Muralist (Shapiro) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Shapiro’s plotting is deft, and the anonymous paintings and Alizee’s disappearance add mystery and intrigue to the tale. Like her well-received 2012 novel, The Art Forger, this new story takes us into the heart of what it means to be an artist. …[V]ibrant and suspenseful. As tens of thousands of modern-day asylum-seekers from the Middle East and Africa surge into Europe, and pictures of their mistreatment are broadcast around the world, The Muralist is a grim reminder that history continues to repeat itself.
Washington Post


B. A. Shapiro makes the radical, varied, and sometimes enigmatic world of abstract expressionism altogether human and accessible in her smart new historical thriller. …It has more emotional ballast and is more skillfully written than what one customarily finds. The novel evokes the horror and sorrow of the Holocaust in just their tedious administrative tasks of retracing steps, of sifting through wreckage. Shapiro also does a wonderful job of restoring complexity to the historical moment and stripping away the clarity of retrospection.
Boston Globe


The Muralist is, like What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman or Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline, a historical novel that brings the 20th century to life.
USA Today


B.A. Shapiro captivated us in 2012 with her "addictive" novel The Art Forger. Now, she’s back with another thrilling tale from the art world, set right on the brink of World War II.
Entertainment Weekly



Shapiro’s writing pulses with energy…. The Muralist brings the time period and setting to life. Readers will appreciate Shapiro’s seamless integration of fact into the story and will feel immersed in a time when the world tipped into chaos. Art, history, and mystery—an intriguing and satisfying blend.
Washington Independent Review of Books



Though compelling, Shapiro’s latest is bogged down in relaying well-researched material about the pre-WWII politics and developments in the art world, ultimately undermining the power of the fictional story.... Danielle, lacks depth, diminishing the denouement.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) Shapiro follows the enthusiastically received The Art Forger (2012) with an even more polished and resonant tale. [Her] novel of epic moral failings is riveting, gracefully romantic, and sharply revelatory; it is also tragic in its timeliness as the world faces new refugee crises.
Booklist


In The Muralist, novelist B.A. Shapiro deftly layers American art history, the facts of World War II and the fictitious stories of Alizee and Dani. …The Muralist is a compelling mystery. …The Muralist elevates Shapiro to an even higher plane and is sure to be a crowning touch in an already celebrated career.
BookPage


The immortals of abstract impressionism drink, argue, and flirt with the muralist. But...the dialogue is wooden; the characterizations predictable.... Shapiro tries too hard to make her fiction into moral instruction.
Kirkus Reviews