Helpful Score: 1
Art gallerist Ethan Muller sees a lot of success when his father right hand Tony Wexler shows him an apartment filled with drawings of the vanished Victor Wexler and how he saw and imagined the world.
He sets Cracke's drawings up for success and soon becomes topic number one in all the big papers when an ex-cop approaches him.
He saw one of the pictures printed in the newspaper and the little Cherub in it looks just like a little boy who was killed in the 50's.
Ethan soon discovers that a few other pictures with Cherubs resemble other boys who have been raped and killed. He now begins to feel that Victor Cracke might be a serial killer and together with the ex-cop and his daughter his life takes a turn when he begins to search for Cracke in need to find out if he is what his drawings indicate.
The book has two parts: The present and interludes beginning in 1847 when Solomon Mueller tries to make a living in the USA. It shows how the family Mueller, later Muller built an empire of companies and money. It really gets interesting when it comes to little boy, David Muller, Ethan's father, how he was raised and the terrible secrets his mother and father kept secret for centuries without letting the public know that a "deep shame", a mongoloid child in 1918, has been born into their family.
It tells how strangely and loveless David has been raised by his parents. His discovery that on the fifth floor lived someone who was removed shortly after he made an accidentally discovery. And how he has to deal with it in the 60's.
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In the beginning I didn't care about the book at all. Two thirds into the book I couldn't wait for the next interlude because those were far more interesting than reading about Ethan's attempts to learn about Cracke's whereabouts. More than once I thought about putting it away until the interludes arrived at the point where David sees the hidden Ruth and she is removed from the big house.The story then made sense to me and I think Kellerman did a fine job to built the story on those interludes.
In the end I felt like the present, Ethan's story, is more like an interlude than anything else. I didn't care for him or what he does at all.
What I care for is the intelligent way the story was built by Jesse Kellerman. In the end he made it to close all lose ends and there were a lot.
He sets Cracke's drawings up for success and soon becomes topic number one in all the big papers when an ex-cop approaches him.
He saw one of the pictures printed in the newspaper and the little Cherub in it looks just like a little boy who was killed in the 50's.
Ethan soon discovers that a few other pictures with Cherubs resemble other boys who have been raped and killed. He now begins to feel that Victor Cracke might be a serial killer and together with the ex-cop and his daughter his life takes a turn when he begins to search for Cracke in need to find out if he is what his drawings indicate.
The book has two parts: The present and interludes beginning in 1847 when Solomon Mueller tries to make a living in the USA. It shows how the family Mueller, later Muller built an empire of companies and money. It really gets interesting when it comes to little boy, David Muller, Ethan's father, how he was raised and the terrible secrets his mother and father kept secret for centuries without letting the public know that a "deep shame", a mongoloid child in 1918, has been born into their family.
It tells how strangely and loveless David has been raised by his parents. His discovery that on the fifth floor lived someone who was removed shortly after he made an accidentally discovery. And how he has to deal with it in the 60's.
-
In the beginning I didn't care about the book at all. Two thirds into the book I couldn't wait for the next interlude because those were far more interesting than reading about Ethan's attempts to learn about Cracke's whereabouts. More than once I thought about putting it away until the interludes arrived at the point where David sees the hidden Ruth and she is removed from the big house.The story then made sense to me and I think Kellerman did a fine job to built the story on those interludes.
In the end I felt like the present, Ethan's story, is more like an interlude than anything else. I didn't care for him or what he does at all.
What I care for is the intelligent way the story was built by Jesse Kellerman. In the end he made it to close all lose ends and there were a lot.
Helpful Score: 1
Very good, and different, mystery by an excellent writer.
Helpful Score: 1
Jesse Kellerman is going to leave both his writer parents in the dust as a writer. He is so creative, and has such a cunning and curious mind, and wow, can he weave a story! This book at first had me so confused, but I kept on, and I was pulled into a complex, unusual and increasingly spine-tingling thriller. I had no idea where I was being taken to! It's hard to imagine this is a first novel...I can't even imagine where Jesse Kellerman is going to be in 15 years from now!
This book was a good read, but it seemed that he got tired of writing the book and just ended it.
This mystery does not begin until somewhere in the middle of the story. Long tale with many interesting relationships and characters. Son, Father, husband, friend, wife and eventually brother. Strange hunt for Strange Artist with an even stranger past. The ending was worth staying with the diverse plots. I needed to finish this one. Never boring but often requiring the listener to replay a disc for clarity and understanding.
I'm a struggling writer, I haven't sold any manuscrpits as of today, but I can tell you that there is something about this writing that suggests a new direction. At least for me. I just figured out the inspiration for this novel. BIZARRE! Dar***
When I begin reading a book, the only real expectation I have is that it will be good. I don't care how it gets me to the Land of Good, I just want that to be my destination. Unfortunately my train to the Promised Land was shunted off on a siding and never made it to the end of the line when I read The Genius.
The Genius is more family saga than thriller. Criminal investigation in this book is not all glitz, glamour, action, and suspense. Here it's quite a hard slog to get to the answers. The premise-- who is the missing-- brilliant if eccentric-- artist named Victor Cracke is the one thing that kept me going clear to the end of this book. The only thing I really found interesting was the background information provided on the cutthroat art world. All the characters left me cold.
When I finally learned the identity of Victor Cracke, I discovered that I'd been led in, through, and out of the (to me) tired story of a rags-to-riches family who covered up and denied much in order to retain its veneer of respectability-- at great cost to those who needed its love and protection the most. It was a story that I just was not in the mood for in any size, shape, or form. There are times when I have no patience whatsoever for the type of people Kellerman's story was all about. This was one of those times-- which means your mileage most certainly will vary!
The Genius is more family saga than thriller. Criminal investigation in this book is not all glitz, glamour, action, and suspense. Here it's quite a hard slog to get to the answers. The premise-- who is the missing-- brilliant if eccentric-- artist named Victor Cracke is the one thing that kept me going clear to the end of this book. The only thing I really found interesting was the background information provided on the cutthroat art world. All the characters left me cold.
When I finally learned the identity of Victor Cracke, I discovered that I'd been led in, through, and out of the (to me) tired story of a rags-to-riches family who covered up and denied much in order to retain its veneer of respectability-- at great cost to those who needed its love and protection the most. It was a story that I just was not in the mood for in any size, shape, or form. There are times when I have no patience whatsoever for the type of people Kellerman's story was all about. This was one of those times-- which means your mileage most certainly will vary!
