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    A Piece of the World
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    A Piece of the World
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    A Piece of the World
    Audiobook8 hours

    A Piece of the World

    Written by Christina Baker Kline

    Narrated by Polly Stone

    4/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    ‘Graceful, moving and powerful . . . a wonderful story that seems to have been waiting, all this time, for Kline to come along and tell it’ MICHAEL CHABON

    For decades, Christina Olson’s whole world has been a rocky, windswept point on the coast of Maine, the farmhouse her ancestors fled to from the Salem witch trials. A world she fears she will never leave.

    As a girl, farm life asked more of Christina than it did her family, her wasting limbs turning every task into a challenge. But the very tenacity that strengthened her may dash her chances for a life beyond her chores and extinguish her hopes for love.

    Years pass and Christina’s solitude is broken by the arrival of Andrew Wyeth, a young artist who is fixated on the isolated farm house. In Christina he will discover more than a kindred spirit; for him, she will become a muse like no other…

    From the bestselling author of ORPHAN TRAIN comes a luminous portrait of a woman of grit and grace, as heartwarming as it is gripping. A story that allows the reader to marvel at Andrew Wyeth’s iconic portrait from the other side.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 23, 2017
    ISBN9780008220105
    Unavailable
    A Piece of the World
    Author

    Christina Baker Kline

    Christina Baker Kline is the author of six novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train as well as A Piece of the World. She lives outside New York City and spends as much time as possible on the coast of Maine. Learn more about Christina at www.christinabakerkline.com.

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    Reviews for A Piece of the World

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    351 ratings58 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I went into this with extreme excitement and also extreme apprehension. You see, Christina's World has been my favorite painting since junior high when I came across the painting in a library book. As soon as I saw it for the first time I was overwhelmingly hit with a sense of mystery. Who on earth was that girl? Was there something wrong with her? Why is she sprawled out like she is? What on earth is in that farmhouse? I have also owned a very large print of Christina's World for at least 20 years that still gives me the same sense of mystery every time I look at it. So, did I want to read a fictional account of who Christina was? As I said, I was both excited and apprehensive. Quite honestly, after reading the book, I feel a bit neutral - I feel a bit 2.5 stars about it. While I am sure an amazing amount of research went into it, overall nothing much happens. I think without the painting to draw me along it might have been a book I didn't actually finish. After finishing the book I think I am left more with Andrew Wyeth's extreme talent as an artist rather than a satisfied itch about Christina.
    • 4/5
      Knowing the back story of Christina Olson and her role as a muse for Andrew Wyeth, I was eager to read it. It's a historic novel based on the famous painting by Wyeth called "Christina's World". The back story is fascinating and Kline loosely portrays the life of Christina from birth to about age 56 and imagines her thoughts and feelings and her limited interaction with the outside world. The book covers the first 10 years of her friendship with Wyeth, though it continued for another 20 years. The painting is haunting and thought provoking and so is Christina Baker Cline's novel. Kudos.
    • 5/5
      This was so good, I could have read 500 pages more.Each character leapt off the page, and I felt by the end of the book that I knew Christina, Al, Andy, Gertrude and the rest of the characters personally, like my next door neighbors who I can just pop round to see whenever I'd like. Each was flawed, but each somehow struck sympathy within me, and made me feel for them.Christina, though. I grew to love her almost instantly. So strong, hard-headed, selfless, proud, yet full of self-doubt and fear. She was human, and I so enjoyed going through all her struggles and successes with her. She was so real, I feel as if I know her personally. As if I could visit her in her house, in her world, if I just take the time to visit Maine.I want to see this painting now, to see Christina's World, and to just stare at it for a while. To take it in, and relive the book, relive Christina's life in the way that Christina Baker Kline so masterfully portrayed it and portrayed Christina.I didn't know a single thing about this painting, Andrew Wyeth or Christina, before reading this. Now I can't wait to learn more.
    • 4/5
      I will admit that when I accepted this book for review I truly didn’t understand what it was about. I was intrigued by the synopsis but didn’t see a cover of the book so didn’t have the full picture of what I would be reading until I had the book in my hand. Once I saw that cover I of course knew I would be reading a book about Andrew Wyeth because that painting is very well known – at least it certainly should be to a student of art history like myself.The book is based in fact which I also didn’t know when I started reading. That always adds a new dimension to a book if you ask me. Christina Olsen is a young woman who lived her whole live – with just a few days away – on her family’s farm. She suffered from some manner of ailment, it was never fully explained and perhaps it was never truly diagnosed in her time but it left her disabled. She didn’t let it stop her from doing what had to be done though. She also flat out refused to see doctors about it.She was not a very sympathetic character for most of the book. Her life was not an easy one and her family and health situation didn’t make things any easier. She also didn’t do much to help herself – she chose to live in her misery instead of trying to better her situation. It was a very different time but there are things that she could have done. Particularly in the way she chose to interact with people.Andrew Wyeth came into her life when he was just starting to paint and she was older and quite settled in to her life on the family farm as a spinster living with her brother. He brought a breath of life and a lot of joy into their situation through his relationship with their niece. I did a fair amount of googling after I finished the book – I do love a book that makes me want to learn more.This was an easy to read, evenly paced book. It had no big scenes or shocking twists, it was just the story of a somewhat sad woman over the course of her life and how that life developed some relevance because of the attention of painter who created a work of art that became iconic.
    • 3/5
      Interesting premise, and there were great pieces of the story, but overall was pretty sad. Guess this just wasn't the right time for me to read this one.
    • 3/5
      Set in the early 1900s to 1948, protagonist Christina lives on a farm with her parents and brothers in Cushing, Maine. Christina suffers from a rare muscle disease that increases in severity over time. Andrew Wyeth, an artist, lives nearby and enjoys creating paintings of the farm and its surroundings. This book is based on a real painting by Andrew Wyeth, “Christina’s World.” The author has created a fictional life for the woman in the painting. Christina narrates her life story in non-linear fashion, telling of her relationships, friendships, illness, and family dynamics.

      I decided to read this book based on the reference to Andrew Wyeth, whose paintings I admire. I liked parts of this book, especially the segments about the art and the artist. The tone is melancholy. The pace is slow. At times it drifts into melodramatic territory. It is a sad story about a woman who leads a hard life without much hope for the future. I listened to the audio book, capably read by Polly Stone.
    • 5/5
      This novel is a fictionalized account of Christina Olson, the subject of Andrew Wyeth's famous painting "Christina's World". From what I've read online, the author did a good job of portraying her as she really seemed to be. Before reading this, I knew nothing about her, so I enjoyed looking up information on her, Wyeth, and the house in Maine. I liked the virtual tour online that I found of the house. Christina was a complex person who had to deal with a debilitating genetic condition. She never gave in to it, even when the only way she could get around was by dragging herself on her elbows. I found her to be an inspirational person because of her determination to be as independent as possible and her refusal to give in to her problems.
    • 4/5
      A quiet story, one that backs a punch during the last half of the book. Wow, I wish I could write like Christina Baker Kline! Beautiful language, the way she described the landscape and people...simply breathtaking.
    • 3/5
      I didn't really care for the main character in this story. It was an interesting take on the artist and the painting, but I did not like Christina, nor could I summon much sympathy for her.
    • 3/5
      2.5 starsI listened to the audio and missed much of the first half of the book, so the summary will be sparse. Christina was born with some kind of deformity in her legs, and as she gets older it’s harder and harder to walk. Oh, she grows up on a farm in Maine. That’s all I’ve got! The book flips back and forth in time from when she is a child in the early 1900s to the mid-1900s as an adult, but the earlier storyline catches up with the later one. I finally did get some interest towards the end of the book, but by then, I didn’t know who some of the characters were – Sam? At one point, I thought he was a brother, but I’m not sure. Learned toward the end that Al is a brother. I also got mixed up with an early love interest, as I thought he was a later-on artist who used Christina as a model, but apparently they were two different people/characters. Oh, and surprise (to me)! As I peruse some of the other reviews, I had no idea this was based on a real painting by a real artist, so presumably the artist in the story goes by the real artist’s name? Since I thought the love interest and the artist were the same person (other reviews reminded me his name – the love interest – was Walton), obviously I have no idea who this artist is, though it finally did occur to me that they were two different people when I realized, later on that the artist’s name started with an A (but after finishing the book, I can’t remember – apparently it’s Andrew). You can see I’m not much into art! Throughout most of the book, I was considering rating it 2 stars, but as I did finally get interested at the end, I upped it to 2.5.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It looks at the life of Christina Olson, a handicapped woman who lives a largely sheltered and isolated life on her family's farm. It tells her story, and also how she came to be a muse and inspiration for Andrew Wyeth. I loved the way the author was able to portray deep, complex emotions.
    • 5/5
      One of the most vivid accounts of how one woman and her nearly home-bond life inspired one of the most famous paintings in the world. Rich in details and at times unbelievably heartbreaking, Christina's story is one that will stay with you long after the pages are read.
    • 4/5
      Some reviewers said this book was boring, but it was a page-turner for me. I loved the language so much I got lost in that cold, dark world and couldn't put it down. Maybe it's because I can relate to Christina in a way - being a childless spinster, letting life wear me down internally while I retain my stubbornness to everyone else - and this book describes exactly how that happens. This is how it happens! A series of failures and blows do take their toll, even on the strong. The old "pick yourself up by your bootstraps" is a nice motivational phrase, but hard work and talent don't always make your dreams come true. The American ethic would like us to believe otherwise (to keep the wheels of the machine turning) but really - life can turn out very lonely and broken, especially when you're betrayed by love. It's hard enough being single and childless in 2017; I can only imagine how devastating that would've been in the early 20th century, when women had even fewer choices than today. I guess the good thing is, with the Trump administration's policies sending us back 100 years, we will be able to soon revisit that bleak feminine predicament.
    • 5/5
      "’Don’t tell me too much,’ Henry James is supposed to have said, when some anecdote vibrated him to the prospect of a story. ‘Don't tell me too much!’”— Wallace Stegner, “Angle of Repose”Like Tracy Chevalier's novel “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (1999), Christina Baker Kline's “A Piece of the World” (2017) offers a fictional exploration of the story behind a famous painting. Both novels are exceptional, but there is one essential difference in the writing of the two books.Nothing is known about the girl in Johannes Vermeer's famous painting. Chevalier made up virtually the entire story, except for some historical details known about Vermeer himself and the Dutch city of Delft in the 17th century. “Christina's World,” on the other hand, was painted by Andrew Wyeth in the mid-1940s. Much is known about Wyeth, about Christina Olson, the woman in the painting, and about the house in the background where most of Kline's story takes place.So which author faced the greater challenge, Chevalier who knew next to nothing about her painting or Kline who started writing with the outline of a story already in place? Kline had the advantage of a place to start, the disadvantage of having so many possible plot options closed off to her. Chevalier had the advantage of being able to take her story in any direction she chose, the disadvantage of not having any story at all when she began her work. From the comment by Henry James that Wallace Stegner gives us in his own novel “Angle of Repose,” we see that he would have favored a middle position, knowing just enough of a story to fire his imagination, but not so much that it would stifle that imagination.As I indicated, both novels impress me, but my subject here is Kline's novel. It begins with a young Andrew Wyeth being drawn to the old house on a Maine hill where Christina lives with her brother Al. He sets up a studio in the house, where he returns each summer. At the novel's end he unveils his painting of Christina on that hill. In between, however, the main focus of the novel is Christina's life, lived under the curse of a hereditary disease that gradually weakens her limbs until eventually she can only crawl from one place to another, up and down stairs.There's an unhappy love affair and strained relationships with family members and neighbors. What others see as kindness, she rejects it as pity. She is too proud even to sit in a wheelchair, too stubborn to seek medical care. Her brother stays by her, though with his own reasons for anger and resentment.Christina loves Emily Dickinson poetry and finds many of the poet's lines meaningful to her. Kline gives Christina, our narrator, some meaningful lines of her own as she tells her story. For example, "This life of ours can feel an awful lot like waiting." Or, "The older I get, the more I believe that the greatest kindness is acceptance." Much of her life she seems to spend waiting for Andrew Wyeth and Betsy, her former neighbor who becomes his wife. And then their acceptance brightens her little piece of the world.
    • 3/5
      3.5
      Fictionalized story of the Wyeth painting "Christina's World".
    • 3/5
      A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline

      2017

      I'd give it 3-1/2 stars. I liked it and disliked it at the same time. It was well written and accomplished its goal of eliciting mixed emotions from me. As much as I felt conflicted for the protagonist I can ignore that it's her story and not mine. I don't have to agree with the character to validate the quality of the author.

      What a difficult book at times to read. The main character, Christina Olson, is a stoic and stubborn woman who refuses any assistance or concern from others. Her suffering and depravity elicit strong emotions of sadness, pity, anger and apathy. What redeems the character to me is that I believe she was limited and restrained by her parents. A difficult family situation made worse by the decisions made to live a simple life.

      I had to read some history about the book and the background story into order to fully understand and want to finish the book. On the surface the story feels to drag on in parts where you get tired of Christina describing how much pain and difficulty she endures daily.

      It made me think about family traditions and culture, being able to endure difficult situations but also when do you ask for help or decide that he "old ways" aren't so effective? There are many hopes and dreams that are denied until it's too late to acknowledge what could have been. It reminds me that sometimes we can be the obstacle to our success and happiness in life.
    • 4/5
      Beautiful story about a resilient woman and her difficult life. Ties in with the Andrew Wyeth painting "Christina's World"
    • 2/5
      Read for book club.I was not familiar with the painting this novel is based on (and don't like it now I have looked it up). This was slow, depressing, and full of selfish, proud characters who cut off their noses to spite their faces. It was told in two time lines for no real reason - indeed the structure was confusing more than anything else.I liked Al, but that was about it.
    • 5/5
      Based on the Andrew Wyeth painting Christina's World, the author did an incredible job both in writing and research.Andrew Wyeth lived in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. However, in the summers, he lived in rural Maine, where he gained inspiration of the stark climates and life lived simply.His painting of Christina Olson is one of Wyeth's best known. Afflicted with a debilitating neurological disease, now believed to have been a syndrome called Charcot-Marie-Tooth wherein there is extensive damage to the nerves of the arms and legs.Crippled, but incredibly stubborn and resilant, Christina helped with chores on her families farm. It is there where Wyeth became enamoured with the difficult life of farm and rural living. He was a frequent guest at the farm and basically took over the third floor of the house to paint.This is a novel using fact, but also, as the author notes, the author wove fiction in order to make the book more interesting.My review could not do the book justice. I highly recommend A Piece of the World.Five Stars
    • 4/5
      Very interesting mix of history and fiction. Mixed emotions on this - Enjoyed the story, however felt so sad for the main character, although, a very hard life she led, she did seem to be content with her simple life always wondering how it could have been.
    • 4/5
      Fictionalized story of Christina Olsen, the subject of Andrew Wyatt’s famous painting, Christina’s world. I liked the story eventhough it was sad and depressing at certain parts. Christina survived the best she could with an inherited disease that no doctor’s could figure out what ailed her.
    • 4/5
      A fictionalized version of Christina Olson of "Christina's World", the iconic Andrew Wyeth painting, made this reader much more interested in Wyeth and his wife Betsy than in Christina, whose story is just so sad and uninspiring and had such an unhappy life of drudgery.
    • 4/5
      A fictional account based on Christina Olson, who is the figure pictured in Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World". The author weaves an interesting back story to explain the reasoning and thought behind the painting.
    • 4/5
      As portrayed by author Christina Baker Kline, Christina Olson, the subject of Andrew Wyeth's famous painting Christina's World is a cold, prickly spinster on a par with Eleanor Oliphant. Afflicted by a severe but un-diagnosed mobility disorder, the painting's Christina nonetheless carries out all the domestic activities associated with an early twentieth century family farm, including endless rounds of sewing, baking, and caring for animals. She regrets that her parents forced her to end her education and that the only man to court her was too weak to stand up for their relationship. It's a hard, circumscribed life, with few pleasures. The painter Andrew Wyeth, who is not as prominent in the novel as one would expect, sees in Christina a kindred spirit, and paints a portrait that reveals her solitude and her longing.I liked this novel and its depiction of an unconventional "old maid" heroine, but I felt that the author could have cut back on some of the domestic detail. if I have to read one more description of the making of sourdough bread...
    • 4/5
      A PIECE OF THE WORLD is historical fiction about Christina Olson, the woman in Andrew Wyeth’s painting CHRISTINA’S WORLD. According to Christina Baker Kline (the author, not the Christina in the painting), Christina Olson and many of the other people in this novel were (and some are, she says) real people. Kline did a tremendous amount of research on them, and A PIECE OF THE WORLD is based on the facts she found. But she did have to let her research go at some points and present this book as fiction.This novel can be slow when farming details and life running a household on a farm are described. Also, I get bored when I read about children’s meanness to other children, something I think is common and experienced by all children to one degree or another. This is given too much attention in too many books.But once Christina is a young adult, her story is absorbing. Warning, though: Christina’s life is sad, too. I may have found it even more so. As a handicapped person, I experienced some of the same events that Christina did.One paragraph in this book describes the way Christina feels about her chronic pain. It exactly explains the way I feel, so exactly that I wonder how Kline knew enough to write it. Perhaps this is something she found in her research.That is the problem I have with historical fiction. Although I love it because it is more real than other fiction, I always want to know what in particular is fact and what did the author imagine.
    • 4/5
      It is a famous picture. Christina’s World but what is the story behind the painting. Based on facts and imagination. The author tries to answer this question.
    • 3/5
      Interesting premise, and there were great pieces of the story, but overall was pretty sad. Guess this just wasn't the right time for me to read this one.
    • 4/5
      I may not have been familiar with Andrew Wyeth or his well-known painting, Christina’s World, before reading A Piece of the World, but I enjoyed Christina Baker Kline’s beautiful story nonetheless. It focuses on the painting’s subject, Christina Olson, and meandering between her present and her past, she shares her experiences growing up in the small town of Cushing, Maine, limited by her health and family circumstance. There’s pain and heartbreak and bitterness, but through it all, Christina remains a fiercely independent, strong character, and Kline brings her story to life in exquisite detail. Engaging, transporting, A Piece of the World is an excellent, character-driven read, and I recommend it to readers of historical fiction. Thanks to TLC Book Tours, I received a complimentary copy of A Piece of the World and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.
    • 5/5
      My sister recommended this book, knowing I love Wyeth paintings and live in Maine. She also mentioned how it reminded her of our great-grandmother and her brother who lived on a similar farm in Connecticut.Christina Olsen lived all her life in Cushing, Maine on the farm her ancestors owned for many generations. When she was forty-six years old, Andrew Wyeth and his soon-to-be wife, Betsy, visited. Andy fell in love with the old farmhouse and spent most of his summers there painting in an abandoned upstairs room. Christina became his muse, most famously in the painting Christina's World. Christina Olson was born in 1893, the eldest child and only daughter, to the last heir of the Hathorn family and the Swedish sailor she married. As a child, she suffered from an illness thought to be polio at the time (it was later diagnosed after her death as probably CMT, a rare debilitating disease). It didn't stop her from her farmwork though she often stumbled and fell, and also suffered cuts and burns as her hands and arms grew weaker and weaker. The two youngest brothers eventually married and moved off the farm, leaving Christina and her brother Al (Alvaro).As portrayed by Ms. Kline, she is a proud and independent woman despite her disability. Eventually, she dragged herself around the farm, disdaining the use of a wheelchair. She lives a quiet life although there was a time when she had a suitor, a summer visitor who eventually married elsewhere. As my sister noted, it was easy to recognize the way she lived from my own childhood visits to my great-grandmother. I can remember her churning her butter and pumps in the kitchen sink. Unlike Christina, she and my great-uncle got electricity and running water, but they had a working farm. My mother would bring us up there to pick berries, and we'd roam the woods.Uncle Gene often took his horse and wagon about town. It's a delight to have some of those memories brought back to life in this book as the Olsens lived much the same. But this book is so much more. It is beautifully written story with descriptive prose that captures vividly the Maine coast. I could feel the bristles of the blueberry barrens, the salt air of the sea, and the calls of the gulls. While the art is important, it is the vignettes of Maine that will stay will me the longest.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful and atmospheric, very New England. I was captivated. Historical fiction at its best. After intensive research, the author wrote the story of Christina of the famous Andrew Wyeth painting entitled, "Christina's World". This is an account of Wyeth's relationship to Christina and her brother mainly, and the story of Christina and her family and other people she knew, the generations-old family home in Maine that Christina lived in and Wyeth painted in with great fascination and reverence for the history he found there. Readers will see this famous work of art differently after reading the book. Some of the places and towns in the book are places I visit often when I'm back in Maine. My family has been there for generations, so I understand many things in this story. It's really lovely. Read it if you haven't yet and like this kind of book.