Interesting Perspective on Van Gogh's Life: "Sunflowers" by Sheramy Bundrick
"I'd heard about him but had never seen him, the foreigner with the funny name who wandered the countryside painting pictures."
Sunflowers is a rich novel of historical fiction that combines in-depth factual research with a vivid portrayal of Vincent van Gogh’s world. The author paints a softer, more human image of Vincent van Gogh. She deals compassionately with his mental illness, passionately with his talent and delicately with many of the social issues surrounding 19th century France. The author sets her novel in the last year of van Gogh’s life, which was a fertile ground for art, history, and mental illness
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Sunflowers is told in the first-person perspective of Rachel, a young girl whose parents had died and her only option was to live with her spinster aunt. Instead, she ended up on a train to Arles, France, and forced into the life of prostitution. Rachel develops a friendship with Van Gogh after she finds him sketching her when she seeks refuge from the brothel in a public garden. A naive girl and innocent at heart, Rachel is deeply moved by van Gogh’s artistry. She sees past his erratic moodiness into the heart of his gift and slowly falls in love with him. He too falls in love with her, but that love competes with his passion for his art and weakness from his illness. Sunflowers tell the story of how these two unique souls make their way through the world, both together and individually.
The authors' passion for art and the artist is clear in her writing and style. There is also very strong character development in Sunflowers and I like how the author took factual information about Vincent Van Gogh’s life and added the fictional elements. The descriptions are so well written that I could vividly see his paintings in my head and feel emotions he meant to convey through his art.
This story is an emotional, artistic, whimsical journey through the life of a troubled artist. It makes Vincent a person instead of just a historical figure and gives life also to those who influenced him and loved him.
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