This book has themes of the oppression of women, abuse, and rape. If those topics make you uncomfortable, I would recommend not reading this review, or this book.
This story does take place sometime between 1593 and 1654 (when Artemisia Gentileschi was alive), so women were treated vastly different than they are today. ...well hopefully.
This story is told in mostly poetry with some brief short story like segments that happen occasionally.
An amazon summary, "Her mother died when she was twelve, and suddenly Artemisia Gentileschi had a stark choice: a life as a nun in a convent or a life grinding pigment for her father's paint.
She chose paint.
By the time she was seventeen, Artemisia did more than grind pigment. She was one of Rome's most talented painters, even if no one knew her name. But Rome in 1610 was a city where men took what they wanted from women, and in the aftermath of rape Artemisia faced another terrible choice: a life of silence or a life of truth, no matter the cost.
He will not consumemy every thought.I am a painter.I will paint.
Joy McCullough's bold novel in verse is a portrait of an artist as a young woman, filled with the soaring highs of creative inspiration and the devastating setbacks of a system built to break her. McCullough weaves Artemisia's heartbreaking story with the stories of the ancient heroines, Susanna and Judith, who become not only the subjects of two of Artemisia's most famous paintings but sources of strength as she battles to paint a woman's timeless truth in the face of unspeakable and all-too-familiar violence.
I will show you what a woman can do." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
Artemisia is the daughter of a painter. Due to the time period she lives in, she can't really officially be an apprentice to her father, but none of her father's sons have any skill for the craft of painting. Or, she could go be a nun.
So she paints in secret.
As much as she loves to paint, she also dislikes how men have painted two famous females as they don't capture the female perspective. They don't capture the essence of what they're experiencing in that moment.
Not only does Artemisia paint, but she also does a lot of the chores around the household as well while her brothers get an education. Artemisia also corrects the paintings her father creates, and her father hires her a teacher in secret to help her art. ...but that teacher turns into her rapist.
That's enough summary.
I had some difficulty reading this book just because of my own emotional reaction. There were so many times where I wanted to just scream in frustration for Artemisia for the men not valuing her as a person, for almost scoffing at her for wanting any amount of respect. I just, all the rage.
However, I do think the book could have done a little more expressing the trauma Artemisia went through by just spending more time with her at her worst. ...which would have made it more heart breaking, but with some subject matter, you should break all the hearts. ...all of them. But, I do think it did cover enough of the subject matter to be satisfactory.
Happy reading!
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