The Bridal Chair by Gloria Goldreich – 496 pages
Book Blurb:
As a child growing up in 1920s Paris, Ida Chagall copes with her father Marc Chagall’s brilliant artistic mind, overbearing ego, and the tight leash he keeps on her. But as Ida blossoms into a young woman, she begins to glimpse freedom and opportunities for herself. When she falls in love for the first time, her father paints “The Bridal Chair” as her wedding present, a symbol of his anger that pierces Ida to the heart. Against a backdrop of the Nazi invasion of France, Ida fights for her own survival as an independent young woman while nurturing the dark creative genius of her parents.
My Review: 4 stars
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The Bridal Chair is a lengthy yet fascinating look into the life of Marc Chagall. I read this over a week ago and literally have been searching the Internet for images of all the works mentioned in the book. Thankfully, I stopped myself from making an impulsive purchase of knock off Chagall dessert plates!
The story is told from Chagall’s daughter, Ida’s, POV. We quickly learn that she dotes, worships and idolizes her stubborn, naïve and narcissistic father. She’s the character we want to shake silly! I can honestly say, as intriguing as I found Marc Chagall, I really didn’t like him. His great love for his wife and his adoration of his daughter we’re not just co-dependent, but also very revealing in his art.
The descriptive nature of the book adds to its length but it also took me to the avenues of Paris, the hills of Vence and the streets of New York. The interiors of homes, the styles of women’s clothes, the cafes and many pensions they visited were written with great attention to detail.
The Bridal Chair, the actual piece of art, was in my opinion, the heart of the book and represented its own character. It resonated with beauty, family, deceit, loneliness, anger, love, mistrust and guilt.
Art lovers and historical fiction readers will highly enjoy this book!
Quotes I liked:
A Jew can find a use for anything.”
-“I could never leave Paris. If I leave Paris, I will die.”
-“It has always been dangerous to bring Jewish children into the world.”
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