I Always Loved You
Robin Oliveira, 2014
Viking Adult
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780670785797
Summary
A novel of Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas’s great romance.
The young Mary Cassatt never thought moving to Paris after the Civil War to be an artist was going to be easy, but when, after a decade of work, her submission to the Paris Salon is rejected, Mary’s fierce determination wavers.
Her father is begging her to return to Philadelphia to find a husband before it is too late, her sister Lydia is falling mysteriously ill, and worse, Mary is beginning to doubt herself. Then one evening a friend introduces her to Edgar Degas and her life changes forever. Years later she will learn that he had begged for the introduction, but in that moment their meeting seems a miracle. So begins the defining period of her life and the most tempestuous of relationships.
In I Always Loved You, Robin Oliveira brilliantly re-creates the irresistible world of Belle Epoque Paris, writing with grace and uncommon insight into the passion and foibles of the human heart. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1954
• Raised—Loudonville, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Universityof Montana; M.F.A., Vermont College
• Awards—Michael Shaara Prize; James Jones First Novel Award
• Currently—lives outside Seattle, Washington
Robin Oliveira is an American author, former literary editor, and nurse, who is known for her 2010 debut novel, My Name is Mary Sutter. Her second novel is I Always Loved You was issued in 2014.
Background
Robin Frazier Oliveira was born in Albany, New York, in 1954 and grew up in nearby Loudonville, graduating from Shaker High School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Russian from the University of Montana in 1976, and continued her study at the Pushkin House Institute of Russian Literature in Moscow. After finding this wasn't a viable career path, she studied nursing, earning a living as registered nurse specializing in critical care and bone marrow transplant, in Seattle.
Writing
Oliveira worked in nursing until the birth of her children, when she left work to stay home with them, but when her youngest son entered kindergarten, she decided to try to write a book instead of returning. She went back to school to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2006. She served as assistant editor at Narrative Magazine and from 2007 through 2011 as fiction editor for the annual literary magazine Upstreet.
In 2002 Oliveira began writing the novel that became My Name is Mary Sutter. It tells the story of an Albany midwife trying to become a surgeon during the American Civil War. At first, Oliveira admits, the writing wasn't very good, and her writing teacher doubted it could succeed. Rewriting took years, including traveling to Washington D.C. for extensive research at the National Archives and the Library of Congress. In 2007, while still in progress, it won the James Jones First Novel Award under the working title The Last Beautiful Day.
My Name is Mary Sutter was finally published in 2010. It was widely reviewed, mostly favorably, with reviewers commenting on the detailed research and the determined heroine. It won an honorable mention for the 2010 Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction and won the 2011 Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction.
Her 2013 novel, I Always Loved You imagines a love affair between Mary Cassat and Edgar Degas. Kikus Reviews cited the "accomplished" research, which will enable readers to "gain a better understanding of impressionism."
Personal
Oliveira lives just outside Seattle, Washington, with her husband Andrew. They have a daughter, Noelle, and a son, Miles. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/19/2014.)
Book Reviews
American painter Mary Cassatt has just moved to the City of Light....[where] a chance meeting with Edgar Degas...changes the course of her career and life. Though it’s never been proven that the two painters were lovers, Oliveira explores the next 40 turbulent years of their relationship, and what might have been, crafting a tale of inspiration, desire.
Publishers Weekly
Oliveira has woven a rich tapestry of the artist's life in Belle Epoque Paris, in a close, intimate rendering rather than a grand, sweeping landscape. Readers who enjoy historical fiction set in this time period will enjoy the novel, as will those who like fictionalized accounts of historical figures. —Pam O'Sullivan, Coll. at Brockport Lib., SUNY
Library Journal
Oliveira draws from research and imagination.... The book is accomplished and well-researched, but the relationship between Cassatt and Degas isn't as engaging as the secondary story: the love affair between Morisot and Manet. Readers may come away with little understanding of what made Cassatt and Degas click; nevertheless, they'll gain a better understanding of impressionism.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. In Robin Oliveira's novel, it's clear that Mary Cassatt and Edward Degas genuinely loved each other. Might they have found happiness in marriage? Would their art have been diminished or elevated by the relationship?
2. It seems extraordinary that one organization, the Ecole des Beaux Arts, once held such power in determining what was considered "good" art. Yet in our own era, an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art will attract more reviews and attendees than any show in an independent gallery. Does this kind of official validation ultimately have a positive or negative effect on art, literature, music, and other creative commodities?
3. After she meets Degas, Cassatt thinks, "People were always asking artists that inane question. Don't ask me how I do what I do.... But hadn't she asked Degas the same thing in his studio?" (p. 112) Why are we drawn to understand other people's creative processes?
4. Mary Cassatt's father, Robert, is indifferent to the needs of anyone beside himself. To what extent did his attitude toward the women in his family influence Mary's attitudes toward marriage and her relationship with Degas?
5. While Mary Cassatt is still struggling to make her name, her father asks her, "What is the purpose of any endeavor if not to make money? And how does an artist tell whether or not he is successful?" (p. 130) How would you answer his questions?
6. As depicted in Oliveira's novel, many legendary artists—not to mention the writers Emile Zola and Stephane Mallarme—were part of the same circle. How did their association help them achieve success? Do you think all of them would have achieved fame independently?
7. Degas treated his "rat," Marie, quite cruelly while she modeled for his wax sculpture of a ballet dancer. Does great art justify the collateral damage of its creation?
8. The novel intimates that Edouard Manet married his father's mistress and that Berthe Morisot married Edouard's brother, Eugene. Do you empathize with their decisions?
9. So many of Cassatt's later paintings capture the love between mother and child. Yet she herself was childless. Do you think she could really understand this particular form of love? Why or why not? If you were a woman living in an era when childbirth put your health-and often your life-at risk, do you think you would have been willing to take that chance?
10. Manet died at the height of his powers, whereas Degas lived for years unable to create. In your opinion, which artist suffered the worse fate?
11.To whom does the novel' s title I Always Loved You refer?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)