Pre-finished review below. Only thing I have to add now that I'm done is that it didn't get any better. At the end, she is so artistic in her writing that it is actually unclear what happened to all the main characters. A disaster of a novel. I strongly recommend NOT reading this book, and I hope that Shields' other novel(s) were at least remotely less self-consciously "literary".

I haven't finished this book yet, but want to record my current impression so I don't forget it - the prose is posed. That is to say, I feel as if Shields is trying incredibly hard to make me FEEL the art of this story and in the process all I feel is that she's trying to push me into emotion and interest rather than carrying me into them effortlessly. The book is in art about a woman who is making portraits of wounded men, in part about a widow, in part about doctors attempting to excel at their craft of repairing the unrepairable - all set during the first world war. It all sounds a recipe for an epic story. If only the author wasn't also so convinced that she's forcing it into a stylized "portrait" that feels very contrived to me. I'm going to finish it, but my verdict is 2 stars at this point.

This book was so boring I didn't even finish it. The characters were poorly developed and I never quite understood the heroine's motivation for her actions.

'The Crimson Portrait' by Jody Shields was a huge disappointment. Set in an English manor house that has been taken over as a hospital in World War I, it depicts the beginnings of plastic surgery as surgeons attempt to patch up the faces of disfigured soldiers. So the premise is interesting. However, it suffered from poor characterisation (amazingly, I felt nothing for any of the people), glacial speed, and so much medical information and explanations that it felt more like a research document. The impact of facial injuries on men was so much better done in Louisa Young's 'My dear, I Wanted to Tell You'. And if you are still interested, go to the source itself and read about the surgeon Major Harold Gillies who pioneered this type of surgery.

The story:
Catherine is a young woman who has just recently become a WWI widow. Her estate is perfectly preserved in the state it was in when her husband was still in residence, but now it has been taken over in order to become a wartime hospital. Specifically it is dedicated to patients with devastating facial wounds who need the particular care of maxillofacial experts. Catherine is horrified that her home - her life - is being invaded. But then one day she catches a glimpse of a wounded soldier and he looks very familiar - just like her husband, actually. And she's sure her husband is still alive. Pretty soon reality crashes in, but with the doctors' innovative plans to create masks for the wounded soldiers that they can wear to disguise their wounds, Catherine sees an opportunity to bring her husband at least partially back to life after all - by making use of the wounded soldier and arranging to have his face swapped for her dead husband's likeness instead.

My thoughts:
I wasn't sure what to expect from this, but what I got was a fascinating (if rather depressing) lesson in WWI medical treatment history. I was also introduced to some intriguing characters, even if one of the main ones (Catherine) really made me want to slap her silly! I kept hoping she'd be found out but it didn't happen. In the end I suppose she was probably happy since she and Julian apparently got reunited in the end. And I was glad that Anna and Kazaijian were reunited as well. All in all, though, it wasn't exactly a happy story. I think Jody Shields is a great writer, definitely able to bring a setting to life with many of the senses.

Three stars is probably generous, but Josephine Bailey does a perfectly fine job on the audio. Might not have stuck with this to the end if I'd been reading it. (Debbie, you would hate her metaphors. Even I found them distracting.) Fascinating subject matter. World War I with lots of battle survivors with huge portions of their faces blown or shot off. Doctors work with sculptors to create masks to hide the deformities. A couple of real life people are among the cast of characters: Anna Coleman Ladd and Dr. Kazanjian for sure, maybe others. The topic brought back memories of Jack Huston in Boardwalk Empire. Anyway, seemed there was plenty of potential for an interesting, even compelling novel. Never came together for me.

Takes place in 1915, it's WWI this book is creepy, haunting, beautiful, and dirty all in one package. It drove me insane, but in a good way.

the two stars are for the idea and the atmosphere
this is a topic that is fascinating and scary ..can bee seen in works like the officers ward
yet here there is little plot beyond the idea and no characterization ..a grieving wife and devastated scarred soldier ..the rest are mere shadows come and go..
but the worst fault is the language ..she tried to write like a modernist classic writer and it comes off very pretentious... and many times i actually skipped many paragraphs
I however can see it done as a film.. it might work visually much better especially as psychological horror

If any of my friends would like to read this book, let me know. I'd love to lend it out. I thought it was really different, and I enjoyed it SO much.

If I was being honest, I'd give this book a one star. I thought the cover was beautiful and the premise sounded dark and twisted. Unfortunately, there was so much, but still so little going on in this book. It took me nearly a year to finish. There are some beautiful moments of prose, but they're smothered by undeveloped, dislikeable characters and stiff conversation. I felt nothing for anyone in this novel. It was like reading Hemingway, like this felt like a classic, but that's not a compliment. I wish Shields would've decided on one focus: the creepiness and selfishness of the mask, the highs and lows of medicine, or the suffocation of a war without end, like there were so many places this could've gone and had some depth and emotion, but it never did. I wish I would've read the Fig Eater first because that is rated better, but this really discourages me from picking up another one of her books.

Quotes:
* "Remember me, but forget my fate." (109)
* "You create your own ghosts...Imagine that we occupy your house as if it were a stage. The characters will make their bows and take their leave when the performance is over." (173)
* "Work is our entire experience of each other" (178)
* "I once thought pleasure revealed the truth of a body...Now I know the wounded body is the most truthful." (178)
* "I'm a sleepwalker who fears the evening" (232)

I got about 50 pages in and decided to move on. It wasn't HORRIBLE, I just wasn't into it at the moment.

Lovely writing, although often unnecessarily obscure. I mostly enjoyed it, but found one of the main characters, Catherine and her story to be unsympathetic.

This was a very interesting but strange book. I enjoyed reading it but it was a different kind of story line. Then there was lots of history in the book regarding England during World War I and the new medical practices the doctors were trying to devise to help the injured who had been in bombing areas and needed facial reconstruction. The story takes place in an Estate that has been taken over by the army as a medical facility. The woman who owns the estate is a little mentally ill IMO. But the medical characters are very interesting, there is a surgeon and a dentist who are trying hard to do research and learn new ways to do facial surgery. Very interesting book. If you enjoy history of the world wars you should enjoy this book.