historical fiction
Georgia: A Novel of Georgia O’Keeffe is a fictionalized
version of artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s life focusing mainly on her years with
Alfred Stieglitz, her most prolific period.
I read this novel because I love O’Keeffe’s art but really
had not taken the time to learn a lot about her. And I had never heard much
about her relationship with the famous photographer other than knowing they
were married yet I'd never seen a photo of them together. I thought I’d be able to learn more about both of them through
this novel. However, I had to wonder why a
fictional version of her life was necessary.
I mean, I hadn’t looked into it, but there must've been biographies based on
facts, right? This take on O’Keeffe’s life focused on her personal moments in
such a way that it felt like it must be mostly fiction. And, if that was the
case, I kept questioning why I wanted to continue. It was written in the first
person point of view with O’Keeffe narrating her own story.
Honestly, there were times when I thought I’d stop listening
to the audiobook. I finished it but never felt that I could trust much of the
information within. It felt like it was written as a soap opera which lowered my trust in the information within. I feel I do have much more knowledge about O’Keeffe (and
Stieglitz) after reading it but wonder about the accuracy of those impressions.
The audiobook narrator, Ann Marie Lee, spoke way too slowly
and I had to speed up the audiobook for it to maintain my attention. She also spoke robotically, making O’Keeffe seem cold and unemotional most of the time. I suspect this contributed a bit to my dissatisfaction. Her attempt at a British accent for a character wasn’t great. I’ll give her a
C+.
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