Review: The Talented Miss Farwell
The Talented Miss Farwell by Emily Gray Tedrowe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Emily Gray Tedrowe's third novel is an engrossing story about a woman who lives a double life. Most of the time Becky Farwell is the comptroller for her small town of Pierson, Illinois, a small town always teetering on the edge of financial disaster. In Pierson, Becky is heralded as the woman who can work magic with the town's budget, always finding money for things like senior prom, or plugging holes in their hemorrhaging finances. But in Chicago, New York, and even places like London, Milan, and Tokyo, Reba Farwell is a proficient art dealer, buying on speculation and holding onto pieces, in some case for a decade, and selling at prodigious profits. Through the financial disasters of 1987 and 2007, Becky manages to embezzle funds from the town coffers in order to buy art. She usually can sell and pay back the funds she's stolen but as her purchases become bolder and her obsessions for collecting grow, so does the risk of being caught.
I've read some reviews of the novel that claimed the novel was slow or overly detailed. Having been raised in a house full of antiques and art, books like this one or The Goldfinch are like a warm and friendly blanket to me. I felt an almost absurd degree of excitement when Becky decides she wants to collect Leonora Carrington's art, for instance. As a character study, The Talented Miss Farwell is a fascinating study into the horrifying extent of narcissism and self-justification that a person can display. (In a female character for a change!) There is so much collateral damage in her community yet Becky, even to the very end seems to display little remorse for what she has done. She is a fascinating, talented, yet despicable woman. Yet I loved her taste in art, and couldn't stop reading until I knew when, how, and why, the whole scheme would fall apart.
The audiobook is nicely narrated by Allyson Ryan who deserves kudos for artist name pronunciations.
I received a digital and paper review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Emily Gray Tedrowe's third novel is an engrossing story about a woman who lives a double life. Most of the time Becky Farwell is the comptroller for her small town of Pierson, Illinois, a small town always teetering on the edge of financial disaster. In Pierson, Becky is heralded as the woman who can work magic with the town's budget, always finding money for things like senior prom, or plugging holes in their hemorrhaging finances. But in Chicago, New York, and even places like London, Milan, and Tokyo, Reba Farwell is a proficient art dealer, buying on speculation and holding onto pieces, in some case for a decade, and selling at prodigious profits. Through the financial disasters of 1987 and 2007, Becky manages to embezzle funds from the town coffers in order to buy art. She usually can sell and pay back the funds she's stolen but as her purchases become bolder and her obsessions for collecting grow, so does the risk of being caught.
I've read some reviews of the novel that claimed the novel was slow or overly detailed. Having been raised in a house full of antiques and art, books like this one or The Goldfinch are like a warm and friendly blanket to me. I felt an almost absurd degree of excitement when Becky decides she wants to collect Leonora Carrington's art, for instance. As a character study, The Talented Miss Farwell is a fascinating study into the horrifying extent of narcissism and self-justification that a person can display. (In a female character for a change!) There is so much collateral damage in her community yet Becky, even to the very end seems to display little remorse for what she has done. She is a fascinating, talented, yet despicable woman. Yet I loved her taste in art, and couldn't stop reading until I knew when, how, and why, the whole scheme would fall apart.
The audiobook is nicely narrated by Allyson Ryan who deserves kudos for artist name pronunciations.
I received a digital and paper review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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Sounds like a great read!
ReplyDelete#9
DeleteYours is the winning entry!
DeleteSounds like an intriguing read. Thanks Marie!
ReplyDelete#10
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