I Am Madame X : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: I love the artist. I love the painting. I love Belle Epoque Paris (and actually, Paris in general). I love good historical fiction. I hated this book! I looked forward to reading this more than anything in a long time, and am utterly disappointed. The stars I have given it go to what I believe to be Gioia Diliberto's talent as a researcher. As a writer of fiction, (once again, in my opinion alone) she is sorely lacking. The character of Virginie that Diliberto fashioned is so unbelievably self-absorbed as to be one-dimensional and her tale is told in clunky, graceless prose that I frankly found nearly unreadable. The cover is by far the best thing about this book. If that's what fascinates you about it, go find a book of Sargent's artwork. Whatever you imagine about the figures you see in his paintings will be far, far more rewarding than anything you glean from Diliberto's novel.

Rating:
Summary: Gioia is a Joy!
Review: I read Ms. Diliberto's article in The New York Times this weekend about the mystery behind the portrait of Virginie Gautreau and was instantly enthralled and had to buy the book! I read it in one sitting and was delighted by Ms. Diliberto's imaginings for the elusive Madame X and her life. I'm glad she turned her hand from biography to fiction! I Am Madame X is a fun romp in Belle Epoque Paris!

Rating:
Summary: A Richly Imaginative Recreation
Review: I read the book following rave reviews from my wife and 15 year old daughter, both of whom were riveted by it. We all then made a trip to the Metropolitan Museum in New York to behold the marvelous portrait. We then spent a lunch in museum discussing I am Madame X and how alive she seemed to us in both the painted and written portraits, both of which are worthy of one another. The unanimous verdict in our household is that the author has done a spectacular job recreating the beguiling, exotic world of Madame X and the fascinating French and American personalities around her. We can only hope that a second volume will explain further the mystery of the rouged ears!

Rating:
Summary: An engrossing read!
Review: I read this book with very few pauses. I have been interested in the art piece 'Madame X' but the book made it come alive. Of course, it is fiction, but I want it to be real. I know that the story is based on facts and bits and pieces of documentation that are available to the author, but the story that she has woven around this tangible evidence is so otherworldly that I was lost for a full two days as I read. I was wishing to be Madame X and wanting for the tale to be true and yet not at the same time due to the tragic romanticism. It was truly a great read.

Rating:
Summary: haven't finished yet-but i'm really enjoying this
Review: i really love this book, the author has such beautiful imagery and creates a beautiful story. it is so pleasurable to read, i am having trouble putting it down!

Rating:
Summary: Tres Amusant
Review: Please forgive my spotty HS French(see above)but I thought that was a good way to describe this story about the beautiful woman behind the "infamous" Madame X portrait by Sargeant. I realize it was historical fiction and was glad that the author carefully explained it at the end of the book. Still,however,her "Madame" does emerge as a flesh & blood woman. Not always likeable,but very engaging and very much her own person. The descriptions of 19th century Paris are also vivid and realisitic. And the painter himself,J.S Seargant is depicted as eccentric but exacting in what he wants from his subject Finally, all that fuss over a painting which by todays standards is diginifed and evena bit chaste shows how far we've come since that time! If you liked "Girl With The Pearl Earring" you would probably enjoy this book as well...

Rating:
Summary: Tres Amusant
Review: Please forgive my spotty HS French(see above)but I thought that was a good way to describe this story about the beautiful woman behind the "infamous" Madame X portrait by Sargeant. I realize it was historical fiction and was glad that the author carefully explained it at the end of the book. Still,however,her "Madame" does emerge as a flesh & blood woman. Not always likeable,but very engaging and very much her own person. The descriptions of 19th century Paris are also vivid and realisitic. And the painter himself,J.S Seargant is depicted as eccentric but exacting in what he wants from his subject Finally, all that fuss over a painting which by todays standards is diginifed and evena bit chaste shows how far we've come since that time! If you liked "Girl With The Pearl Earring" you would probably enjoy this book as well...

Rating:
Summary: Tres Amusant
Review: Please forgive my spotty HS French(see above)but I thought that was a good way to describe this story about the beautiful woman behind the "infamous" Madame X portrait by Sargeant. I realize it was historical fiction and was glad that the author carefully explained it at the end of the book. Still,however,her "Madame" does emerge as a flesh & blood woman. Not always likeable,but very engaging and very much her own person. The descriptions of 19th century Paris are also vivid and realisitic. And the painter himself,J.S Seargant is depicted as eccentric but exacting in what he wants from his subject Finally, all that fuss over a painting which by todays standards is diginifed and evena bit chaste shows how far we've come since that time! If you liked "Girl With The Pearl Earring" you would probably enjoy this book as well...

Rating:
Summary: Marvelous Fiction
Review: Sometimes, one must wonder about the synchronicity of energy in the universe. First, STRAPLESS, a joint biography of artist John Singer Sargent and his most famous subject, Virginie Gautreau, is published. Virtually on the heels of STRAPLESS comes I AM MADAME X, a fictionalized biography of the same Virginie Gautreau.

To be sure, I AM MADAME X is the easier of these two books to read, and it tells a marvelous tale. Still, since it openly is fiction, it is difficult to discern where historic fact ends and author Gioia Diliberto's fertile imagination has taken over the purportedly first-person report. Though Diliberto's scholarship seems excellent, there is no doubt that she has fabricated backstories to explain some of the recognized events in Virginie's life.

There is her detailed explanation of Virginie's strange marriage, and a subplot about an American black woman who has moved to Paris and is trying to pass as white. How true any of these anecdotes may be are impossible for the reader to know.

Too, the author's conclusion as to the pleasure that Virginie and her family derived from Sargent's famous painting is in direct contradiction to the details offered in the non-fictional biography.

Nonetheless, I AM MADAME X provides one of the best "contemporaneous" accounts of the Paris Commune of 1870, and of the emergence of the Belle Epoque period.

Taken together, STRAPLESS and I AM MADAME X offer wonderful insight into the late 19th Century Parisian social set.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: The main character, Virginie Amelie Avegno, is underdeveloped. I lack empathy for this narcisist and hardly care what becomes of her.

While I truly enjoy that bring a sliver of history to life, such as the "Girl With A Pearl Earing" and "Vindication" (two books I would strongly recommend over this), this book lacks the spark to generate my interest.