As for the title of the book, who or what is the muse? It seemed to me that the term is used generically here. Yes, there are specific characters from whom the creatives draw inspiration, but some characters with no apparent artistic gift are moved by other people in the story as well. Also, among the nine muses of classical mythology, there is not a muse for painting, which suggests a broader view of the image. You have this light, and when it switches on I don’t think you even realize what it does.There are several pieces of romantic interest here, but not at all too much, and they are important to the story. it's a solid sophomore novel from burton, and i can't help but interpret this one quote as a sly little wink from her about the anxiety of writing a second novel after a very successful debut: So says Olive Schloss, a virtuoso young painter in 1930s Andalusia who refuses to take credit for her work. Just as it was in The Miniaturist, the process of creating is to the fore in Burton's new novel. I really enjoyed Jessie Burton's first novel, The Miniaturist, but I absolutely adored The Muse. It is a gripping, evocative and beautiful book, with characters who come alive and a plot that is unpredictable and surprising and wonderfully crafted. Absolutely wonderful, a book that I will be recommending to everyone I meet

Was the difference between being a workaday painter and being an artist simply other people believing in you, or spending twice as much money on your work?” Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. The Muse" tells the story of two women: Odelle living in 1960s London and Olive living in 1930s Malaga in Spain. It's a story about art, but it's also a story about history and destinies. From very early on in the book, I felt captivated with and invested in the story. It was simple, beautiful and I was eager to find out more about these intriguing characters.I really liked Olive's story too, but I didn't like Olive as much as I wanted. Which is also the main reason why I preferred The Miniaturist to The Muse, even though I really liked the latter. I appreciated that Olive was a strong woman herself and that she wanted to prove something, but she came across as a bit naive and sometimes as someone who was too self-centered. I completely understood her need to be seen, but she didn't think about the consequences of her actions most of the time, and that definitely irked me. I immensely enjoyed reading Odelle's story. Her voice, her thoughts, everything fit. She's curious, she has a lively mind and she knows that, considering that she's an immigrant and a woman she has to work harder than most people to achieve her goal: becoming a published writer. Odelle is the kind of girl I want to see in books: smart, curious, strong in a quiet but unmistakable way. Her side of the story was lovely and touching. Like most artists, everything I produced was connected to who I was - and so I suffered according to how my work was received. The idea that anyone might be able to detach their personal value from their public output was revolutionary.” The prose was flowery beyond belief. This was compounded by the fact that the reader seemed to continually adopt an overwrought style more befitting a Shakespearian play. The accents also seemed exaggerated to the point of distraction.

I thought London would mean prosperity and welcome. A Renaissance place. Glory and success. I thought leaving for England was the same as stepping out of my house and onto the street, just a slightly colder street where a beti with a brain could live next door to Elizabeth the Queen." As the rains beat against the window panes and the wind howled across the sea I was immersed into this tale of English city summers and the sun-soaked plains of Europe, to the total exclusion of all else around me. I was entirely enraptured by the easy evocation of setting and the emergence of unforgettable and authentic characters that Burton seamlessly inserted into it. Was the difference between being a workaday painter and being an artist simply other people believing in you, or spending twice as much money on your work? As far as Olive saw it, this connection of masculinity with creativity had been conjured from the air and been enforced, legitimised and monetised by enough people for whom such a state of affairs was convenient – men like her father.”

Customer reviews

Burton constructs the dual plotline with painstaking craft, and has a good ear for the ambient interruptions of nature: “the cicadas began to build their rasping wall of sound”; “Bees drowsing on the fat flower heads, farmers’ voices calling, birdsong arpeggios spritzing from the trees”. Olive Schloss, the teenage daughter of a wealthy art dealer, is a skilled painter who has turned down the offer of a place at the Slade. In Spain, she meets another artist, Isaac Robles – passionate, attractive and politically active – and soon becomes close to him and his half-sister, Teresa. I pressed on beyond half-way but then gave up. First DNF in a while. In truth, I thought it was simply dreadful. Elise is the novel’s most enigmatic character: a neurotic drifter who both feeds off and resents Constance’s growing celebrity. She becomes increasingly depressed and detached when Constance moves to the US to pursue her ambitions of becoming a player in the movie industry. Then Elise simply disappears, absconding from a filthy Brooklyn apartment leaving a newborn baby behind. The only certain fact is that, immediately prior to her disappearance, Elise received a final visit from Constance. Burton is a writer fully in control of her craft, as she employs the fundamental co-ordinates of a fairytale A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.