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From the New York Times bestselling author of The Dovekeepers and The Museum of Extraordinary Things: a forbidden love story set on the tropical island of St. Thomas about the extraordinary woman who gave birth to painter Camille Pissarro; the Father of Impressionism.Growing up on idyllic St. Thomas in the early 1800s, Rachel dreams of life in faraway Paris. Rachel's mother, a pillar of their small refugee community of Jews who escaped the Inquisition, has never forgiven her daughter for being a difficult girl who refuses to live by the rules. Growing up, Rachel's salvation is their maid Adelle's belief in her strengths, and her deep, life-long friendship with Jestine, Adelle's daughter. But Rachel's life is not her own. She is married off to a widower with three children to save her father's business. When her husband dies suddenly and his handsome, much younger nephew, Fréderick, arrives from France to settle the estate, Rachel seizes her own life story, beginning a defiant, passionate love affair that sparks a scandal that affects all of her family, including her favorite son, who will become one of the greatest artists of France.Building on the triumphs of The Dovekeepers and The Museum of Extraordinary Things, set in a world of almost unimaginable beauty, The Marriage of Opposites showcases the beloved, bestselling Alice Hoffman at the height of her considerable powers. Once forgotten to history, the marriage of Rachel and Fréderick is a story that is as unforgettable as it is remarkable.
Publication Year: 2015
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Rachel grows up as the daughter of a successful Jewish merchant on the island of St. Thomas. She spends much of her time listening to stories told by the family's servant cook and exploring the beauty of the island with Jestine, the cook's daughter, much to the chagrin of Rachel's mother, who seems to harbor resentment towards all three of the other females in the house. When Rachel's father marries her off to a recent widower as part of a business deal, she becomes a devoted step-mother and mother to numerous children while continuing to participate in both businesses as much as a woman could at the time. When Rachel herself is widowed, she continues to immerse herself in motherhood until her husband's nephew (and inheritor of the estate) comes to visit, they fall in love, passionately and intensely--and disturbingly for the Jewish community to which they belong(ed).
The story then shifts to focus on Camille himself and his adventures in Paris and on his home island. Central to his story is the tension in his relationship with his mother, constantly feeling like he is a disappointment, despite her supposed preference of him among all of her children. Interestingly, Camille also develops a close relationship with Jestine and makes it his personal mission to reunite her with her long-lost (kidnapped) daughter while pursuing his own interests in art.
Hoffman described the heat and atmosphere of St. Thomas Island so beautifully, and there was a sense of oppression from the environment that pervaded through the entire story, paralleling the relationships between the characters. I loved the quiet representation of Jewish characters in an unfamiliar setting with a sense of mysticism and folklore that struck just the right balance of realism for me (an extremely hesitant reader of magical realism). The relationships between Rachel and all of the other characters in her life were fascinating, particularly her friendships with Jestine and Rosalie, challenging the societal expectations and boundaries of the time. However, once the story switched perspectives, I was far less engaged. Camille's story did not pull me in, and the plot moved too quickly for my tastes, feeling rushed and not fully developed with a character that I found quite distasteful.
0This is an epic story spanning the life of one woman – Rachel Pomie Petit Pizzarro – as she struggles with marriage and motherhood. Rachel was born in St. Thomas, but from a very young age, her and her best friend, Jestine, have always dreamed of Paris. As she is just coming of age, she is asked to marry an older man from her community in an effort to save her father’s business. With this marriage, she immediately becomes a new mother of three and it seems the rest of her life has been written. But Rachel was never very good at following rules.
One thing I love about this story is that Rachel is a real woman – and the hard details of her life have been ripped straight from history. She is not well known. In fact, if she was not the mother of the famous Impressionist painter, Camille Pissarro, her name may have been lost to almost all in history. But she was an amazing woman and her story, told through Hoffman’s eyes, is incredible. Hoffman took the bones of Rachel’s life and breathed onto it an incredible journey of spirit. I was immediately drawn into her world & I was transported to an island I barely even knew about before. Even though Rachel lived her life almost 200 years ago & in locations that most of us can only dream of, the themes of the story were universal. The sense of community, letting down those you love, being true to yourself and yearning for something that seems just beyond your grasp easily translates through time and space. It is never too late to conquer your dreams. But what I found most amazing is how from jumping between perspectives in the novel, each character becomes a completely different person when viewed through the eyes and experiences of others. Through this, Hoffman forces the reader to re-examine decades of choices that were made in novel and shows us how knowledge can change everything.
This is a story about opportunity. It is about looking past what you think you can have and reaching for what you want, even if others do not approve. It is a story about loss and loving what you have when you have it. Hoffman writes grand stories, transporting you across the world and through decades of life. A Marriage of Opposites is no exception. But her stories are so engrossing that it makes you feel as if it all happened in a moment. I highly recommend.
0Did not finish.
The first half of this historical novel is interesting, with a flawed main character, and a unique setting (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands) with a lot of history.
However, the focus of the second half switches to the child of the main character (the painter Camile Pissaro). My issue is that his point of view -- which may be historically factual -- features how nasty and awful his mother is.
I just spent hours with the mother as she grows from a child to a mother of 9 kids (6 biologically hers). It seemed like the author expects the reader to totally erase the previous 1/2 of the book and start over. I didn't appreciate that, and while I tried to make the switch for a few chapters, I decided the book wasn't good enough for me to keep trying.
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