Still Lives
3.2
(246)
Maria Hummel
Twelve shocking paintings. Eleven famous murders. One missing artist . . . and one woman driven to find her—this Reese's Book Club x Hello Sunshine Selection is a “stunning achievement” (Los Angeles Times). Kim Lord is an avant-garde figure, feminist icon, and agent provocateur in the L.A. art scene. Her groundbreaking new exhibition Still Lives is comprised of self-portraits depicting herself as famous, murdered women―the Black Dahlia, Chandra Levy, Nicole Brown Simpson, among many others―and the works are as compelling as they are disturbing, implicating a culture that is too accustomed to violence against women. As the city’s richest art patrons pour into the Rocque Museum’s opening night, all the staff, including editor Maggie Richter, hope the event will be enough to save the historic institution’s flailing finances. Except Kim Lord never shows up to her own gala. Fear mounts as the hours and days drag on and Lord remains missing. Suspicion falls on the up-and-coming gallerist Greg Shaw Ferguson, who happens to be Maggie’s ex. A rogue’s gallery of eccentric art world figures could also have motive for the act, and as Maggie gets drawn into her own investigation of Lord’s disappearance, she’ll come to suspect all of those closest to her. Set against a culture that often fetishizes violence, Still Lives is a page-turning exodus into the art world’s hall of mirrors, and one woman’s journey into the belly of an industry flooded with money and secrets. "Has a heck of a hook . . . It sucks you into a compelling story, before forcing you to contemplate the big, uncomfortable ideas it’s considering. It’s a fresh choice for Reese’s Book Club, to be sure." ―Entertainment Weekly
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"Grudgingly giving this a thumbs up. For a Reese’s Book Club pick, I had high expectations but it was a chore to get through the first 150 pages. Finally the storyline picked up and you are trying to figure out where the missing girl went. Could’ve been a much better story of written differently. That being said-good premise."
"I did enjoy reading it, but I was also able to put it down for extended periods of time fairly easily. So although it was a fine book, it wasn’t a grab-you-and-stick-with-you book. The climactic scene at the end felt a bit rushed and confused—and even after that the meaning of the ending remained a bit unclear to me. There were some interesting meta-themes around the exploitation of women that were dabbled in but I didn’t feel were dealt with well enough, and was a bit inconsistent with the plot. I can’t say more than that without spoilers, though. All in, this was a good rainy-day read but I’m glad I’ve finished it and can start my next novel on that same rainy-day."
"4/5"
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Alex Prime
"First chapter was hard for me to get into but then I couldn’t put it down. Read the whole book in a day on vacation!"
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