound, wonderful books such as Steve Martin’s The Object of Desire; Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton and The Girl with the Gallery by Lindsay Pollock. The Dissemblers is unique in its focus on two artists, one dead, one living, who approach the same subject matter one as a self-expression and the other as an educational adventure. Both painting stunning work that is echoed by the sparseness of the desert location, and the bare bones writing style of Ms. Campbell.
A recipient of Wellesley’s Mary Elvira Stevens Fellowship, Campbell (thelizacampbellsite.com) holds an M.F.A. in Writing from the University of San Francisco. She received her B.A. in English from Wellesley College and currently resides in Boulder, Colorado. The Dissemblers is her first novel and her career is off to a superb start.
The Dissemblers
By Liza Campbell
Published by Permanent Press
ISBN# 9781579622053
Cover Design: Lon Kirschner
May 19, 2011
Ivy is an art student who works in a museum gift shop. She longs to find more out of life. So she meets Maya and her boyfriend Jake who upstairs. Jake introduces Ivy to his cousin Omar. And Omar notices Ivy's talent for making reproductions of Georgia O'Keefe's paintings. So thus begins Ivy's career as a counterfeit painter. Sprinkle a few torrid affairs and you have the makings of a quick, simple, yet enjoyable read.
August 31, 2010
Ivy Wilkes grew up in Boston, attended art school in Chicago and basically idolized Georgia O'keeffe, so much so that when she graduated art school she moved to Santa Fe New Mexico where Ms. O'keeffe lived and took a job at the Georgia O'keeffe museum. Ivy thought of herself as an above average painter and to practice her painting she would imitate, or copy Georgia's paintings, she didn't see anything wrong with it because they had often done it at school and she was really good at it.
When she meets a co worker, Jake who actually lives upstairs from Ivy with his girlfriend Maya, the trio soon become very close and soon Ivy is introduced to John's cousin Omar.
Maya soon approaches Ivy with a scheme of selling the copies of the O'keeffe paintings, seems Maya had done this sort of thing before and thinks that they can pass Ivy's work off as the real deal, she even has a guy in New York who can give the paintings documentation, providing a documentation of who and where the paintings have been.
Ivy decides to participate in Maya's scheme convincing herself that she wasn't copying Georgia's work only working in the same style, but soon she is so lost in what she is doing she feels as if she has become invisible, that she will never be famous in her own right because no one will ever know she painted the copies.
When a strange man shows up at the museum things quickly come unraveled and Ivy soon fears she may loose everything including her freedom!
This book was a little slow to start but once it got going it became a real page turner. Because the author writes as if we are looking thru the eyes of an artist the descriptions of colors and details are very vivid. When the story unfolds you realize that each person has their own agenda, about why they did what they did.
I felt like this was a very well written work of fiction that gives us a glimpse at self fulfillment,and how the longing for fame and recognition can often obscure the truth between right and wrong.
When she meets a co worker, Jake who actually lives upstairs from Ivy with his girlfriend Maya, the trio soon become very close and soon Ivy is introduced to John's cousin Omar.
Maya soon approaches Ivy with a scheme of selling the copies of the O'keeffe paintings, seems Maya had done this sort of thing before and thinks that they can pass Ivy's work off as the real deal, she even has a guy in New York who can give the paintings documentation, providing a documentation of who and where the paintings have been.
Ivy decides to participate in Maya's scheme convincing herself that she wasn't copying Georgia's work only working in the same style, but soon she is so lost in what she is doing she feels as if she has become invisible, that she will never be famous in her own right because no one will ever know she painted the copies.
When a strange man shows up at the museum things quickly come unraveled and Ivy soon fears she may loose everything including her freedom!
This book was a little slow to start but once it got going it became a real page turner. Because the author writes as if we are looking thru the eyes of an artist the descriptions of colors and details are very vivid. When the story unfolds you realize that each person has their own agenda, about why they did what they did.
I felt like this was a very well written work of fiction that gives us a glimpse at self fulfillment,and how the longing for fame and recognition can often obscure the truth between right and wrong.
January 9, 2011
The details of Ivy’s day-to-day life are recounted with rich, lyrical language and imagery, and the narrative is intersected with shorter episodes; loving, voluptuous descriptions of Georgia O’Keeffe’s art and anecdotes about Ivy’s first encounters with it, alongside imagined scenes from Georgia’s life contrasted with Ivy’s own experiences.
The almost-overwhelming beauty and drama of the stark desert setting mirrors the way that the characters at times seem to feel lost and insignificant within their mazes of conflicting emotions and affinities, and such heavy, labyrinthine issues as integrity, identity, truth and consequence.
Liza Campbell is a talented writer, at times reminding me of Mary Gaitskill, Jeanette Winterson or Alice Munro, and The Dissemblers is an accomplished debut. Although at points the pace and plot slows almost to a stop, Campbell’s beautiful way with language redeems it every time.
(Excerpt from full review of The Dissemblers at For Books' Sake)
The almost-overwhelming beauty and drama of the stark desert setting mirrors the way that the characters at times seem to feel lost and insignificant within their mazes of conflicting emotions and affinities, and such heavy, labyrinthine issues as integrity, identity, truth and consequence.
Liza Campbell is a talented writer, at times reminding me of Mary Gaitskill, Jeanette Winterson or Alice Munro, and The Dissemblers is an accomplished debut. Although at points the pace and plot slows almost to a stop, Campbell’s beautiful way with language redeems it every time.
(Excerpt from full review of The Dissemblers at For Books' Sake)
September 4, 2010
The Dissemblers by Liz Campbell was a great read. I won an Advanced Reader Copy of the book from Good Reads First Reads and after it arrived in the mail, I started it immediately. It's a great book, covering topics of love, art, and self-fulfillment. The main character Ivy Wilkes narrates in a detailed and art-oriented prose, describing colors, emotions, techniques, giving the reader some of the most amazing imagery of the New Mexico atmosphere. I enjoyed the book because as a non-artist, it was very neat to follow this story about wannabe-artist turned art-forger and understand and feel what she's describing in the book. The book has much more worth if you yourself are an artist, I'm sure, because you would appreciate the author's attention to detail and color association. Overall, The Dissemblers is a well-written work of fiction that touches on the subjects of self-fulfillment and love, and brings up questions in the readers' minds as they get deeper into the plot of Ivy Wilkes and her art-forging ways.
April 3, 2015
Through lyrical prose and stimulating descriptions, debut novelist Liza Campbell deftly transports the reader to Georgia O’Keefe’s New Mexico. She propels us inside an artist’s mind and twists a complex morality tale. Ivy Wilkes, a recent art school graduate, moves to New Mexico for inspiration. Being in the same setting as her idol; she hopes to unleash her innate talent. She takes a day job at the Georgia O’Keefe museum and soon discovers that her creativity is stifled not flowing as she’d hoped. As a soothing side-project, she paints Georgia’s works and soon her neighbor involves her in a forgery scheme. Ivy struggles with right and wrong and her desire to be a famous artist while her life unravels around her. The Dissemblers enthralls from the first page to the last. An exquisite wordsmith, Campbell has successfully crafted a magical novel about the allures and realities of any artistic life. The Dissemblers is by far the best book I’ve read this year.
November 25, 2010
Ivy Wilkes is the child of parents actually comfortable in Cheever territory. She heads out west to find her way as a painter, admiring the work of Georgia O'Keefe, then is befriended by a confident woman who suggests they could make a lot of money if she could forge paintings in the O'Keefe style. Her new friend Maya is a musician, as is her boyfriend Jake, a security guard at the O'Keefe museum where Ivy gets a job in the gift shop. Jake's cousin, Omar, chef and sketcher of birds, soon becomes her lover.
The quartet's relationships tangle and snarl as Ivy tries to lose herself in copying the famous artist. Much of the action takes place either offstage or is muted by the first-person narrative of Ivy reflecting on herself and what she sees, rather than what is taking place. The slim novel has the feel of a memoir in the Eat, Pray, Love vein of writing and self-contemplation.
The quartet's relationships tangle and snarl as Ivy tries to lose herself in copying the famous artist. Much of the action takes place either offstage or is muted by the first-person narrative of Ivy reflecting on herself and what she sees, rather than what is taking place. The slim novel has the feel of a memoir in the Eat, Pray, Love vein of writing and self-contemplation.
September 26, 2010
I received this book through the LIbraryThing Early Reviewer giveaway.
The Dissemblers is a book about a young artist who is drawn into an art fraud scheme involving the works of Georgia O'Keefe. The story revolves not so much around the fraud itself, but around the characters involved in the deception.
I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of this book. The author deftly paints a picture of the stark landscapes of New Mexico and the loneliness among friends that reflects this desolation. There is a sense of wistfulness that pervades the main character that harmonizes with the paintings she is copying. Her innocent view of her deception is engaging and while I did not entirely like her as a person, I found her an interesting and flawed protagonist. This is an engrossing first novel, and I will definitely look for more from Ms. Campbell.
The Dissemblers is a book about a young artist who is drawn into an art fraud scheme involving the works of Georgia O'Keefe. The story revolves not so much around the fraud itself, but around the characters involved in the deception.
I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of this book. The author deftly paints a picture of the stark landscapes of New Mexico and the loneliness among friends that reflects this desolation. There is a sense of wistfulness that pervades the main character that harmonizes with the paintings she is copying. Her innocent view of her deception is engaging and while I did not entirely like her as a person, I found her an interesting and flawed protagonist. This is an engrossing first novel, and I will definitely look for more from Ms. Campbell.
June 21, 2012
I live in the Northwest, but spent a good portion of my childhood and early twenties in Santa Fe. There were times in reading the book, that I would look up confused at the rain, and weather and landscape, so thoroughly did the Dissemblers pull me into the setting of the book. Campbell manages to catch so many of the little things about Santa Fe and the people who live there and work in jobs that support all the tourists. She tells the frustration of wanting to paint great art, of being surrounded by great art, and the blocks that artists experience. I was struck by the beauty of her writing and her ability to describe O'keeffe's paintings. She manages to show us the love involved with painting along with the anguish. [return][return]For me this book was a trip back to that land, and the people. Campbell captures so much of what it is like to be afloat in Santa Fe.
October 30, 2010
This was a short book, only about 200 pages, so it makes it that much more impressive how the author can put you in Santa Fe so completely and how she can reveal the inner workings of an artist's mind with so little words. This is the story of an artist struggling to find her own voice, both in her artistic life and her personal life. When her skillful studies of Georgia O'Keefe paintings are discovered by acquaintances who deal art forgeries on the side, she compromises her own art to focus on the forgeries. As her own artistic vision suffers, she entangles herself in the personal lives of these friends.
As things get more complicated, the book delves into themes of betrayal, finding an original artistic vision and solitude.
An excellent book that really allows a look inside the mind of an artist and the world of art forgeries.
As things get more complicated, the book delves into themes of betrayal, finding an original artistic vision and solitude.
An excellent book that really allows a look inside the mind of an artist and the world of art forgeries.
September 9, 2010
Wow! this novel is everything it claimed to be and more. Campbell has done a wonderful job of helping us see into the mind of Ivy as she navigates her precarious existence. It is fascinating to be witness to an artist's description of her art, as Ivy shares her inmost soul thru Campbell's breathtakingly rich prose. This compelling tale of one person trying to find her path in the world, without really understanding her impact on others or they on her will strike a chord in many people today, searching for fulfillment. Campbell shows insight beyond her years in so many commentaries within the text.The language simply flows and guides us along through the meandering days these characters share.
I highly recommend this book!
I highly recommend this book!
September 25, 2010
When I got this book, the first thing that struck me was the author's picture on the back cover - she isn't smiling and seems vaguely annoyed. I wondered at that as I began her novel but I wasn't too far into it when I realized she was probably attempting to evoke a photograph of Georgia O'Keefe, whose paintings form a backdrop for the protaganist in The Dissemblers. This novel is superficially about a painter who is enticed into producing forgeries of O'Keefe's work. I was swept along by the straightforward prose and jarred by the digressions into O'Keefe's mind. In the end, only one character seems to demonstrate any growth and none have achieved anything.
September 24, 2010
I won an advance copy of The Dissemblers by Liza Campbell on Goodreads First Reads and was happy I did. This is a beautifully written book and impressive that it is the author's first book. Ivy Wilkes graduates art school in Chicago and moves to Santa Fe, starts working in the gift shop of the Georgia O'Keefe museum and starts copying O'Keefe's work to practice her skills. Approached by one of her upstairs neighbors, and friends who offers to sell Ivy's O'Keefe copies on the art black market, Ivy must wrestle with her conscience, keeping secrets, telling lies, friendships and relationships--especially when it all starts to fall apart. A short book but well written and descriptively full of the solitary beauty of New Mexico and O'Keefe's work.
September 5, 2010
I received The Dissemblers in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. The story is interesting enough but more than that was the beautiful writing style. This is the kind of book where I found many pages with sentences or paragraphs that I read multiple times simply because I wanted to experience them again. A favorite from page 18:
"When I knew Jake better, he would tell me that he started playing music only because he wanted applause. And when I knew him better than that, he would tell me that he was deaf in his right ear and only heard half the applause. And when I knew him better than that, I would kiss all my secrets into that deaf ear with the tiniest of whispers."
"When I knew Jake better, he would tell me that he started playing music only because he wanted applause. And when I knew him better than that, he would tell me that he was deaf in his right ear and only heard half the applause. And when I knew him better than that, I would kiss all my secrets into that deaf ear with the tiniest of whispers."
September 14, 2010
The story of a girl, Ivy Wilkes, who always worshipped Georgia O'Keeffe and her paintings. She is also a good painter, so good that her paintings look just like the famous Georgia O'Keeffe. She moves to Santa Fe where she makes friends with the couple who live above her and the woman persuades her to imitate some of O'Keefee's paintings to sell in New York to a buyer who can get lots of money for them. She sees nothing wrong with this since she doesn't sign them (as O'Keeffe doesn't sign hers) so doesn't think she is doing anything wrong. I thought this character a little naive but otherwise enjoyed the book and thought it a good read. The Santa Fe scenery is described perfectly.
November 27, 2011
At first, I thought I was not going to like this book. It starts with what felt like an extremely self-aware, over the top, tone. I promised myself I'd read the first 50 pages, and by then I was hooked and not noticing the oppression of the language any longer. In fact, the language seemed to describe the beauty of the New Mexico landscape accurately -- perhaps the landscape is a bit over the top. The book is about a sort of inadvertent forgerer of Georgia O'Keefe's work, and how the whole experience changes her. I was entranced by the story and could see both O'Keefe's work and Santa Fe in the descriptions. And I ended up caring for the budding artist who is the main character.
July 5, 2011
"Once you admit to yourself that you want to be an artist, that you want nothing more in your life than to paint, you've taken a great weight upon your shoulders." These words, spoken by Ivy Wilkes, the protagonist of Liza Campbell's debut novel, prove to be quite prophetic as the burden of Ivy's own artistic desires drives her into the unseemly world of art forgery.
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September 22, 2010
I thought this was a good read. I found almost eerie similarities between myself and Ivy, the main character. I am not a painter, but the book really came alive for me since I saw those feelings/ideas we had in common. Things seemed to unravel pretty quickly, but perhaps that's how it really happens.
October 22, 2014
Some very nice writing. I particularly liked the passage where the author describes a napkin floating down in the wind from a second story and an old man picking it up. I did not like Ivy nor her friends, therefore found it difficult to care about what they did or what happened to them. The sense of place was not compelling. I hope to read more of Liza Campbell in the future and enjoy it more.
November 15, 2010
I finished this yesterday, on the day before Georgia O'Keeffe's birthday. The Dissemblers is beautifully written, but I'm not sure art forgery is as easily accomplished as this book leads us to believe. I appreciated the concept of the "divided life" that runs throughout the novel.
November 20, 2011
Wonderful Liza, simply wonderful. Very powerful work that struck such a chord with me. The exploration of depression and alienation felt so real. The desire to create something meaningful and leave a mark, so honest. Congratulations. I can't wait to read more!
Want to Read
August 16, 2010Thank you. A Goodreads/Firstreads win.
I greatly appreciate the chance to win/read books I might not otherwise know about or add to my reading list.
I greatly appreciate the chance to win/read books I might not otherwise know about or add to my reading list.
Want to Read
August 31, 2010Thanks, I won this on The Good Reads Contest Page, now I just have to find time in my crazy work schedule to get to it, can't wait!!!
Read
April 19, 2011okay, i am purposefully not putting a review on this because my sister is currently reading it. but as soon as she's done i'll put what i thought.
July 26, 2014
Well written. Does a good job of evoking Santa Fe and O'Keeffe's presence, along with the tension of artistic hopes, friendships, and starting put.
January 3, 2011
People lie for many reasons - some noble, some not, sometimes without reason. And then we move on.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews