The PaintingIn 1869 Japan, a young woman escapes the confines of her arranged marriage by painting memories of her lover on mulberry paper. She secretly wraps the painting around a ceramic pot that's bound for Europe. In France, a disenchanted young man works as a clerk at an import shop. When he opens the box from Japan, he discovers the brilliant watercolor of two lovers locked in an embrace under a plum tree. He steals the painting and hides it in his room. With each viewing, he sees something different, and gradually the painting transforms him. Set outside the new capital of Tokyo during the Meiji Restoration and in Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, The Painting is a richly imagined story of four characters whose lives are delicately and powerfully entwined: Ayoshi, the painter, pines for her lover as she dutifully attends to her husband; Ayoshi's husband, Hayashi, a government official who's been disfigured in a deadly fire, has his own well of secret yearnings; Jorgen, wounded by the war and by life, buries himself in work at the Paris shop; and the shop owner's sister, Natalia, who shows Jorgen the true message of the painting. Exquisitely written and utterly spellbinding, The Painting reveals the enduring effect of art in ordinary life and marks the debut of a skilled stylist and first-rate storyteller. |
Contents
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8 | |
FRANCE 1870 | 33 |
JAPAN | 49 |
FRANCE | 71 |
JAPAN | 89 |
FRANCE | 109 |
JAPAN | 133 |
FRANCE | 192 |
JAPAN | 213 |
FRANCE | 223 |
JAPAN | 241 |
FRANCE | 254 |
JAPAN | 267 |
FRANCE | 274 |
JAPAN | 285 |
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Common terms and phrases
arms asks Sato Ayoshi balloon beauty bird blue body bottle bowl bows breath Buddha Buddhist can’t chair coat cold color crutches Daniel dark Daudet didn’t Edmond everything eyes face father feels feet fingers fire French front door garden gaze glances glass grabs green tea hair hallway hands he’d He’ll head hears Hokkaido I’ve inside isn’t Japan kimono kitchen laughs leans leave lips looks maid man’s monk’s morning Natalia never night nods painting Paris Pierre’s porch Prussian pulls rushes says Hayashi says Jorgen says Pierre says Sato says Svensk says the monk she’s Shintoism sits smell smiles soldiers someone stands stares steps stops studio teahouse tells temple There’s thing thinks thought town tree tucked turns voice waiting walks watches window wine women won’t wouldn’t wrapped You’re You’ve