Book review: The Swan Thieves

Okay, I have had a really really difficult time figuring this review out. So, I give up. I just can't quite write a review of this book. Instead, here is a crappy rundown, not quite a review:

Robert Oliver, an artist, attacks a painting in the National Gallery of Art. He says "I did it for her." He doesn't talk to the therapist he sees after being admitted to a psychiatric facility. The facility is run by Andrew Marlow, himself an amateur artist. (Oliver is not an amateur, in my mind, because he has both sold his art and taught art classes.) Anyhoo. Dr. Marlow goes to interview Oliver's ex-wife to see if he can figure this guy out. And figure out who the woman is in the paintings Oliver keeps doing. The ex doesn't know--he painted this woman while they were married as well. And seemed more than a little obsessed with her. Marlow then talks to Oliver's ex-girlfriend, who also has no insight into who this woman is.

Intermixed with that story are flashbacks to Paris in the 1870s. These scenes primarily deal with a woman named Beatrice who paints and tries to get pregnant. She spends a lot of time writing to her husband's uncle--whether or not this is his actual uncle or just a close family friend, I couldn't quite figure out. The guy seemed like both. It seems like there's something more to the relationship between Beatrice and the uncle than just friendship.

So that's the basic plot. I really liked it, maybe because I grew up with art. Like The Historian, it is a little slow going, but I think it's worth it.