Book Review: A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline

A Piece of the World

by Christina Baker Kline

HarperCollins 

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

 Paperback: 352 pages

 Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (January 30, 2018)

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"Exquisite. A must-read.” --Kristin Hannah

“This paperback edition includes a color reproduction of Andrew Wyeth’s painting Christina’s World, along with a Q&A with bestselling author Kristin Hannah and a bonus short story, “Stranded in Ice.”

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the smash bestseller Orphan Train, a stunning and atmospheric novel of friendship, passion, and art, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s mysterious and iconic painting Christina’s World.

"Later he told me that he’d been afraid to show me the painting. He thought I wouldn’t like the way he portrayed me: dragging myself across the field, fingers clutching dirt, my legs twisted behind. The arid moonscape of wheatgrass and timothy. That dilapidated house in the distance, looming up like a secret that won’t stay hidden."

To Christina Olson, the entire world is her family farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. The only daughter in a family of sons, Christina is tied to her home by health and circumstance, and seems destined for a small life. Instead, she becomes Andrew Wyeth’s first great inspiration, and the subject of one of the best-known paintings of the twentieth century, Christina’s World.

As she did in her beloved bestseller Orphan Train, Christina Baker Kline interweaves fact and fiction to vividly reimagine a real moment in history. A Piece of the World is a powerful story of the flesh-and-blood woman behind the portrait, her complicated relationship to her family and inheritance, and how artist and muse can come together to forge a new and timeless legacy.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Sometimes a sanctuary, sometimes a prison, that house on the hill has always been my home.  I’ve spent my life yearning toward it, wanting to escape it, paralyzed by its hold on me.  (There are many ways to be crippled, I’ve learned over the years, many forms of paralysis.) … You can never escape the bonds of family history, no matter how far you travel.  And the skeleton of a house can carry in its bones the marrow of all that came before.

It is a terrible thing to find the love of your life, Christina… You know too well what you’re missing when it’s gone.

The day we bury her is dreary: a colorless sky, gray-boned trees, old sooty snow.  Winter, I think, must be tired of itself.

… I put my hand over his, and he lays his other hand over mine.  I feel the way I do when I lose something – a spool of thread, say – and search for it everywhere, only to discover it in an obvious place, like on the sideboard under the cloth. 

My Review:

This was my first exposure to Christina Baker Kline’s talents and I became an instant devotee.  The writing was emotive and often tinged with melancholy, lushly descriptive, thoughtfully observant, cunningly crafted, and intricately detailed.  A fascinating mix of fact and fiction, I have since spent far too much time Googling Christina Olson and Andrew Wyeth’s iconic artwork.  I was immediately immersed in this beautifully and insightfully written book from the first person POV of Christina, a girl/woman with few options and limited mobility.  Christina lived her entire life in the same house with her slightly odd family in small-town rural Maine and had continued to live under extremely harsh conditions without indoor plumbing, running water, or electricity, long after others in her area were enjoying these luxuries. 

Christina was possibly the most obstinate woman of her time.  Unsteady on her weak limbs following an life-threatening and undiagnosed illness at the age of three, she despised pity, denied most offers of assistance despite frequent mishaps and injuries from falls, refused to seek medical assistance when offered, and in her later years when her legs were no longer of use to her she steadfastly refused to use a wheelchair and drug herself about by her elbows, up and down stairs and even across fields to visit her neighbor.  I ached for her and wanted to pop her in the back of the head at the same time for her stubborn pride. I was provided with a review copy of this captivating book by TLC Book Tours and HarperCollins.

Empress DJ

About Christina Baker Kline

Christina Baker Kline is the author of six novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train as well as A Piece of the World. She lives outside New York City and spends as much time as possible on the coast of Maine. Learn more about Christina at www.christinabakerkline.com.

Connect with Christina on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.