Blue Nude: A Novel Paperback – September 14, 2010

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From Publishers Weekly ---------------------- Poet and novelist Rosner (The Speed of Light) has written an elegiac story of an emotionally and creatively starved artist and his muse. Danzig is 58, a German painter whose once promising career has stagnated into teaching life drawing classes at San Francisco's Art Institute. Then Merav appears, a lovely Israeli woman, also an artist, who models in his classroom. Merav struggles with instinctual distrust of Danzig: "The poses she took in the first session were all in the shape of fear: a woman turning away from something threatening; a body in flight; the curled-up shape of self-defense, protecting the heart, the belly." When Danzig asks Merav if she will model for him privately, she's reluctant, but their relationship evolves. The present diverges to the past, and Rosner develops her protagonists as though they are pieces of art, slowly becoming unveiled. Although their backgrounds are divergent--Danzig lived in fear of his her while Merav grew up in the safety of a kibbutz without one--their interior lives are similar. Rosner's multilayered composition is rendered in beautiful, spare prose and will resonate long after the last page. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Read more ( javascript:void(0) ) Review ------ “The grace of this novel is . . . in its details, the ins and illuminations that abundantly reveal the author’s intelligence and compassion.” —San Francisco Chronicle “This luminous and haunting novel explores the possibility of redemption through Art, Truth, Bravery, and Passion . . . and the memory of that journey will linger with me for a long time to come.” —Lalita Tademy, New York Times bestselling author of Cane River “Blue Nude explores the big questions of history, e, art, how we choose to live the lives we’re given—and yet it’s also wonderfully . . . . Elizabeth Rosner has written a thought-provoking, moving, and original book.” —Dan Chaon, author of Await Your Reply “In a restrained yet elegiacal voice, Rosner explores the power of memory and the providence of art to amplify and alleviate human suffering.” —Booklist “Through German artist, Danzig, and Israeli muse, Merav, Elizabeth Rosner builds a bridge from loss to reconciliation, from anger to understanding. Blue Nude is a lyrical exploration of how we -- as individuals and as a society -- move past our separate histories and toward a shared redemption. This is truly a lovely book. “ -- Meg Waite Clayton, author of The Wednesday Sisters “In Blue Nude, Elizabeth Rosner gracefully explores the uneasy intersection of private lives and public history. A stunningly , deeply emotional novel about guilt, desire, forgiveness, and the mysterious relationship between artist and subject.” --Michelle Richmond, New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Fog “Rosner has a painter's eye and a poet's ear. Blue Nude is a luminous book about painful histories -- both private and global -- and how they stay with us even as they travel through to become something else - quite possibly art. A book both heady and tangible, both unflinching and generous, but always beautiful to read." --Karen Joy Fowler, author of the Jane Austen Book Club "We watch, spellbound, as the story seems to levitate midair, as the characters seamlessly unfold a plot that is no less than fascinating. Using the rhythms of poetry, Elizabeth Rosner has created a lyrical tour de force." -Linda Gray Sexton, author of Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide Read more ( javascript:void(0) ) See all Editorial Reviews ( /dp/product-description/1439173087/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&isInIframe=0 )