From the Bookshelf of AfterEllen.com Book Club…

The Last Nude

Ellis Avery

Finish date: December 31, 2012

Discussion: December 2012

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December 2012

Love, In Theory: Thoughts
By Jill · 2 posts · 60 views

last updated Jul 20, 2013 10:14AM

The Last Nude: Second Half
By Jill · 2 posts · 61 views

last updated Dec 27, 2012 12:44PM

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Apr 21, 2014 Elaine Burnes rated it really liked it

Shelves: lesbian, fiction

I’ll never look at a painting of a person, especially a nude, in the same way again—or rather, I’ll look at a painting more fully. Who is that model? If she was the wife or lover of the painter, was she happy? Was she forced into that position? Both physically and metaphorically.

We think of the models as providing mere content for the painting. Look at how the fabric folds, or how the shadows play across the nude form. It’s not a form, it’s a human being, with a life and aspirations and heartac I’ll never look at a painting of a person, especially a nude, in the same way again—or rather, I’ll look at a painting more fully. Who is that model? If she was the wife or lover of the painter, was she happy? Was she forced into that position? Both physically and metaphorically.

We think of the models as providing mere content for the painting. Look at how the fabric folds, or how the shadows play across the nude form. It’s not a form, it’s a human being, with a life and aspirations and heartache all her own. If her gaze is averted, why? Was she told to, or could she not bear to gaze upon the person examining her so closely, staring at her for hours, with what intention?

I profess to not liking fictional books about real people, but this is the second one I’ve read and it’s a story that will stay with me a long time. I’ll try not to take it literally, since almost nothing is known about the real Rafaela. It’s a “what if” story. It could have happened this way, but maybe not. So accept it as fiction but enjoy the truths within.

The writing is beautiful, the Paris of the 1920s, between wars, parallels the lives of these two women, each caught between her own wars—Rafaela between life as a prostitute and a life being loved. Tamara is a wildly successful painter yet living on the edge without a patron. Even if they could live as a couple, and many women did in Paris at the time, Rafaela cannot make Tamara a baroness.

The paintings are central to the story, so Google them as you read. The one on the cover is important, but it’s not the key painting. I find it hard to read words about a visual art (or music for that matter), and because this reads much like an autobiography, it helps to see what they are talking about, who Tamara is painting.

I didn’t understand everything that was said, the fine nuances of their conversations, many with French words sprinkled in that were not clear from the context. There are several real people in the cast, but one character seems to be Hemingway—he tells the tale of his wife losing his stories on a train—but clearly is not. I’m not sure if Avery did this with other characters, or why with this one. I wouldn’t even know that but for having read The Paris Wife, another novel about real people. Funny to read two stories of fictionalized real people involving the same fictionalized real people.

Rafaela tells her story 16 years after meeting Tamara. Why then? We don’t really learn (or if it’s there, I missed it). The end of the book switches point of view, which made for an interesting flip—much of what has happened now has a different interpretation. Absolutely heartbreaking and beautifully written.

Rafaela was only 17 when she met Tamara. They were together a short time. Would Tamara have had such a profound impact on her, over the course of a long life? Possibly? Since we don’t know Rafaela’s real story, any motivations or consequences are speculation. But that she seemed to remain in Tamara thoughts many years later is telling. If even that is true. That’s the problem with novels about real people. I always fear I’ll believe something is true and make an ass of myself at a cocktail party.

There are many layers to this story. There’s the very personal story of these two women—how much is real, what really happened? Then there’s the overarching story of an artist and her muse and what is that relationship, exactly?
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