ARA Review by andika of The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci
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ARA Review by andika of The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci
[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci.]
Leonardo da Vinci was a towering Italian genius who was an artist, philosopher, writer and inventor about whom many books have been written. He was a true polymath who lived in Florence in the 15th century.
Although da Vinci, or more correctly, his paintings are a core element of the storyline in this novel, the character of Leonardo da Vinci plays but a peripheral role in the story. The central characters live in the 21st century and are:
Angela Renatus, a stunningly beautiful intern at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles
Her boss, an Italian, Dr Alberto Scordato, is director of the museum
and Alex Cain is a very handsome and extraordinarily rich young Seal-trained veteran from the wars in Afghanistan who has been commissioned to find out whether a rumored da Vinci painting of a wedding exists, and if it does, where it is
Dr Scordato is the villain in the novel. He has said that the painting doesn’t exist, but there are suspicions that he really wants the painting for himself. He is also a sexual predator keen to seduce Angela.
Whilst the above summarizes the plot and its main character, the author adds considerable interest by developing her plot across three time-zones with the same characters appearing – under different names – in each time-zone. This could potentially make the novel complex and difficult to read, but the author does this so deftly that the integrity of the plot is maintained and the reader follows the storyline with little or no confusion – no mean feat.
Each of the two main characters, Angela and Alex, are quite well developed: you understand what kind of person each one is, you can empathize with them and foresee how they will react to changing circumstances. One could argue that “the baddie”, Dr Scordato, could have been developed a little more – his character is one-sided and evil – but this is a novel where “good” is very, very sweet and good, and “bad” is terribly evil.
This leads me to my main criticism. The author is clearly an accomplished writer and the story is well developed and flows easily … but: it just flows too easily, it is simply a little too predictable. At no stage did I find myself thinking: wow – I hadn’t expected that! It would have made the novel so much more interesting if it did cause such reactions here and there.
It’s an awfully sweet story, and reading it feels a little like drinking tea or coffee with four lumps of sugar … and a few sweetener pills added on. As it reads, it will appeal to the romantically inclined, and the time-shifts add interest that makes it a little unusual so that it stands out from the usual Mills & Boon stories (Warning: I have never read a Mills & Boon novel, so that statement may be unfair to them), but the novel could have been so much more. Unpredictability adds interest, adversity that is developed to the point that it seems unsurmountable, adds intrigue and has the reader looking for more.
The breathless and almost Victorian descriptions of a beautiful young woman and a rich and extraordinarily handsome young man can also easily become repetitive and therefore lose their effect. A single tear rolling down the soft cheek of the beautiful maiden happens a little too often for my liking.
That said, this is a competently written novel with a good storyline made interesting because of the time-shifts, and notwithstanding my criticisms, it does to my mind merit 3 out of 5 points.
Now for some coffee sans sugar.
John Bottern
***
View The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci on Bookshelves
Leonardo da Vinci was a towering Italian genius who was an artist, philosopher, writer and inventor about whom many books have been written. He was a true polymath who lived in Florence in the 15th century.
Although da Vinci, or more correctly, his paintings are a core element of the storyline in this novel, the character of Leonardo da Vinci plays but a peripheral role in the story. The central characters live in the 21st century and are:
Angela Renatus, a stunningly beautiful intern at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles
Her boss, an Italian, Dr Alberto Scordato, is director of the museum
and Alex Cain is a very handsome and extraordinarily rich young Seal-trained veteran from the wars in Afghanistan who has been commissioned to find out whether a rumored da Vinci painting of a wedding exists, and if it does, where it is
Dr Scordato is the villain in the novel. He has said that the painting doesn’t exist, but there are suspicions that he really wants the painting for himself. He is also a sexual predator keen to seduce Angela.
Whilst the above summarizes the plot and its main character, the author adds considerable interest by developing her plot across three time-zones with the same characters appearing – under different names – in each time-zone. This could potentially make the novel complex and difficult to read, but the author does this so deftly that the integrity of the plot is maintained and the reader follows the storyline with little or no confusion – no mean feat.
Each of the two main characters, Angela and Alex, are quite well developed: you understand what kind of person each one is, you can empathize with them and foresee how they will react to changing circumstances. One could argue that “the baddie”, Dr Scordato, could have been developed a little more – his character is one-sided and evil – but this is a novel where “good” is very, very sweet and good, and “bad” is terribly evil.
This leads me to my main criticism. The author is clearly an accomplished writer and the story is well developed and flows easily … but: it just flows too easily, it is simply a little too predictable. At no stage did I find myself thinking: wow – I hadn’t expected that! It would have made the novel so much more interesting if it did cause such reactions here and there.
It’s an awfully sweet story, and reading it feels a little like drinking tea or coffee with four lumps of sugar … and a few sweetener pills added on. As it reads, it will appeal to the romantically inclined, and the time-shifts add interest that makes it a little unusual so that it stands out from the usual Mills & Boon stories (Warning: I have never read a Mills & Boon novel, so that statement may be unfair to them), but the novel could have been so much more. Unpredictability adds interest, adversity that is developed to the point that it seems unsurmountable, adds intrigue and has the reader looking for more.
The breathless and almost Victorian descriptions of a beautiful young woman and a rich and extraordinarily handsome young man can also easily become repetitive and therefore lose their effect. A single tear rolling down the soft cheek of the beautiful maiden happens a little too often for my liking.
That said, this is a competently written novel with a good storyline made interesting because of the time-shifts, and notwithstanding my criticisms, it does to my mind merit 3 out of 5 points.
Now for some coffee sans sugar.
John Bottern
***
View The Girl Who Knew Da Vinci on Bookshelves
