by Marta Molnar, 2023
I have mixed feelings about The Secret Life of Sunflowers. The historical part involving Vincent Van Gogh, his brother Theo, and sister-in-law Johanna was by far the most interesting part. The author alternates chapters between these historical parts and a modern-day counterpart of a failing businesswoman named Emsley. I found this modern storyline so disorienting and distracting, and having such a tenuous connection to the Van Gogh storyline, that out of frustration I skipped ahead chapters and read only the Van Gogh chapters first.
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The facts that Molnar pieced together about Vincent Van Gogh’s brief and tortured life, his brother Theo’s similarly tortured existence, and Johanna’s heroic perseverance in preserving Vincent’s artwork and bringing him notice in the larger artworld was amazing and commendable. But it felt thin. Because this was indeed historical fiction, the story could have been so much more—as a novelist, she had free reign to embellish the story from the bare facts. Instead she invented the modern-day counterpart which, in my opinion, felt like cheap filler and added nothing to the book.
I eventually went back and finished reading the modern-day storyline of Emsley, who managed to resurrect her Los Angeles art auction business in New York City. Through an inheritance from the death of her grandmother, she discovers a tenuous connection to Van Gogh; hence the invented connection that the author builds to these two storylines.
I didn’t buy it. I didn’t like this half of the book at all and didn’t buy the connection; it was all too far-fetched for me. The fame of the grandmother Violet was too much to be believed; the bizarre performance art of naked ladies with spun sugar too much to envision. The whole storyline of her grandmother was a wealthy person’s fantasyland that didn’t fit with the Van Goghs and their struggles. Bottom line: it didn’t surprise me that she couldn’t sell this book to a traditional publisher.
You can buy The Secret Life of Sunflowers here. I would love to hear your comments on this book.
2 Responses
Just discovered this after finishing this book this morning for my book group.
I found this book greatly lacking. I love historical fiction, but as you said, the plot was thin. It seemed like she hardly knew Vincent, but then suddenly she loved him and was devoted to finding success for him (and an income to raise her son). It seemed like we were missing a lot, yet we also had extra characters we didn’t really get to know.
And with Elmsley, I found her very frustrating! Why on earth did she want to stay working with Trey? I’d dump him like a hot potato!! And then she forgave her friend who slept with her boyfriend? Really! That doesn’t even touch the issue that the story was a far-fetched fantasy.
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Hi Marie,
Thanks for commenting. I think this book was a sad case of someone trying to sell books by riding on the name recognition of Van Gogh. To a certain extent she was successful – after all, your book club is reading it! and it’s been highly recommended by places like GoodReads. But the dual timeline didn’t work for me at all, making this book a disappointment.