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Learning to See: A Novel of Dorothea Lange, the Woman Who Revealed the Real America
Learning to See: A Novel of Dorothea Lange, the Woman Who Revealed the Real America | Elise Hooper
8 posts | 8 read | 15 to read
At a time when women were supposed to keep the home fires burning, Dorothea Lange, creator of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century, dares to be different. Now, in this riveting new novel by the author of The Other Alcott, we see the world through her eyes...In 1918, a fearless twenty-two-year old arrives in bohemian San Francisco from the Northeast, determined to make her own way as an independent woman. Renaming herself Dorothea Lange she is soon the celebrated owner of the city's most prestigious and stylish portrait studio and wife of the talented but volatile painter, Maynard Dixon. By the early 1930s, as America's economy collapses, her marriage founders and Dorothea must find ways to support her two young sons single-handedly. Determined to expose the horrific conditions of the nation's poor, she takes to the road with her camera, creating images that inspire, reform, and define the era. And when the United States enters World War II, Dorothea chooses to confront another injustice--the incarceration of thousands of innocent Japanese Americans. Learning to See is a gripping account of the ambitious woman behind the camera who risked everything for art, activism, and love. But her choices came at a steep price...
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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

Learning to See is a fictionalization of the life of Dorothea Lange, a photographer best known for her photos from the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. It veers a bit too close to melodrama for my taste in places and I found the ending too abrupt, but it was also absorbing. I give it a soft pick.

#doublespin #bookspinbingo

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 3y
Crazeedi I'd love to read about her, she was an amazing photographer. I'll check this out 3y
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WanderingBookaneer
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Suet624 That‘s sad. 5y
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Hooked_on_books
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I was delighted to meet Elise Hooper today and pick up her latest book about Dorothea Lange (the photographer who took that famous dust bowl picture of the woman and her kids—you know the one). I have @DarcysMom to thank for introducing me to this author during #LMPBC, so thank you for that! She is delightful in person and her research really shines through. And apparently she‘s currently working on a book about early female olympians!

DarcysMom How cool! I am excited you got to meet her - and a little jealous too. 😁 5y
BookNAround Ooo. Her work in progress sounds fascinating. (This one was good too.) 5y
Hooked_on_books @BookNAround I was super excited to hear about it. She mentioned that apparently there‘s a debate about whether or not to fictionalize the names of some of the athletes and I begged her not to—the idea is to honor them. She seemed to agree, so we‘ll see what she does. Apparently it should be out summer 2020. 5y
BookNAround @Hooked_on_books Good to know when it should be coming out! And I agree with you that the names should be real to honor the women. 5y
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BookNAround
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Pickpick

A fictionalization of Dorothea Lange‘s life, this is a fascinating historical novel about an amazing woman who had to struggle to balance her artistic and personal life without much support and yet still went on to create some of the most iconic images of the Dust Bowl migrants. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2019/01/review-learning-to-see-by-elise-hooper....

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WanderingBookaneer
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Current read for #ATY

BarbaraBB Great choice! 5y
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mhillis
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Finally on vacation! Just bought this at the airport bookstore and looking forward to some reading time!! #airportreads

Crazeedi I'll bet this is a good book! 5y
mhillis @Crazeedi It was interesting, but now I need to read some nonfiction about her work!! Before reading this, I didn‘t know that she had photographed internment camps. 5y
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intothehallofbooks
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Pickpick

So good!! Fiction-based-on-true story account of the amazing photographer Dorothea Lange‘s life. We know her as the woman that took the ICONIC images during the Dust Bowl-era and the images of the Japanese Americans during WW2. I particularly love the story behind the subversion and protest in her photos, as well as the censorship. I also appreciated the account of her marriage to artist Maynard Dixon and other relationships. Excellent, excellent!

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BookNAround
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Here is Ozzy making his debut as a reading buddy/lap kitty. Gatsby is beside me on the back of the couch and she is obviously disgruntled that he claimed my lap. #catsoflitsy

LauraBeth He‘s a cutie 😻 5y
Lcsmcat What a sweetie! 5y
Erofan So cute 😻 5y
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