In Girl Reading, Katie Ward imagines the story behind
seven pieces of art depicting girls or women I bought the book because I love this
idea. Besides the subject of the art,
each story and piece is entirely different and seemingly unrelated until the
clever final section.
Ward displays
her writing and research ability by jumping from a painting of the Annunciation
in 1333 Siena to a flickr photo in 2008 to an imagined futuristic art
interpreter in 2060. Reminiscent of
Margaret Atwood, Ward is no confined by genre or time.
It
takes some effort by the reader to trust the author in each section. Each chapter drops in medias res so that it is at first tricky to figure out who the
main character is, who is speaking and what is actually going on. Ward omits quotations marks and sometimes
commas, causing the reader some sense of confusion. While I was able to get used to this in
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, I found it continually noticeable in this
book. However, Girl Reading was
still a genuine pleasure to read and I highly recommend sticking with it to
uncover the fascinating jewels within.