A
Fine Imitation by Amber Bock 304 pages
One of the first things that captured my attention
for A Fine Imitation is the cover.
Whoever said you can’t judge a book by its cover was only half-wrong. The cover
model invokes the novel’s main protagonist, Vera Longacre Bellington: glamorous,
chic, period, and lonely.
Deep down, Vera has always been lonely. During her
college years at Vassar College in 1913 and ten years later when she lives in
New York City. I had the feeling that even as a child, an only child at that,
that she was lonely. The novel alternates between 1913 and 1923.
Vera loves art and is studying it at Vassar. She
befriends Bea Stillman from Atlanta. Bea is everything Vera is not. The two
become fast friends as Bea pulls Vera into one adventure aft another. Only when
the two get caught on one such adventure, Vera is pulled from the college (with
only a semester until graduation) by her very formidable mother. Bea has
secrets she is desperately trying to hide. Vera and Bea glimpse each other
occasionally, but never speak or acknowledge each other’s presence.
Fast forward to 1923. Vera lives in the penthouse of
the most luxurious apartment building in New York…and one that her husband,
Arthur Bellington, built. Vera has everything money can buy: accept love. The couple
is close with many of other wealthy couples living in the building.
I’m not sure really how it came to be, but the
residents of the building decide they want a mural painted on the tiles in the
basement’s Pool Room. A search is conducted, and soon Emil Hallern, a French
painter, arrives. As an artist, he has several demands, like not allowing
anyone in the room until the painting is complete.
Hallern never talks about himself, which leaves Vera
suspicious. The harder she pushes the less he will disclose. Soon, the two are
embroiled in a passionate affair, where secrets are revealed, secrets I never
saw coming.
Bock’s debut novel, on the surface, reminds me of
Melanie Benjamin’s latest title, The
Swans of Fifth Avenue. It appears to be almost about nothing…about everyday
life among the wealthy, but readers will find themselves knee-deep in human
interactions and all that those involve. The title evokes the two parallel
stories that run throughout the novel.
I received A
Fine Imitation from Blogging for
Books in exchange for this review.
I give A Fine
Imitation 5 out of 5 stars.
Vincent And Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman,
454 pages
