Very insightful writing about my parents‘ home town area in Iowa. Author won Pulitzer Prize for reporting on Big Ag interference in small town politics. The book chronicles the dynamics behind the changing economics for Midwest farming which matches dad‘s experiences. Through stories of various individuals, some being my cousins, uncles and grandparents, he succinctly captures POV/values unique to the region that are still present in my life.

“I see movement, thick paint flowing, always flowing, over and under itself, forward and back. Wet on wet. Scraping through the layers of paint to reveal what‘s underneath, scraping through the layers of time. All there, but above and beneath each other, some scene, some on the scene, some overwhelmed and hidden by another layer of time. “ Claire

Reading this to learn more about famous forger Van Meegeren whom is mentioned in my January book club book, The Art Forger, by B.A. Shapiro. Enjoying it so far.

Listened to this a second time and still enjoyed it very much. While many other reviewers took issue with the fictional nature of the book, I throughly enjoyed it. Writing was elegantly believable for all characters. Great review by NPR reviewer, Maureen Corrigan- https://www.npr.org/2013/02/28/172974903/dorothea-langes-migrant

My sister Marilyn read this mystery first and recommended it because it features Chinese porcelain at the center of the crime. It was a fun read. While much of the descriptions of export porcelain were right on track, would have loved to had even more. Author‘s writing of Chinese-American POV seemed rich, but would be interested to hear from others‘ perspective. Museum directors and art collectors were a bit one- dimensional.