The Portrait Paperback – April 4, 2006

I bought 'The Portrait' a few months ago and just finished it today. I had never read Pears, although I also bought 'Stone's Fall' and 'An Instance of the Fingerpost.' I put off reading all of them maybe, since I was't familiar with Pears, I just wasn't in a hurry. Turns out I was enthralled with the story. There are overtones of Wilde and Poe -- you'll know what I mean if you've read them all -- and a hint of Jamesion description concerning the artistic set.The story is told from the POV of the narrator, a disenchanted artist, who has been living in isolation off the coast of France for four years. A famous art critic and friend of the narrator has asked to have the narrator paint his portrait. During the sitting, the narrator recalls their past as he, an ambitious but poor young Scot, was mentored by the critic, as well as their shared participation in the glittering art salons of London. During the days, as he paints his friend's portrait, the narrator reminisces about the critic's power toruin reputations with a sardonic review or a critical word to the cognoscenti. As the portrait progresses, the reader learns more about the narrator and the dark side of the London art world. Why did the artist agree to paint the critic and why did he exile himself at the peak of a successful career? A number of characters who had affected the two men's lives heighten the interest andhelp flesh out the history of both men. No spoiler here, but the end is "interesting." I recommend this novel strongly.

The book will be gifted to an artist; Animal Crackers ... your book will have a good home.

Literary jewels are as rare as ammolite. This one is an ingenious conversation for one, in which an entire artistic life is revealed in all its components: creativity, talent, love, jealousy, friendship...and worse. I recommend it for all ages, and suggest it be studied by those who are touched by Francis de Sales, patron saint of writers and journalists.

I've found this novel very interesting and deep. And very unique, I must add: there is only one acting character, the murderer. From the very beginning you know this man, a former famous painter now a sort of a hermit, will kill his model, a powerful art critic. There is no described action, only the monologue of the painter talking to his model while painting his portrait. Through his words we get knowledge of his personal story, from his hopeless childhood in Scotlands to his arrival to London, then to Paris, and then back to London. We meet other characters, always through the painter's narrative, and apprehend how the critic toyed with their hopes and lives, leading a couple of them to a miserable death. When the portrait is finished, the painter kills this hideous man. You'll never know whether he manages to get away with it, or has to pay for his crime. Nevertheless, it's not an amoral novel: it's aim is to look below the surface and expose the cruelty of apparent do-gooders.The language is accurate, with deep remarks about the condition of women at the end of the XIX century, the development of friendship and hate, guilt and innocence, the structure of colours, the significance of light and sea to human life.An awesome book!

When reading this book I couldn’t help but think of the modern media.Lots of criticism because it’s easy.Not much thinking required.Just have a nihilistic view of the world and ratings will soar.Attack anyone ,particularly if his political views are different Always assume the worst motivations when in fact we seldom know motivations.Better I think to look at what they do ,not what they say.But tearing down others especially when they are successful seems to be part of the fabric of life today.Pears is a great writer and this book is another in a long and distinguished career..

Interesting perspective but pretty slow in the beginning. By the end you understood why he hated the man so much but could not understand why the sitter stayed. Maybe he thought. He deserved it

BUYER BEWARE - CONTENT REVIEWI purchased this book and it showed up just like above, the cover in black with the portrait image centered.I flipped through the book and I thought the printing was odd, with about a 1.25" margin on the outer page edge and a .25" margin on the binding edge, making it difficult to read. I checked the 'look inside' and it was not available for this print. I looked a little closer.It's the wrong book! The cover is correct and as sold but the internal contents is for something called "TRY AND TAKE ME!: Simple Strategies that Turn off the Tantrums and Create Cooperation" by Ray Levy , Ph. D., and Bill with Tyler.Riverhead Books is the novel publisher, but the cover page is by Signet Books. Both are subsidaries of Penguin.I have never seen this before and I have no question Amazon will take care of this, but beware!

A little dark for my taste, but interesting from an artistic viewpoint. We read it for a book group associated with the Springville (Utah) Museum of Art. Although it is true that a critic can make or break an artist, I have to admit I had to force myself to keep reading as it became more and more depressing. At least it was short, however. A book group with a focus makes for some interesting conversations. All of the readers in our group which meets at the Museum like both art and literature.

Always very well written. But the readers view of the obvious plot drawn out through a lot of repeated dialogue, coming from even the same angles at time just further on in the book. An unusual way of writing, but to me it missed what would have been the more enjoyable book with main character actually speaking, not just one bitter old man.

A dark, condensed monologue, or rather one-sided dialogue, meandering through a range of psychological and artistic insights towards a grim conclusion. Skillful, hard-hitting, definitely worth reading, maybe one of Iain Pears’ best.

I have been looking for other copies of this audiobook in cd form as I give it as present to friends who have interest in literature. The author Iain pears is a superb writer and this audiobook read by Peter Capaldi is superb

A very original way to tell a story. The story itself is excellent but read it ... the way it is told is brilliant.

Un peintre et son modèle se font face. La relation n'est pas habituelle. Elle est remplie de non-dits. Le premier a quitté Londres précipitamment il y a quatre ans. Le second était son meilleur ami et reprend contacte pour la première fois pour qu'il fasse son portrait. Au fur et à mesure des pages, au gré des humeurs du peintre qui est le narrateur et même plus que cela, le seul à s'exprimer dans un monologue continu, nous devinons une rancœur lavée dont nous brulons de connaître la cause.Comment se terminera ce duel, qui est maître de la situation et a l'ascendant? Un roman intriguant en huit clos dont nous brulons de connaître la fin au fur et à mesure que non reconstruisons la suite d'évènements qui amené à ce duel final.Un excellent livre d'Iain Pears original et puissant.