A composer, an author, a daughter, a sister, a mother, a wife, and a lover; Alma Mahler's story is a true feminist spirit.
There were times when I longed for more and times I wished for less. Mary Sharratt is known for her skills in writing narratives that creates sense of place and era in a vibrant but demure manner and that definitely stands out in this historical fiction.
Sharratt has developed Amla's character with great care. She has flaws and is a bundle of contradiction like any teenage girl. Alma Mahler is shown to have it all, beauty, talent, and intellect. She was the daughter of famous artist Emil Schindler and lived with high privilege. Her beauty attracted men and although she received her first kiss from Gustav Klimt.Many others flirted with her such as Max Burckhard, Joseph Olbrech, Felix Muhr and she received some marriage proposals along the way. But her first serious love was Alexander von Zemlinsky who was one of her musical mentors. But Alma's mother did everything she could to ruin the romance between her and Alex. Alma's mother had grown up in poverty and had financial struggles in the beginning of her own marriage and she didn't want Alma to go through the same.
Alma's mother wanted two things for Alma; one. that she didn’t marry for money without love and two. that she didn’t marry for love without money. Whereas Alma wanted two things; one. that she didn’t have to sacrifice her art for Love and two. that she didn’t have to sacrifice love for for art. But in the 19th/20th century, having Love and independence to chase one's dream was almost impossible to as a female.
She then ends up marrying Gustav Mahler even though she knew that he, unlike Alex, who encouraged her talent, would expect her to have only one profession after marriage: BEING A WIFE. He says "...to make me happy...You must surrender yourself to me unconditionally." And she does exactly that. And from there on everything is going down the hill. We watch her suffer her own choices as Gustav literally sucks the life out of her.
Although as the book progresses I kind of grew tired of her constant complaints, she keeps seeking for attentions in weird ways and it really put me of when she goes on with the attitude of "he doesn't really love me enough or appreciate me and all I do for him." And Mary is trying to show that this is all because of artistic dissatisfaction but doesn't really feel like it. It felt more of a personal and romantic dissatisfaction.
I also wished that the brief encounters of Alma with the musicologist Natalie Curtis were more detailed. Instead we keep getting details of Alma’s many romantic and erotic obsessions and disappointments.
The novel ends with at a point where the compelling part began and I wished Mary Sharratt had dived deeper into Alma's life after Alma had broke free of the chains of the man she married and goes on to pursue and became arts patron, composer, and feminist.
Keeping her needy self aside, Alma was bold, passionate and didn't fit into the box that society had built for women. And finally when she breaks free, she is an inspiration. This books has it's up and down moments but all in all it is a good read.
Reviewed By: Kairavi Anjaria