Monthly Archives: May 2008

“The Serpent’s Tale” by Ariana Franklin

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The Serpent’s Tale is just as enticing as Ariana Franklin’s first book, “The Mistress of The Art Of Death.”

Adelia is called to duty once again in aiding the KIng solve a murder.  King Henry’s mistress, Rosamund, has been killed and Adelia must help prove that the murderer is not Queen Eleanor.  If it is, a civil war will destroy the relative peace the country presently enjoys.

Of course, the usual litany of religious and political suspects are both for and against civil unrest.

Many have much to lose and many, much to gain.

Initially, Adelia gives nary a hoot, except for her infant daughter, Glytha, and Mansur.

At last juncture, she and Rowley Picot had chosen to go their separate ways because neither would capitulate with regard to their own futures.  Rowley wanted Adelia to be his respectable wife.  Adelia wanted to be a free woman.

King Henry is a more personable character now and, as a friend to Rowley, he and Adelia must help.  They are working together to help the King and, once again, an unlikely entourage sets out.

Romantically, maternally, and socially things are very different and it makes for an interesting sequel.  Familiarity breeds both affection and contempt, so discord abounds.

Less strife would be less fun and we can’t have that now, can we?

With Rowley and Adelia on unsure ground, a soon-to-be-weaned baby, nervy Glytha, another repulsively odiferous canine, and the tall, silent Mansur, we are in familiar territory.  Adelia travels to the lair of Rosamund and encounters nuns, bodies, the devil and more.

As ever, she is intuitive, strong-willed, slightly dowdy and downright delightful.  She compromises nothing and we’d put the book down if she did.

Her duty to the dead is foremost in her priorities (after her daughter) and all social ordinances be damned.  She is perceived to be socially inconsequential, so is able to quietly decipher the goings-on.  Being Adelia, she is in the middle of everything and this again proves to be dangerous when she butts heads with a disturbing individual or two.

When the entourage is re-routed, or should I say, abducted by Queen Eleanor and her martial law-abiding cronies, the book becomes enveloped in mystery.

With all potential evil-doers in one area, the level of angst rises.

Who is killing people?

Who is safe?

One character we have yet to suspect will, I think, return in later books.  With the writing prowess we now expect, Franklin (whose real name, incidentally, is Diana Norman) twists and turns through a medieval whodunit with both moral and religious undercurrents.

Once again, a good read.

Here’s hoping more will follow!

Editor’s Note:  Click here to read Mann’s review of “Mistress of the Art of Death,” also by Ariana Franklin.

It’s That (Graduating) Time of Year

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By Linda Ahnert Published 05/23/08

The Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts graduates gather for a final photo after their graduation ceremonies.

You may not think of Old Lyme as a “college town.”  Perhaps because the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts is not your typical college.  Rather it is a unique school whose mission is to educate artists, but, like colleges everywhere, May is graduation time at the Lyme Academy.

The commencement ceremony for the Class of 2008 took place Saturday, May 10, in the auditorium of the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School.  Fourteen seniors received Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in painting or sculpture.  In addition, two students earned post-baccalaureate certificates.

Alan Proctor, the chairman of the board of trustees, welcomed the audience and noted that the graduates were “a very diverse and accomplished senior class.”  He also said that the college is going through a period of change and transition.  Two long-time faculty members—David Dewey and Joy Pepe—as well as Dean Alan Barkley are retiring.  Proctor thanked them all for their years of service.

Eyes right: Graduation dignitaries listen attentively to a speech.

This was also the first graduation ceremony for Debra Petke (second from left in photo above), who became president of the college on November 1, 2007.  She told the seniors that “my first six months as president were your last six months as students.”

The college awarded two honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees.  Robert Storr, who is the dean of the Yale School of Art, was recognized for “his stunning career as a painter, curator, writer, and educator.”  And Philip Pearlstein was cited for “his outstanding contribution as a distinguished and visionary artist.”

Storr delivered the commencement address.  But he began by stating that it wouldn’t be the stereotypical speech because he didn’t want to sound like a preachy Polonius.   Instead, he spoke about Pearlstein and stated, “Philip is one of the great figurative painters of the 20th century.”

As a young man, Pearlstein arrived in New York with his friend Andy Warhol.  Pearlstein actually began his career as an abstract expressionist, but is today known as a master of contemporary realism.  He is particularly noted for his monumental paintings of nudes.

Storr did take the opportunity to offer one piece of practical advice to the graduates,  “Make sure you have a job.  Make sure you have an interesting job . . . a job that feeds your spirit and your pocketbook.”

Pearlstein spoke to the audience about changing his art style when he was about the age of forty.  He was going against the dominant aesthetic of the 1960s—abstract expressionism—and Pearlstein said, “I knew it would be tough.”  Some of his former colleagues treated him as if he had joined the enemy camp. But, Pearlstein said, “I wanted to paint the human figure from direct observation” and that he was trying “to reinvent representational art for myself.”

Now in his eighties, Pearlstein summed up his career, “I put myself out on a limb … and found it a very interesting place to be.”

William Allik (pictured above), who teaches at Lyme-Old Lyme High School, received the Distinguished Service in Art Education Award.  Dean Barkley noted that Allik “has created a passion for the visual arts in high school” and that the influence of his teaching can be seen in the high caliber of artwork that his students exhibit in the annual school district show.

Speaking on behalf of the college’s alumni, Matt Quinn, Class of 2001, joked that he had just “three minutes to give you advice that could change your lives.”  He said he was glad that Robert Storr had mentioned “having a job.”  Quinn also counseled the graduates to heed two simple words: “Have friends.”  As artists, they will need a support system—someone to share studio space with, someone who has a truck, someone to attend openings.  And someday, it will be their turn to be a friend to a fellow artist.

The graduating seniors rose to their feet many times as awards were presented.

Two graduates were chosen by their peers to speak for the Class of 2008.  Jerry Montoya thanked the faculty, staff, and students “for taking a kid like me in.” [In the program for the Senior Project Exhibition, Montoya wrote, “My artwork shows the beauty in the struggle to survive within a lower socioeconomic status.”]

David Whelan warned about complacency.  After reading a poem written when he graduated from the eighth grade because it showed “fearlessness and a time when art was magical and earth shattering,”  Whelan said he doesn’t feel that way now and that it is essential for artists “to always make things new.”

Saying he wants to find that time again, “When things are alive and exploding in your heart,” he concluded by urging his fellow classmates to … “Come with me.”

The Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts graduates are:  Carmen Rose Abbot, Charles Cunningham, Adam Gordon, Allan Harwood, Ernesto Leal, Jason S. Litton, Yelizaveta Yuryevna Masalimova, Jerry Montoya, Corey Eiser Nemkov, Susan Leslie Nichols, Hannah Rossi, Claes Philip Schamberg, Tara Rose Smith, David Valentine Whelan, Jr.

Oriana Alexander Shaplin and Aaron Vincent Koehn received post-baccalaureate certificates. 

Students receiving awards included:  Adam Gordon for excellence in art history; Corey Nemkov for excellence in painting; and Jason S. Litton for excellence in sculpture.  The Diana Atwood Johnson Leadership Award was presented to Jerry Montoya.  Claes Schamberg was the recipient of the John Stobart Fellowship.  Vermont Studio Center Fellowships were awarded to Carmen Abbot and David Whelan.

“The Third Angel” by Alice Hoffman

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Truly, Alice Hoffman is a fairytale-teller.

Her stories are grounded and other-worldy concurrently.  I have yet to read something of hers that was not a thrilling amalgamation of both.  She manages to be entertaining and clever, without the sappy, too obvious ministrations of other plot-driven writers.

Alice Hoffman has written a wondrous book that encompasses the lives of the five leading female characters, their lovers, and their children.

We meet two generations of women.  Almost unbelievably, we hold our breath as they all tangle together, sometimes consciously, sometimes not.

Hoffman’s stories are as from from prosaic as you can imagine.

Lucy, Daisy, Bryn and Frieda’s stories all converge in London.  Either peripherally or directly their lives are destined to entwine. It is compelling to see from the reader’s unblemished perspective how their lives will be affected.

How amazing to meet someone as a child, who will be in your children’s future, and yet be unaware of it.  Hoffman’s gift of seamlessly manipulating a timeline is readily apparent when the lives of the next generation – the offspring – merge.  Paul, Maddie, Allie, and Stella’s actions have far-reaching effects, some of which we are aware of as we watch their parents’ lives unfold.

None of the standard introductions for Hoffman.  The tangled web is remarkable.  As we delve deeper and are shown whence these characters come, it makes us miss a heartbeat as we watch them intermingle.

As children, as adults, as mothers, and as lovers, these characters all infiltrate one another’s lives.  Each meeting has far-reaching consequences and the inevitability of fate dangling just beyond an apparently random encounter.
A chance meeting of Lucy Green’s in Hyde Park will prove to be with the woman, who will be her future son’s adopted grandmother.  A ghost in the ethereally tangible hotel is the catalyst in the lives of Lucy, her daughters, Frieda, Bryn and many more.  Even the hotel rabbit moves from person to person within this maze.
Hoffman accomplishes these maneuvers without guile.  The incredible plausability is a testament to her craftiness.  Every time you did not see the twist coming, which is thankfully often, you are delighted.
Despite the sadness and the seemingly inescapable truth of death, the story rings true.  Her analogy of the three angels is insightful.

Frieda’s father, the doctor, says it is all in front of us.  We have but to look and Hoffman opens our eyes.

The women agree, “ Love can be complicated or it can be simple”.  The plot of “The Third Angel” may seem complicated, but, in contrast, relishing it is simple.

“Loving Frank” by Nancy Horan

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At the beginning of the last century two people fell in love.  Mamah (nickname for Martha) Bothwick Cheney and Frank Wright.

Frank LLoyd Wright, that is.

Theirs was a meeting of the minds.  A whirlwind of passion and creativity that brought out their truest selves.

Unfortunately, they were both married to other people and both had young children.  This did not stop them in their desperate need to be together.  To be alive, to be themselves, to break free of tradition and flee the restraints of polite society.
This was a problem for me.  I found their immediate lives insightful and somewhat interesting.  If you are a fan of FLW architechture you may enjoy the book.I, however, am not.In principal, I admire what he is trying to achieve by capturing the essence of, “a huge block of blue on top of a block of gold prairie, and the quiet line between Heaven and earth.”  His artistic desires are exuberant, but I found the utter selfishness of their egotistical jaunt dispiriting.

The flourishing spirit of invention of the age led itself to a freedom previously unacceptable for women.  It must have been startling to live in this period of growth.
1889 saw the invention of the automobile.  1898 the telephone.  In 1902 in Australia, women were given the right to vote – 18 years ahead of the United States, which passed the 19th Ammendment in 1920.  Technological change can not help but have social manifestations.
Mamah specifically was acting on a desire to be something more than a wife and mother.  She meets and works with Ellen Key, a liberal, socialistic feminist who, ironically, did her early work in support of children.To follow her desire, Mamah abandons her three young children.  She abandons her husband to search for herself and to cultivate the powerful attraction she has to Frank.  Loving Frank is going to enrich and destroy her life, and the lives of many, many others.
Nancy Horan writes an imaginative, fictitious story from the letters of Mamah.  She does a brilliant job capturing an interior maelstrom of conflicting emotions and makes Mamah appealing.  Were we not so disgusted with her behavior, her intellectual pursuits would be fascinating.Under any other circumstance the journey of a woman to find fulfillment and independence would be gripping.  Her egomaniacal behavior, however, soundly defeats any interest I might otherwise have had in her.
Frank is equally unappealing.  Not as a chararcter, but as a human being.  His architectural genius aside, he is a selfish arrogant man, who never concerns himself with his fiscal or emotional responsibilities to anyone other than Mamah.  His bills are unpaid.  His family vilified.  His only concern is the happiness he is sure he deserves more than anyone else.
I found him maddening.  I felt constricted by the very man whose work is said to be freedom itself.I will say that Nancy Horan is a great writer and that the idea behind “Loving Frank” is compelling.  If you can read “Loving Frank“ as a social commentary or as a view into the trials of artistic temperament, it is worth reading.For myself, it was tedious and, by the time of the gruesome conclusion, I could not have cared less …  and was thrilled to be done with it.

“Garlic and Sapphires” by Ruth Reichl

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Honestly, I would read anything written by Ruth Reichl.

In fact, I have, and I highly recommend them all.  But Garlic and Sapphires is my favorite.

Ruth Riechl is equal parts wonderful cook and enchanting food writer.

She was the food editor at the LA times before she came to The New York Times as their Restaurant Critic. This is where we meet her.

She relocates home to New York and the fun begins.

After an amusing encounter on a plane, Ruth realizes that everyone knows she’s coming.  Every restaurant has a photo and a frightening amount of personal information about her posted in their kitchens.  They want to see her coming and she wants them not to.
To properly critique a restaurant she has to be incognito.  She has to be privy to the treatment and food that everyone receives, not just the esteemed New York Times.  How could any review be authentic and reliable otherwise?
A whirling dervish of wigs, make-up and second hand outfits ensues.  Ruth Reichl will dine as herself on many occasions, but on many more, she will be someone else.
She will be charcters older, younger, more fiery and … egads, her own mother.
While this makes for hilarity, it is also cleverly introspective.  We meet all the parts of Ruth Reichl.  These varied persona are terrific, but it is hard to compete with the food.  I defy you to read any part of this and not want to rush into the City immediately.Can you imagine the fun of dining at Aquavit five or six times concurrently and with a corporate tab?  Waiter!
Every restaurant is its own adventure, a stampede of gastronomical luxuries.  She alternately slinks and parades into Daniel, Lespinasse, 21, Kurumazushi, Jean-Georges, The Box Tree, the Four Seasons, Smith and Wollensky and others …Oh, the decor!  The waitstaff!  The food!  It is all described in mesmerizing detail.  We know what Ruth wears, where she is seated, who is nearby, how the napkins are folded, the wines she uncorks and what she eats – course by course by course.  She dictates the smells, the tastes, the feeling of every morsel.Truly, it is tantalizing.  It is almost as good as being at the table with her.  Ruth tells the story of the meal and then, if we’re really lucky, she prints her review, and we feel an insider’s glee at having been privy to her information gathering.
Her colleagues are well described and her family relationship is a good touchstone.  I especially enjoyed her doorman and his reactions to her various disguises.  Hint – he likes redheads.We have a very comforting base to work from and a solid foundation makes her forays exciting, rather than dangerous.  She has ups and downs and takes the entire experience with a grain of salt.  Pun intended.Ruth comments in one review how pompous and exclusionary she feels, but her devotees come to the same conclusion we have; that it is better to be there with her than not at all.