Review: A Colorful Text Written by a True Artist
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 4, 2014
Wendy Evans’ A Study in Flesh is a fascinating look into the life of fictional artist Ron Turner. The literary portrait of his career and romantic life is as carefully thorough as the portraits which he paints, and the writing style provides highly evocative visual descriptions of his works and the world around him. His world consists of a great deal more than his artwork, and it quickly becomes apparent that this is the work of an author with a great deal of knowledge pertaining to many subjects.Even the book’s structure illustrates the intelligence of the writer. Each chapter begins with a thorough description and history of a single color. This, along with the various artistic terms which constitute the titles of each of the book’s sections, helps to set up a complicated series of themes to be explored. At times, it can be difficult to believe that the wealth of real-world information present in the novel was compiled by a single person for the sake of a fictional story.The abundant knowledge to be gained from a thorough reading of the text is both a gift and a curse. Readers who don’t know what they’re getting themselves into may be turned off, as it takes a slow and deliberate reading to absorb everything this book has to offer. For those who enjoy a reading experience that is deep in terms of both fact and fiction, this book will merit more than a single read-through. It is a shame that this novel was published posthumously, as one can only imagination the fascinating interviews that might have been conducted with an author capable of delivering such a thought-provoking and evocative collection of ideas within the confines of a single narrative experience.