The Last Collection

The Last Collection: A Novel of Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel by Jeanne Mackin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes There is Too Much Color
At one point the author in discussing a painting mentions that a thin wash of gray can make the background recede more from the foreground. It was as though a thin wash of gray lay between the story and the reader. It felt as though everything was being told through the heavy grief of this guilt ridden widow. Yet, though unable to paint because of it, she sees vibrant color everywhere and mentions it endlessly, as though to show the reader just how many colors she can recite. For all the vibrancy and emotions this should have evoked it all remained bland--the words said there was excitement or foreboding or passion or anger and yet those things were not evoked in the reader. The most arousing moment was the one in which Coco sets the tree afire. It was hard to get through this book. The Women of Paris is much better if you want an idea of Paris before and during German Occupation.
This is a review of an ARC provided by BookBrowse for that purpose.

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