Search - The Forest Lover

Although Vreeland's Girl in Hyacinth Blue remains my favorite, I walso enjoyed this look at the life of Emily Carr, a Canadian painter I had never heard of before. Vreeland vividly describes Carr's passion for capturing the vanishing art of the Indians of British Columbia and her desire to find her own vision as an artist. The Native American characters in the book are poignant but dignified, and the sorrow of their fractured culture runs as an undercurrent through the entire book. Carr's character is well-drawn, particularly as she ages and questions the value of all she has worked for. I like the way Vreeland writes about art.

I love Susan Vreeland's books and for some reason I hadn't read this before. I feel like this is her best. Emily, an artist in British Columbia, in the first decades of the twentieth century, has great depth of character, the focus on the Fauvist art movements and native Canadian tribal issues and artwork are well-researched and worked into a novel well.

i found this book on a flight and it looked interesting. i hadnt planned on reading it for a while but someone requested it so i decided to pick it up.

im still not sure what i think of it. i picked it up because its about emaily carr, an artist id never heard of, but on the back of the book they compare her to my favorite artist, frida kahlo.

(im not sure why- they were both female artists, but thats where the comparison ends)

the story was good- emily carr was ahead of her time, not appreicated, and was shunned for painting canadas native people. her family was a mess, along with her friends, but they made a great group of characters. it wasnt a fast, exciting read, but i stuck with it and am glad i did.

it did make me want to learn more about her, but i dont think ill be reading any of susan vreelands books any time soon.

Wonderful story of an artist in British Columbia. Love reading about her experiences and creativity.

I had a tough time getting interested in this storyline and plodded along reading it but eventually decided I'd had enough. Thought I'd be interested in this adventurous artistic woman but the writing just didn't grab me.