The Great Man

The Great Man (2007) by Kate Christensen. Much to my surprise, when I got well into this book I realized that I had read it before. This time, I liked it better. It's about a man named Oscar Feldman, who was a famous painter who had died five years before the novel takes place. He is survived by, among others, four women who have played major roles in his life. His widow, Abigail, his mistress, Teddy, his sister, Maxine (also an artist), and a family friend, Lila. All the women are mature, if not elderly, and Christensen has pulled off the feat of telling the story from the points of view of these four older women, each with her own tale to tell. To complicate matters, two men are independently working on biographies of Oscar, and they enter into the mix of personalities that goes to make the book up. To add spice to the mix, Oscar had a bet with Maxine, that each would attempt to create a painting in the other's style, and see if it would be accepted by the art world. To her relish, Maxine won the bet; but to her chagrin, she can't bring herself to reveal the results to the public. She had promised Oscar to keep it secret. All the separate strands of the story come together nicely in the end, and it makes for a very entertaining and involving book. Grade: B+