There are poets. There are muses. There are revolutionaries. But is there one who captures all of those traits? What would they look like? What would they be like? Who would the be? Well, I beg your pardon, she is a mountain tiger. And her name is Ginevra De Benci a woman of the Renaissance whose gaze and portrait has entranced people for centuries. Now her story between the portrait and it’s back.
This historical novel explores the exquisite and splendor of Florence, Italy where the sixteen-year-old Ginevra De Benci is wading through life. Recently a graduate of a convent school and newly wed woman to a wool dyer, Ginevra is rather uninspired and unprovoked. Until she is invited to the Medici’s family residence for a dinner where she meets two compelling men; ambassador Bernardo Bembo and artist Leonardo Da Vinci. That night Ginevra enchants the ambassador who then pursues Ginevra as his Platonic Love. A platonic love in Florence is a relationship between a man and woman where a man is inspired by a woman to become closer to God and kept strictly to emotional and mental intimacy. Not physical. The platonic love is entertained by the rich and well-to-do who have the money to pay for gorgeous portraits of stone, oil or any other medium to capture the women in her chaste beauty. So when Leonardo Da Vinci is commissioned by ambassador Bembo to capture Ginevra De Benci and a different love blossoms between them.
Love in all its forms is explored in Da Vinci’s Tiger and does beg the question of what is love and can love be platonic? Readers will see familiar lover between brothers and sisters, marital love, devotional love, platonic love and scandalous love. Which really reminds me of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina with how people experience many different loves and not just one. Love is a spectrum and felt on many varying levels. That is especially apparent in Da Vinci and Ginevra’s relationship where Da Vinci is a Florenzer or gay, but he and Ginevra still have this very intimate adoration for each other.
Alright, now onto the characters. Obviously beginning with Ginevra who is an excellent woman. A woman who is not particularly upset with her position in life because she is comfortable and her relationship with her husband is cordile. Yet she still has a mind of her own that provokes her to write poetry inspired by ancient texts, the teachings of Abbess Scholastica and of her own heart. Which is why she is a mountain tiger whose gaze enchants all. Ginevra De Benci is a poet, inspiration to Da Vinci and readily encourages Da Vinci to break tradition and societal norm with her drab garb and being place in a landscape when women were not compared to the forces of nature. On to Leonardo Da Vinci the wild, inspired and rash artist. Who has just finished his apprenticeship with the great Varricchio who is helping him find work and establish Leonardo in Florence. Da Vinci is so progressive and thoughtful with how he works conversing with Ginevra on an academic and philosophical level that Ginevra is very unused to being a woman. He gives Ginevra a lot of freedom and security over the months they spend together creating a portrait to astound audiences for year and years to come, Da Vinci may have physically painted the portrait, but Ginevra was just as present in the creation of the piece. The final person I would like to give the spotlight to is Luigi, Ginevra’s husband whom we spend little time with. Although he is still worth mentioning because of how kind and supportive he is, he isn’t cold or cruel unlike most other husbands depicted in italian historical fiction. Luigi is very supportive of Ginevra for more reasons than practical advantages he wants to see her happy and understands that them together won’t produce that. And that’s just amazes me.
Da Vinci’s Tiger is a excellent italian historical romance. Elliott masterfully captures Florentine culture and weaves a new story. Since Italian historical fiction is by far my favorite genre that I am always on the quest for more of and it’s aggravating when I read novels telling very similar stories of the same family -typically Medici- so nothing is very surprising, but here there is a novel that is fresh and new. Definitely something for any renaissance or historical fiction fan to pick up. Since I came, I read and I was conquered.
Now, the premise around Dumplin’: Go Big or Go Home surrounds Willodean over the summer while she works at a local fast food joint and then her participation in the Clover City Miss Teen Blue Bonnet Pageant. Willodean is an unprecedented contestant for she is a fat girl, always has been and always will be and that’s how she likes herself. Although to Willodean’s surprise her entry sparks the participation of other outcasted not traditionally pretty girls of another fat girl, a lesbian, one with buck teeth and a girl with uneven legs who all flaunt what they got. Which is amazing and inspiring. There is also a subplot between Willodean and her best friend Ellen as their friendship is strained and tested by secrets, boyfriends and the pageant. And another featuring Willodean learning how to love herself enough to let more than one person in. Alright, on to the characters! Beginning with good ol Willodean who, as previously stated, is a big girl who works at a fast food stop. On the outside she appears to be very sure of herself and secure in her body, but on the inside is very anxious and embarrassed of her thighs. Yet she still has the gall to sign herself up for a pageant which puts her body on display and pastes her unsmiling face all over the newspaper. Although Willodean’s decision to enter the pageant was rash and ultimately she did question her own motives and sees them as the wrong reasons to have entered. Now, what is really awesome and amazing about Willodean is the incredible changes she goes through throughout the entire novel from super secure too lovestruck to being extremely jealous to being very stubborn (the most frustrating phase, but necessary) to getting stage fright and then finding herself in a mixture of all the sensations. Willodean is a melting pot of many different people and influences that matures throughout the novel into an amazing young woman. As for Ellen, Will’s best friend, she is a very considerate and kind friend who has everything; a hot boyfriend, bikini bombshell body, smart, sweet and approachable and funny. Which is the cause of so jealousy on Will’s part, overall is a rather quirky girl with a pet snake. Ok, onto Bo who is Will’s coworker at Harpy’s and he goes to catholic school, loves locks and plays basketball. Bo likes giving red suckers to people when they appear trouble and doesn’t give a dang if his peers prefer if he didn’t like Willodean, he likes her and that’s all that matters, but will Willodean accept that? Alright the last person I will shine the spotlight on is Willodean’s mother. Who was a winner of Miss Teen Blue Bonnet and now runs the committee that organizes it. And every year since her crowning she has worn her formal dress as she announces the winner. Making her go on many diets and maintain a pretty strict workout plan. Which has been the cause of a lot of tension between Willodean and her mother especially in the wake of her Aunt’s passing the winter before. So watching their relationship grow and fluctuate throughout the preparation and during the pageant is something to see since it’s just like how most kids get at it with their parent at that age where there are the fights and the little moments where you are best friends. There are other awesome characters, but these four deserve the most mention.
Now, there is so much more to Orbiting Jupiter than I have said, but as to avoid spoilers those details will be avoided. Also, most of the story heavily relies on the characters and their growth that it’s very difficult to separate the plot from characters. But because characters make a story let’s give them more time to shine. First, there is Jack a twelve year old sixth grader who lives on a farm and can tell if someone is good or bad based on how a cow reacts to meeting them. He is our narrator and is a very good one. Jack’s narration reminds me of a sophomore history project where students attempt to make children’s novels explaining historical events such as civilians in World War Two and a common method used by the class was to take the story and put it into a child’s perspective who doesn’t fully understand everything, but is very aware that they don’t know everything. Which doesn’t fully capture Jack since he is a very smart and perceptive in his observations. Jack was also very kind hearted and never cared that he was being judged for associating with a criminal, he had a lover greater than friendship with Joseph; he had his back. Alright, on to Joseph who is only fourteen and already is a father of a girl named Jupiter. Joseph has known love and hate and fear, although he isn’t jaded considering how mature he acts and is. A lot about Joseph’s time at Stonewall is kept a mystery and it’s never explicitly stated what happens to him, but little is left to the imagination. Although the mystery of why Joseph attacked that teacher is never fully addressed, the overarching plot line out weighs that little detail. But watching Joseph blossom in school and become less reserved around his teacher’s and Jack’s family was beautifully and spectacular. There are more characters, but Jack and Joseph are definitely the most important to talk about.