Light, Descending: A Novel of John Ruskin

LIGHT, DESCENDING by Octavia Randolph is delightful!It brings you vibrantly into Victorian life at the time of John Ruskin at Oxford, into the company of Darwin, Turner, Wordsworth, Bronte, Tennyson,Rossetti and Whistler, a heady mix of science, art and writing. Her writing is fine hewed with a generous slice of arch humor and shared sly insights. Great read.Martha Collette

This bio, though a fictional novel, is packed with true facts of Ruskin's life. He was a prolific writer with many interests, an artist, an art critic and so much more. This is neither a light nor heavy read, but certainly absorbing. It got a little bogged down about 3/4 through, but picked up toward the end. The libel trial brought against Ruskin by American artist Whistler is quite colorful.

This is a very well written and interesting historic novel about the career of a famous 19th century British art historian, critic, and author. The author creates a real feeling for the time in which the main character and the secondaries interacted by her descriptive writing and use of period language.

I cannot get attached to the main characters.

I kept reading this book hoping that it would become less boring and pretentious. It never happened. Usually with this author, I eagerly look forward to her books. This one was a total let down.