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Synopsis
Chaz Wilmot makes his living cranking out old-master parodies for ads and magazine covers. When he's offered a job restoring a Venetian palace fresco, he is at first, skeptical—he immediately sees it is more a forgery than a restoration. But he is soon seduced by the challenge and throws himself into the work, doing the job brilliantly.
This feat attracts the attention of Werner Krebs, a shady art dealer who becomes Wilmot's friend and patron. Wilmot is suddenly working with a fervor he hasn't felt in years, but without warning, he finds himself reliving moments from his past—not as memories but as if they are happening all over again. Soon, he believes he can travel back to the 17th century where he lived as the Spanish artist Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velazquez. Wilmot begins to fantasize that as Velazquez, he has created a masterpiece and when the painting actually turns up, he doesn't know if he painted it or if he imagined the whole thing.
Little by little, Wilmot enters a secret world of gangsters, greed and murder, with his mystery patron at the center of it all, either as the mastermind behind a plot to forge a painting worth hundred of millions, or as the man who will save Wilmot from obscurity and madness.
Miraculously inventive, this book cements Gruber's reputation as one of the most imaginative and gifted writers of our time.
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About the Authors
New York Times bestselling author Michael Gruber is the author of five acclaimed novels. He lives in Seattle.
Eric Conger's stage credits include appearances Off-Broadway and at the Long Wharf Theater. He has appeared as a regular on Another World and Loving, and has translated the works of Feydeau.
From the Back Cover
Chaz Wilmot makes his living cranking out old-master parodies for ads and magazine covers. When he's offered a job restoring a Venetian palace fresco, he is at first, skeptical—he immediately sees it is more a forgery than a restoration. But he is soon seduced by the challenge and throws himself into the work, doing the job brilliantly.
This feat attracts the attention of Werner Krebs, a shady art dealer who becomes Wilmot's friend and patron. Wilmot is suddenly working with a fervor he hasn't felt in years, but without warning, he finds himself reliving moments from his past—not as memories but as if they are happening all over again. Soon, he believes he can travel back to the 17th century where he lived as the Spanish artist Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velazquez. Wilmot begins to fantasize that as Velazquez, he has created a masterpiece and when the painting actually turns up, he doesn't know if he painted it or if he imagined the whole thing.
Little by little, Wilmot enters a secret world of gangsters, greed and murder, with his mystery patron at the center of it all, either as the mastermind behind a plot to forge a painting worth hundred of millions, or as the man who will save Wilmot from obscurity and madness.
Miraculously inventive, this book cements Gruber's reputation as one of the most imaginative and gifted writers of our time.
Reviews
Gruber and reader Eric Conger do away with all certainty in this literary thriller, in which a brilliant but exceptionally troubled contemporary painter becomes embroiled in a scheme to forge a Velasquez painting, even as he is tormented with amnesic breaks and visions that seem to be from Velasquez's own life. There's a slight shift in pitch as Conger switches from the nameless narrator of the novel's framing sequence to the main story's protagonist, Chaz Wilmot, but other than that, he doesn't attempt to differentiate the other characters' voices from Chaz's. That's an entirely appropriate choice, as this is a frighteningly introspective narrative, recounted by a man who literally does not know who he is from one moment to the next. Is he going mad, being driven mad, actually shifting among realities or some combination of those options? For this audiobook to work, the reader and the author must make the narrator's hallucinatory perspective convincing, and both succeed wonderfully and chillingly at this task.
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Suspending disbelief is easy with Michael Gruber's thoroughly engrossing novel. Artist Chaz Wilmot has never lived up to his potential. He wastes his great talent doing commercial hackwork to survive. After agreeing to participate in a drug study investigating the source of creativity, Wilmot's reality suffers a seismic shift. Eric Conger gives voice to Wilmot as he slips between his life in the 21st century and his life as the Spanish painter Diego Vel��zquez. Is Wilmot/Vel��zquez painting the soon-to-be priceless nude, or is he hallucinating as he commits forgery? Conger's performance highlights Wilmot's anguish, disorientation, and uncertainty. VENUS will appeal to listeners who enjoy a little art history, a little mystery, a literate and entertaining bit of imagination, and a smart narration. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
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Forgery of Venus CD
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the forgery of Venus
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AudioCD. Condition: Good. 9 AUDIO CDS, polished for your satisfaction for a worthwhile set, in the clamshell case withdrawn from the library collection. Some shelf wear and library marking to the box and the CDs. The Audio CDs are in individual slots, protected and clear sounding. Enjoy this AUDIO CD performance. Audio Book. Seller Inventory # 666662101310520
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the forgery of Venus
Seller: The Yard Sale Store, Narrowsburg, NY, U.S.A.
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Audio Book. Condition: Good. Nine Reliable audio CDs withdrawn from the library. Some shelf wear and markings to the case. The audio CDs sit inside, in individual slots, sturdy and presentable. Enjoy this audio CD performance! Seller Inventory # ClearBox8100120