Lust for Life
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,History & Criticism
Lust for Life Details
Review “A story of excruciating power.”—The New York Times "Whoever reads Lust for Life will gain all the important facts concerning the life of the painter... a poetic and touching portrayal."—Christian Science Monitor “Extraordinary! A moving story retold with sensitiveness and insight.”—Forum “Thorough, sympathetic, skillful.”—Saturday Review of Literature Read more About the Author Irving Stone was born in San Francisco in 1903. He wrote several books in a genre that he coined the “biographical novel,” which recounted the lives of well-known historical figures. In these novels, Stone interspersed biography with fictional narrative on the psychology and private lives of his subjects. He also wrote biographies of Clarence Darrow and Earl Warren, and short biographies of men who lost presidential elections. He died in 1989. Read more
Reviews
"Lust for Life" is a very good debut novel authored by Irving Stone. It closely follows the life of Vincent van Gogh. There is much dialogue that has to have been imagined. There is also a fairly strange delusional episode that the author states is fictionalized. However the story is also faithful to the life of Vincent van Gogh and as such is a semi fictional biography in the same context as a historical novel. The language in the novel is very readable and consistent with the norms of American Society in 1934 and as such there is no vulgar language. There are times that the story moves along somewhat slowly but is overall an Interesting, pleasant read.I enjoyed the novel a lot. As usual I did parallel reading and studying and learned a good deal. I had decided to read this novel as I simultaneously visited family in the Netherlands. This did add slightly to the reading experience. I then watched a movie based on the novel from 1956. In its totality this made for a fun reading and studying experience. (Assuming, of course, you are a geek with no life, like me!)Early in this fine novel, Vincent van Gogh serves as a clergyman in a mining town. As I read that part of the novel, I could not escape the feeling that I was rereading parts of my favorite novel by Emile Zola, "Germinal". Later within "Lust for Life", Vincent van Gogh meets Emile Zola and the novel "Germinal" is discussed. I am as certain as I can be that is no coincidence and "Germinal" served as a resource for this novel.As I very often do, I purchased an audiobook, narrated by Steve West, to augment my reading. The audiobook was very faithful to the written novel and was very professionally done. I am not one to suggest other people spend extra money. But I did also enjoy the audiobook.In summary, I completely enjoyed this reading and studying experience. The novel is a very good novel, that is slightly dated in style and, at times, moves along somewhat slowly. I am uncredentialed. Keeping that in mind,, I felt the writing style put me in mind of Herman Wouk from the 1940s. Speaking for myself, I am very glad that I read it, but I am also quite sure it will not suit the tastes of every modern reader. Thank You...
