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Still Lives A Novel Maria Hummel 9781619021112 Books

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Still Lives A Novel Maria Hummel 9781619021112 Books

This book is on the short "To Read" lists of Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, CrimeReads, Chicago Review of Books etc etc and yet I sloughed through it with an eagerness to have it end. The relationships between most of the characters were weak and, as the reader, I did not have an emotional connection (even a negative one!) with any of the characters. It's hard to imagine describing such a highly praised book, especially a murder mystery, as uninteresting and slow but those are my descriptors.

My take on the book is in the clear minority. Maybe this was simply the wrong book at the wrong time for me.


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Still Lives A Novel Maria Hummel 9781619021112 Books Reviews

How often do you find yourself going a little slower through a thriller, just to absorb the lyrical descriptions, and the feelings they elicit? That’s what I loved about this book. Along with learning more about museums, art, and the fragile lives of those who make a livelihood from such whim. Cultural leaders in cities all over the globe want more museums all the time; here’s an edgy story to match the passion they engender.
Would give zero stars if I could because this book was awful. I don’t understand all of the good reviews??? I’m an avid reader and usually read 2-3 books a week but this one took me two weeks to finish (I read other books in between) as it was so bad. I have never been sad about spending $20 on a book but this one I felt was a huge waste of time and money! Step away from this one! Confusing, poorly developed plot and just plain NOT GOOD. Also— I should mention I have only ever left one bad review out of probably thousands of books I’ve read so that should say something.
I'm glad I didn't pay attention to many of the reader reviews of Still Lives. If you are expecting a fast-action thriller, this isn't your book. It is a beautifully written exploration of the Los Angeles art world. The many characters are fascinating. The protagonist's convenient back story as a reporter seemed tacked on, and I don't think the book needed it. But that's a minor complaint. I loved the language, the description (women with forty-year-old faces and sixty-year-old hands), the voice, the characters (and the fact that there was no true Mr. Perfect waiting for our heroine). Yes, the suspense at the end of the book is suspenseful, but that's not the reason to buy this wonderful book. Buy it, read it because it is an exquisite novel. It was my September pick, KMPH Channel 26 Great Day Book Club.
Dear ,

I’m not sure why you recommended this book to me. You said “It’s a thrilling mystery that will leave you wondering which characters you can and can’t trust...There’s a twist at the end that still keeps us up at night, it's THAT good." I’m sorry , but no. It wasn’t thrilling, and there was no “twist”. I was also not kept up at night, as promised. I will say that the prose in this book is beautiful. The author’s an amazing writer, but this medium does her no favors.

The protagonist, Maggie, is wimpy and unlikeable. There seems to be a trend in thrillers where the female protagonist is a basket case, a drunk, totally insecure, or has psychological issues. Or all of those things. It’s annoying. At one point someone breaks into Maggie’s house, and instead of calling the police, she decides to live in her car for the remainder of the book.

I won’t recap the plot as other reviews have done so. But briefly, Maggie’s broken up with her jerk boyfriend, Greg, who is now dating the eventual murder victim-- an artist who’s mounting a show at the museum where Maggie works. We never meet the victim except through Maggie’s recollections, so it’s difficult to care about her or what happens to her.

Tons of characters who have nothing to do with the story float in and out of the narrative (I’m looking at you, Kevin), and every time you think something is going to happen, it doesn’t. The first 73% of the book reads like the diary of a 13 year old girl — who happens to work at a museum in LA. Maggie describes everything around her in minute detail. It becomes distracting and slows whatever momentum there is.

Once the body was found, I thought, ok here we go! But no.

The book is full of random clues and events that have no bearing on the eventual solution, but they’re not fully-developed enough to be red herrings. It’s just odd. For example, the horseback riding scene. Maggie falls off her horse, gets drunk, and has a hangover (I can’t remember in what order), new characters are introduced and then go away forever, and we really don’t learn much about anyone that we didn’t know before. Why, , why?

Towards the end of the book, Maggie just announces who the murderer is and why they did it. That’s it. This is not one of those books where the reader can accumulate clues and figure it out alongside the protagonist. Flimsy connections are made out of nowhere and the solution to the mystery is served up whole to the reader. I also didn’t buy the motive - a mistaken assumption - that could have been easily cleared up.

Finally, the timeline screwy. Excepting the last chapter, the action takes place over about a week and a half. A suspect is arrested on the flimsiest of evidence a couple of days after the victim goes missing, even before a body is found. That wasn't believable to me. Side note— the suspect’s lawyer happens to be Kevin’s sister. Small world!
This book was so good and ended so weirdly. It was a really disappointing ending to an otherwise great book.
I usually really like all of the books on Reese Witherspoon's book list, but this one really didn't capture me. It was easy to put down and took a really long time to develop the story line. I am the kind of person that will stay up until 3am reading a good book and I found it to be easy to read a chapter and put the book down. Would definitely pass on this one if you are looking for a good suspense thriller.
I choose Still Lives because it was a selection for the Reese Witherspoon book club. This is only the second book from the club that I’ve read and I really enjoyed the first selection, so I had high hopes for this.

Still Lives takes place at an art gallery. Kim Lord is an artist that does paintings based on a theme. The theme for this show was murdered women. Kim dressed up as the murdered women and then painted herself into the settings. On the big night of the gala opening, Kim doesn’t show up.

There are so many characters and so many tangents that I honestly lost track of what was going on. Every time I picked up the book, I had to scroll back a few pages to remind myself of what had happened. There is a bit about collecting art and being a super collector, which I thought was confusing.

The story progressed slowly and the I didn’t really care about any of the characters.

I know that it is getting some positive reviews, so I encourage you to read various reviews and make up you mind about whether this is the book for you.
This book is on the short "To Read" lists of Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, CrimeReads, Chicago Review of Books etc etc and yet I sloughed through it with an eagerness to have it end. The relationships between most of the characters were weak and, as the reader, I did not have an emotional connection (even a negative one!) with any of the characters. It's hard to imagine describing such a highly praised book, especially a murder mystery, as uninteresting and slow but those are my descriptors.

My take on the book is in the clear minority. Maybe this was simply the wrong book at the wrong time for me.