The Black Painting

by Neil Olson

[pamela]

I noped my way out of The Black Painting at 50%. I think I would have enjoyed it more had I read it, but the Audio Book was a hard no for me. The narrator didn't spark my interest, and the story meandered too much to really benefit from the format.

The premise of The Black Painting sounded promising. I do love Goya's work, and the idea of a cursed painting tickled me. But 50% of the way through there was minimal discussion about the art, and way too much time spent with one-dimensional characters. And don't even get me started on the way the women are written. There are no strong female characters, and I was constantly distracted by the fact that the female characters were objectified, and far too often described in terms of their breasts.

Add to that a stream of rhetorical questions from the protagonist, Teresa, and repetitive settings and characterisation, and there was just no way I could bring myself to finish it. Definitely interested to know if the physical reading experience is any different, but the Audio Book is undoubtedly not a recommendation from me.