LOTE
Author: Shola von Reinhold
Published by: Jacaranda Books Art Music Ltd
Pages: 472
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★★
Published by: Jacaranda Books Art Music Ltd
Pages: 472
Format: Paperback
My Rating ★★★★★
Solitary Mathilda has long been enamored with the ‘Bright Young Things’ of the 20s, and throughout her life, her attempts at reinvention have mirrored their extravagance and artfulness. After discovering a photograph of the forgotten Black modernist poet Hermia Druitt, who ran in the same circles as the Bright Young Things that she adores, Mathilda becomes transfixed and resolves to learn as much as she can about the mysterious figure. Her search brings her to a peculiar artists’ residency in Dun, a small European town Hermia was known to have lived in during the 30s. The artists’ residency throws her deeper into a lattice of secrets and secret societies that takes hold of her aesthetic imagination, but will she be able to break the thrall of her Transfixions?
From champagne theft and Black Modernisms , to art sabotage, alchemy and lotus-eating proto-luxury communist cults, Mathilda’s journey through modes of aesthetic expression guides her to truth and the convoluted ways it is made and obscured.
From champagne theft and Black Modernisms , to art sabotage, alchemy and lotus-eating proto-luxury communist cults, Mathilda’s journey through modes of aesthetic expression guides her to truth and the convoluted ways it is made and obscured.
My thoughts:
Lote is a joy to read. The unique plot features so much inventive detail and is populated by compelling characters.
Shola von Reinhold’s novel follows Mathilda, as she navigates a series of her own ‘Transfixions’ around forgotten black Scottish modernist poet Hermia Druitt.
Mathilda is an Escapist, someone desperately trying to flee the oppressive drabness of life. At the start of the book, we witness Mathilda volunteering to sort through the archives of the National Portrait Gallery, paying particular attention to photographic material relating to her beloved ‘Bright Young Things’, a Bohemian group of artists and socialites in 1920s London.
We soon learn that Mathilda is subject to Transfixions, visions or spiritual connections with various figures from this and other groups. She meticulously captures research of her Transfixions on cards.
Amongst the photographs she finds one of an unknown black artist, which she is able, via her research into the archives, to eventually identify as the, seemingly forgotten Scottish modernist poet, Hermia Druitt. This discovery sets in motion an intense desire for Mathilda to learn as much as she can about the mysterious figure. Her search takes her to a strange artists’ residency in Dun, a mysterious and vaguely sketched European town that seems to exist a little outside reality. Mathilda’s circumstances are unimaginable to the white upper-middle-class set she encounters at the residency, a shuffling peer-group of modern-day, lacklustre ‘Bright Young Things’ who have names like Griselda and Hector, and work in galleries or design studios. Here Mathilda begins to uncover tantalising glimpses of the life of Hermia.
Solitary and highly resourceful, Mathilda lives by wringing what she can from a situation/place/person and then moving on. She repeatedly seeks to escape her own life and reinvent herself. She is a complex and multi-layered character. Whilst she’s often not all that likeable, I found her fascinating. I loved that she has such strong opinions yet also changes her mind quite often; she is open to ideas, an attitude that’s bound to affect the way readers interpret the book.
Whilst it did take me a little while to engage with the early pages, I read the majority of Lote in one sitting, finding myself in a sort of delirious trance, a phrase that could also describe the book itself.
Lote is a book of fantasies and ideas, told with intelligence and infused with extravagant spirit. It's easily one of the most memorable novels I've read in some time, I really responded to von Reinhold's incorporation of various strands from literary and art history. I also loved the ending, which seemed to the perfect way for this story to conclude.
Having just finished reading, I feel I have acquired a new perspective on the history of art, as well as a wonderfully vivid mental image of the story’s setting.
Overall reaction:
Lote is a joy to read. The unique plot features so much inventive detail and is populated by compelling characters.
Shola von Reinhold’s novel follows Mathilda, as she navigates a series of her own ‘Transfixions’ around forgotten black Scottish modernist poet Hermia Druitt.
Mathilda is an Escapist, someone desperately trying to flee the oppressive drabness of life. At the start of the book, we witness Mathilda volunteering to sort through the archives of the National Portrait Gallery, paying particular attention to photographic material relating to her beloved ‘Bright Young Things’, a Bohemian group of artists and socialites in 1920s London.
We soon learn that Mathilda is subject to Transfixions, visions or spiritual connections with various figures from this and other groups. She meticulously captures research of her Transfixions on cards.
Amongst the photographs she finds one of an unknown black artist, which she is able, via her research into the archives, to eventually identify as the, seemingly forgotten Scottish modernist poet, Hermia Druitt. This discovery sets in motion an intense desire for Mathilda to learn as much as she can about the mysterious figure. Her search takes her to a strange artists’ residency in Dun, a mysterious and vaguely sketched European town that seems to exist a little outside reality. Mathilda’s circumstances are unimaginable to the white upper-middle-class set she encounters at the residency, a shuffling peer-group of modern-day, lacklustre ‘Bright Young Things’ who have names like Griselda and Hector, and work in galleries or design studios. Here Mathilda begins to uncover tantalising glimpses of the life of Hermia.
Solitary and highly resourceful, Mathilda lives by wringing what she can from a situation/place/person and then moving on. She repeatedly seeks to escape her own life and reinvent herself. She is a complex and multi-layered character. Whilst she’s often not all that likeable, I found her fascinating. I loved that she has such strong opinions yet also changes her mind quite often; she is open to ideas, an attitude that’s bound to affect the way readers interpret the book.
Whilst it did take me a little while to engage with the early pages, I read the majority of Lote in one sitting, finding myself in a sort of delirious trance, a phrase that could also describe the book itself.
Lote is a book of fantasies and ideas, told with intelligence and infused with extravagant spirit. It's easily one of the most memorable novels I've read in some time, I really responded to von Reinhold's incorporation of various strands from literary and art history. I also loved the ending, which seemed to the perfect way for this story to conclude.
Having just finished reading, I feel I have acquired a new perspective on the history of art, as well as a wonderfully vivid mental image of the story’s setting.
Overall reaction: