What a ride. If you like Moore and you are fascinated by late 19th Century French do I have a book for you! What happens when a French painter trained by Pissaro teams up with Henri Toulouse Lautrec on trying to figure out the power of the color blue used in paintings and stained glass portraying the Virgin Mary....having said that what really happened to Vincent Van Gogh in that field? And oh by the way, the Pissaro student is a baker on Montmatre....and the mysterious Colorman...this review is making me write in all of these dependent and independent clauses which kind of is the way you should read the book....Recommended? Absolutely....

Interesting read for the description of life with Stalin. The story was not much of a mystery. The characters were fairly stereotypical. If one happens to be interested in the particular period in Russia under Stalin, it is a good read. For mystery readers not so much....

....or so Dear Leader proclaims. The book describes grim life in North Korea. That as a backdrop, the story of Jun Do is a picaresque fable of identity and life shifting. I found the juxtaposition of the grim reality of life and the theatrical lives a bit jarring. The book is certainly a worthwhile read though.

And I thought that Flaubert could write sensual prose as a counterpoint to his journalistic style. I found the book a great read. The book is a major achievement for nothing else than the cinematic descriptive evocations of places, characters, etc. Loved it.

I have always been interested in the in the espionage of the "five" and so I found the book informative as to the individuals involved originally. Although it began slowly, the book became more compelling as it developed. I recommend the book to anyone interested in the period and or a good mystery.

I thought that it would be an interesting read devoted to art music of the late 19th and early 20th century with a mystery thrown in. How could you lose? The book is a parallel to an actual murder by the composer Carlo Gesualdo; an interesting premise. For me the book bogs down in needless didacticism of the period and I found myself skipping portions of the book to "get to the plot." Engagement in the book and the characters never came and was actually relieved when I finished it. Perhaps it wasn't the right read for the time for me.

The book is hardly tranquil in its portrayal of the tumultuous years of China in the 20th Century. The remarkable relationship of Will and Katherine is juxtaposed against the hue and cry of China, I found very effective. The novel is also a great history lesson of the dialectic struggle laying the groundwork of the 21st Century superpower.

I found the book not engaging. I wanted to like the book but found that it meandered with disparate characters that were not involving. I was disappointed as I had liked the writer's early works and felt that this was a let down.