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Book Review of A Piece of the World

A Piece of the World
reviewed on + 379 more book reviews


This is an engaging book that speculates about the figure in Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth. It centers around Christina Olson, who lived on the farm in Maine featured in the painting with her brothers and parents. At the age of 10, she is stricken with a debilitating illness that leaves her with physical disabilities. Her world becomes the farm and her never-ending chores. She is forced by her parents to give up academic aspirations because she is needed to work on the farm. During her late teens, she is courted by Walton Hall, a Harvard scholar; she eventually gives him her heart, which is later broken in the cruelest, most cowardly way. The book follows Christina through her life as she struggles with loneliness and physical restrictions.

Andrew Wyeth is a peripheral character in the book, but the information about him is interesting and seems to correlate with his biographies.