A very odd book.

Jody Shields constructed her first novel, The Fig Eater (2000), around the imagined murder of Freud's famous patient Dora. Similarly, two historical figures (Anna Coleman Ladd and Dr. Varaztad Kazanjian) provide the kernel of her absorbing new novel. Most critics loved this literary exploration of grief despite its unhurried plot; they praised the novel's fascinating subject, its engaging characters, and its beautiful use of language. In sharp contrast, The New York Times criticized "pat similes," "stilted sexual subplots," and "mixed metaphors ? so random as to bring to mind those kits for creating refrigerator poetry." Still, even this negative review grudgingly acknowledged that "this is potentially fascinating stuff" and commended Shields's effort. For most of her fans, The Crimson Portrait will provide an engrossing read.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.

I was so intrigued by this premise... a woman who loses her husband during WWI has the chance to remake a wounded soldier's face into her husband's image. An English manor house is turned into a hospital for soldiers specifically with facial injuries. The widow who owns the house is resentful of the soldiers and medical personnel invading her grief. Such an interesting examination of the grieving process, and of early attempts to disguise/repair facial injuries from war. The flow of the story was stiff though... I had a hard time connecting personally to the characters. But there was enough tension in the story that I wanted to finish the book.

Another book by Jody Shields I absolutely loved. I will definitely re-read and highlight her turn of phrases. Really loved it.

Jody Shields now has two books--The Crimson Portrait, and The Fig Eater. If you have read The Crimson Portrait, and were not convinced, I'd strongly recommend trying her first novel, The Fig Eater. The novel takes place in Austria, with a killer on the loose... and all the terrific psycho-spins readers of Caleb Carr would enjoy (The Alienist), but with more snow, more sugar-powdered linzer torts, and more chills.

3.5/5 stars

I understand why people call this book boring and say nothing happens in it, but the writing is so beautifully lyrical that I can’t be mad at it. The characters didn’t particularly get me to care about them, but the book is poetry, and I had trouble finding it in myself to be mad at the characters when the writing was just so lovely.

As for why I didn’t give it a higher rating...the story is slow. It’s not boring, but it’s slow burn at its purest. Reading it feels like getting caught in a foggy summer haze that’s filtered to where you can only see it in a certain color scheme. Whether or not that simile makes sense, I felt that way throughout the entire book. Also, I had trouble excusing Catherine’s strange actions beyond a certain point. To some degree, I sympathized with her and wanted her plan to succeed, but when she actually went through with it, I was disgusted by her selfishness and her inability to see Julian as anything but a replacement for her husband.

Overall, it’s a good read, and I’m sad that the reviews here are so harsh on it. It’s poetry in slow motion, and it covers a fascinating subtopic of WWI.

I found this so hard to read. No actually I didn't. The stop, start process of the story I found hard to read, concentrate and keep me entertained or interested in what was going on. The story didn't flow and although it had exquisite and harrowing details to do with mood, scenery and medical terms, I have to admit half way through I had enough. It nearly ended up in my CNC pile. Which I hate doing to any book. I struggled with it to the end only to find out it didn't even tell you what happened to the main characters that dominated the story all the way through the book.
I was deeply unimpressed, unhappy and felt like I had wasted my time.
This gets three stars purely for the beautiful language it was written with.

Apart from that.. If I could go back in a time machine I would choose not to read this book. Ever.

Just starting out on this book, looks promising

WWI, as in any war, has many layers and facets that history has written down somewhere, and forgotten where they placed them. This story is one part of the War that many probably didn't know existed and the author intricately paints a picture of one place and time during the War that was overlooked.

The book was part educational, part research and the rest was a canvas of beautiful colors painted onto a sepia portrait.

I loved the question in the book that delves deep into our souls that asks "... if we cannot express our emotions because we have no facial features, do we in fact feel those emotions..." If our faces are taken from us, how do we identify with the world and how do we identify within ourselves?

It was haunting, beautiful, painful and informative of a time forgotten that should be remembered and learned from.

A strangely absorbing read. I guess when you are a bit of a history buff anything in that vein absorbs, so I'm glad I didn't take on board all the Goodreads reviews and give up at the first hurdle.

The book is loosely based on two actual historical figures, Anna Coleman Ladd, and Varaztad Kazanjian. Both worked in the treatment of the wounded in the First World War, where facial wounding was very common. Apparently, not a lot was known in this field, and Kazanjian improvised a lot with his treatments, and Anna was an artist who drew the casualties for historical record. She also created 'masks' for those whose faces were severely disfigured once their initial surgery and healing was complete.

It is hard to imagine in this day and age when plastic surgery is able to accomplish so much, that men had to wear a mask to re-enter the public arena, and the images I found of her work online are fascinating.

An interesting and informative read.

Beautifully written. Set in WWI, a story of art, love and illusion. Should appeal to fans of Bess Crawford, Maisie Dobbs, and Downton Abbey.

I read this because I had previously read and really liked The Fig Eater. This story is odd and the characters are more than just moderately quirky....and I like that. Shields style of telling an interesting story will keep me seeking out her books.