The Art of Devotion

by Samantha Bruce-Benjamin

Book Overview

In the tradition of bestselling authors Ian McEwan and Anne Enright, Samantha Bruce-Benjamin's brilliant and timeless debut unveils the dark side of human nature as four women share the poignant tale... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1439153949
• ISBN13: 9781439153949
• Release Date: June 2010
• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.2" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

A Touch of Class...

Four women narrate their perceptions of a shared period of time, giving the reader a "Rashomon" like experience. We all see things so very differently. The location is a posh Mediteranean island, and these inhabitants have one thing in common. They are all very wealthy and have many secrets. A young boy, Sebastian, dies in a drowning accident. His devoted sister, Adora, is left heartsick and empty following his death. How Adora's life proceeds and the happiness and pain she causes others captured my interest totally. All four of the women are fascinating characters, and like little Russian nesting dolls there is more and more under each surface. We have the beautiful side of devotion, and a shady less admirable side residing together in the gentle splendid atmosphere of utter comfort. The reader is lulled by the soft island breezes, and every so often stunned awake by a the sound of a shattering cocktail glass falling on the shiny green marble floor. Loved it. Great for Book Clubs!

A Stunning Debut

I loved this book. I heard about in a bookshop in the Hamptons the other weekend and I just decided to buy it. This author writes so beautifully it is almost impossible to accurately describe her writing. It is lyrical, yes, but it is also so poignant, so finely tuned, so beautifully observed that it's very hard to do it justice. The basic plot pivots around 4 women telling the story of what happened on an island in the Mediterranean Sea in the summer of 1938: the point ov view shifts frequently between the four narrators so that you are constantly in touch with what they are thinking. This isn't a book that's remotely concerned with details liek what color the dress they are wearing is, but it's so much better for that because you are involved directly in the emotional life of that character. It's a love story; a story of devotion; a tale of deception, betrayal, you name it, but the twists are so shocking and so riveting that you almost go back and read the whole thing again once finished. I would have to say that I think this book is absolutely wonderful and I think that anyone who loves Rebecca or The Great Gatsby would love this - it's that 1930s world that the author brings so perfectly to life, like a bygone age. Also, what the author mines, too, are universal emotions - there's somehting for everyone here. Hugely worth a read.

A Haunting story of love, betrayal and obsession...

The Art of Devotion by Samantha Bruce-Benjamin is haunting... The prose is beautifully rendered on the page, like a love letter written to the reader... The women who fill the pages of The Art of Devotion struggle for your empathy as each reveals their hidden fears, betrayals, hopes and obsessions... and by the end of the story, their story, we are swept up into their lives. The novel itself is unique in that the story is told from four points of view. Sophie, Adora, Miranda and Genevieve are the three generations of women that tell their story, unfolding it by alternating passages, almost like pages in a diary. At first I thought that having the four alternating narrators was just to establish the beginning of the story and the voices of the different women, but as the story continued that way, I found it an interesting way to read a story. Instead of having to guess the motivations of one of the other women involved in a particular circumstance, I was able to peek into their thoughts soon enough when it was their turn to "speak". The characters are fleshed out and well developed, and the empathy you will start to feel for them individually is the result of their lives coming to life on the page. Samantha Bruce-Benjamin does a wonderful job creating such strong believable women. And their lives are so entangled with one another too! There is more than one twist and turn to their stories. Secret liaisons and relationships are slowly revealed over the course of the novel, along with betrayals, that will having you devouring the pages for more! The setting for the novel is the beautiful Mediterranean, and the story has that carefree feeling to it. We are allowed to enjoy the women and not be concerned with the mundane of day-to-day living. The interactions between Sophie, Adora, Miranda and Genevieve are steeped in deep emotion, spanning 20 years of their lives, from young girls (in the case of Adora, Miranda and eventually Genevieve) to mature women, and the results are haunting. Even after finishing the book I am still thinking about those women and the choices they made. Not to give too much away, but the prologue meant so much more to me after I finished the book, and I would recommend going back and reading it again after you finish too! I would definitely recommend The Art of Devotion by Samantha Bruce-Benjamin! For it's beautiful writing, memorable characters and its intriguing story. And those 4 women were so interesting to get to know!

Hauntingly beautiful

I love period novels like this -this one mostly takes place between 1919-38. But what I mostly enjoyed about it was how the narrative is told between all four women (Sophie, Adora, Genevieve, and Miranda), giving you the story through their perspective made this quite the experience. Riddled with secrets, deceit, intrigue, jealousy and betrayal you can't help but to love/hate these women. Just when I thought I had it all figured out ... yea, I didn't. This happened more than once. It really had me on my toes and no matter how much I tried to figure the whole thing out it just did not happen. Ms. Bruce-Benjamin's writing is beautiful even lyrical at times. She is an expert at dropping subtle hints that leave you wanting more.. making you devour her novel voraciously. All in all, there is definitely someone or maybe an aspect of this novel that we can relate to. For we have all (at some point in our lives) loved, been lied to, felt happiness, experienced disappointment or even lost someone dear to us. Highly addictive and one that I can definitely recommend. This book was provided for review by Pocket Books.

Carefully crafted, beautifully written

The first thing I noticed about The Art of Devotion was the beauty of the text -- the language is so lyrical. Other reviewers have mentioned how the writing is almost poetic. It certainly flows so well. Just as I was adjusting to the language, I was drawn to the glamourous and rarified circles that the characters lived in. Much like I loved reading about the characters that F. Scott Fitzgerald would come up with (think: Great Gatsby, short stories with titles like A Diamond as Big as the Ritz!), I enjoyed Bruce-Benjamin's references to the Metropolitan Club, the mysterious island in the Mediterranean and to great wealth. The Art of Deception opens with a wedding reception at the exclusive Metropolitan Club in New York City. I'd been curious about this building ever since I'd seen it on the Upper East Side years ago, so this detail caught my attention right away. The novel tells us about the lives of privileged British nationals living in Europe from 1919 until 1940. During this time of great wealth, and the novel is vaguely reminiscent of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby in that the main characters of The Art of Deception are privileged and insulated by their wealth. Even the quote above reminds me of Nick's opening words in The Great Gatsby. The novel is told by four different women: Adora - daughter of Sophia, sister to Sebastian, wife to Oliver. Adora is British by nationality but she's grown up on an unidentified island in the Mediterranean. Graced with breathtaking and unforgettable beauty and great wealth, Adora opts for an unconventional life on her island. One source of sadness is that she and Oliver cannot have children. Adora takes a deep liking to Genevieve and showers her with love and support. Genevieve - daughter of Miriam and Oliver's best friend, James. Genevieve had been drawn to the beauty, glamor and charm of Adora and Oliver ever since she was a child. Genevieve and her family spend their summers with Adora and Oliver on their island. Genevieve's close relationship with Adora shapes a large part of her identity as a young woman. Miriam - mother of Genevieve and wife to James. The novel opens with Miriam revealing herself as the protective and devoted mother. Though Miriam spent her summers on the island, it is clear that she had felt distanced from Adora and Oliver. While James and Genevieve are devoted to Adora and Oliver, Miriam does not feel part of their group but instead harbors some resentment towards them. Sophie - mother of Adora and Sebastian. Extremely wealthy, beautiful, well connected and brilliant, Sophie and her husband had enjoyed the glamour, culture and stimulation of diplomatic circles. Sophie decides to relocate the family to the island in the Mediterranean for her children's sake. One of the book's strengths comes from the way that Samantha Bruce-Benjamin captures so the complicated and uneasy relationship between Sophie and Adora. As I got drawn in by the language