“With soaring lyricism, Zackheim limns an exquisitely haunting portrait of an indelibly scarred, yet deeply passionate, woman.” – Booklist
Thoughts 
Broken Colors by Michelle Zackheim, Europa Editions 2007, 318 pages
FIRST SENTENCE: Sophie Marks never knew her parents.
MOTIVATION for READING: Europa Editions Challenge. Picked up at BEA 2010.
WHAT’s it ABOUT: An artist woman’s life story of growing up an orphan in England, going to art school and falling in love (with consequences), being the lone survivor of a WWII bombing of her home, running away to Paris to paint, marrying another artist and living in Italy, fleeing that situation and hiding in the American desert while becoming famous for her art and finally realizing true love back in Italy with the Italian husband. Hope that’s not too spoilerful.
WHAT’s GOOD/NOT so good: Some sentences are truly beautiful. However. It all fell flat for me and I was so bored and non-impressed that I almost gave up on it 5/6 of the way through. I slogged on anyway to give it:
RATING: TWO slices of pie.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Zackheim also wrote a NONFICTION book called Einstein’s Daughter and I am intrigued enough by the premise/history/subject of this to give the author’s glimpses of glorious prose one more chance. Someday maybe.
RECOMMENDED? Possibly quite lovely for anyone who enjoys lyric prose, lush descriptions, and references to art technique.
OTHER REVIEWS: Coffee Stained Pages gives a beautiful description (and less plot than I did) of this novel. I’ll be watching for more on the Europa Editions Challenge. If you have read this, please let me know and I will add the link.
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