This my first in this kind of book dealing with art and history. It a good book and interesting. It deals with Germany and take over of Europe in the 1940's. I liked the idea of the painting talking and telling detail about his owners. That what is been so neat about it. I love the fact that Giovanni started with a discovery of stolen art.

Giovanni has some family problems that it so funny in a way that he find a discovery to lift his spirit. The author was good and i enjoyed the book. I rate this book at 4 1/2 stars. Those the painting stories about himself is so funny that you want to laugh. It makes you want to find out more of they mystery of the painting. If you want you can enter the giveaway try and win a copy. ( )

Giovanni feels out-of-sorts since his art restoration group moved from London's Soho to St. James' neighborhoods; his marriage feels disconnected as well. When he hears a voice emerging from his high-tech storage area, he is surprised to discover it is a Renaissance-era painting from his deceased father's restoration studio in Florence -- a Medici count. As the count retells his hundreds of years of observation from his position hanging on walls throughout Europe and North America, Giovanni is launched into a journey to rediscover the painting's provenance -- is it a Botticelli? -- and, along the way, some personal revelations. Recommended. Review copy received from the publisher via NetGalley.com. (169) ( )

To be honest I briefly read the summary of this book and thought it sounded interesting. Then when it arrived and I re-read the back cover I had my doubts and was like "What did I commit myself into reading" So you could say I really had my mind made up. Well I am here to tell you that you really can not judge a book by it's cover. I fell right into the groove reading this book. It was only a matter of a few short hours and I was done with this book. The ease that the author wrote this book was great. Also, I liked that Giovanni was a normal guy who was kind of down and out on his life at the current moment. The talking portrait was a fun twist. The way that the portrait spoke of others who did not know art was very upper class but the author again was smart in the way that he presented the conversations that I was not turned off by the portrait. Then the mystery surrounding the portrait was intriguing and I like Gio had to learn the truth. The author actually made me interested in art reading this book. So if you are looking for something different to read and new you should check this book out. ( )

Not great. The central conceit of the novel is pretty silly, but even when taken on board, we are left with a lot of bolt-on research weighing down a slight story of shallow and not especially pleasant, even in several cases quite disgusting characters. ( )

Okay now this book has a talking painting!!!! Pretty out there and hokey right?? Well actually I loved this book and I found it very well done. It contains a mystery of the origins of the painting and many historical facts are woven into the tales that the painting tells. The count in the picture gives us his story and the history of where the painting has been. When Giovanni learns the truth about the painting what will he do with it? Sell it, give it back, put it in a museum?

You are probably thinking that this whole thing sounds ridiculous, but I have to tell you that this is a great book. It does have a little hocus-pocus magical realism, but the story is well told and is a very good one. It is a wonderful addition to WWII history regarding the loss of Jewish art collections to the Nazi party. I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. ( )