I wanted to see these people as individuals, instead of Relatives in Trouble.

I hungered for characterizing details beyond pain d'amande and the titles of books the uncle taught his undergraduates. These are plaintive but do little to signify the authors. We know her relatives only through the letters they send.

To her credit Shapiro handles education deftly: Alizée's challenges feel immediate because they are hers, not because the author needs to teach us a thing or two about art or the Holocaust or the New Deal.Īlizée's family in France feels indistinct here, however. (Nov.Populated by real artists and political figures, set among the tectonic movements of history, a novel like 'The Muralist'' would be a risky venture for any author: How much should you expect the reader to know? One false move with exposition and you either alienate or bore. Additionally, Alizée is a formidable character, but her modern-day counterpart, Danielle, lacks depth, diminishing the dénouement when she finally learns the truth about her great aunt. Though compelling, Shapiro’s latest is bogged down in relaying well-researched material about the pre-WWII politics and developments in the art world, ultimately undermining the power of the fictional story. Passionate about her work and finding new ways to express herself, she is caught up in the horrors overseas and the obstacles put up by America to keep out refugees-exemplified by the evil machinations of Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long. Alizée and her colleagues are hired by the WPA to paint public works, but she is plagued by Hitler’s frightening actions against the Jews in Europe, where members of her family are trying to escape. The novel goes back and forth in time, and pre–World War II America comes to life in the flashbacks. Danielle Abrams, a cataloguer at Christie’s in the present who is haunted by her great aunt Alizée, comes across some canvases that may have been painted by her enigmatic relative. After the success of The Art Forger, Shapiro returns to the art world, this time focusing on the budding Abstract Expressionist movement, whose major players, Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner, and Jackson Pollack, interact with the fictional Alizée Benoit until her mysterious disappearance in 1940.

The muralist a novel