Once a prominent painter, Danzig now shares his wisdom and technique with students at San Francisco's Art Institute—yet his own canvases remain empty. When he meets Israeli-born Merav, the beautiful new model for his class, he senses she may reignite his artistic passion. Merav moved to California to escape the danger and violence of the Middle East, yet she cannot outrun her fears about the past. As the characters challenge one another, Rosner lyrically uncovers their disparate upbringings, their creative awakenings, and their similarly painful, often catastrophic, love lives to propel them toward reconciliation, redemption, and ultimately revival.
I'm sitting here and sitting here trying to figure out what to say about BLUE NUDE. Now, I don't get to select which specific books S&S send me. I'm very thankful to them for sending me Rosner's BLUE NUDE. Both the German artist, Danzig, and the artist/model, Merav, are born after World War II. Danzig and his older sister Margot, who we meet briefly, suffer from being their father's children. Both in different ways and with different results.
There is so much overlap between the three characters of Danzig, Margot and Merav. The two women, as girls, had bestfriendships with boys. Physically, Margot's was her polar opposite and Merav's was almost her twin.
(and now I have sat for another 10 minutes not knowing what to say)
I guess I should mention that I expected to not like Danzig at the beginning of BLUE NUDE. Not realizing at the time where he fit into the WWII timeline. My maternal grandfather was a POW during WWII. He was of 100% German heritage, fighting his own "people". That had to have been so hard for him. He passed away about 20 years ago. I didn't even know until many years later that he had been held as a prisoner of war. It's affected how I view anything connect to that period of time.
Ok. Enough rambling. BLUE NUDE is a powerful novel. It touched me deeply. I will be rereading it. I recommend it, highly! If you've read BLUE NUDE, please feel free to email me to discuss it further.
Title: Blue Nude
Author: Elizabeth Rosner {website - essay on the back story of this book}
ISBN: 9781439173084
Pages: 208
Published by: Gallery (September 2010 (first published 2006))
Catagories: Fiction
Source: I received an advance copy from Simon and Schuster (Gallery is one of their imprints).
Grade: A+ What does this grade mean?
Challenges:
100+ Reading Challenge
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