Palombo is clearly enamored with not
Palombo is clearly enamored with notIn Alyssa Palombo’s first novel, The Violinist of Venice, she tells the story of the composer Antonio Vivaldi and his secret, wealthy mistress, Adriana d’Amato. Her second, The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence, examines a different kind of artist — painter Sandro Botticelli — and his beautiful but married muse for “The Birth of Venus,” Simonetta Vespucci.
Palombo is clearly enamored with not just Italy and the arts, but also with passion and forbidden love.
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The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence promises all the ingredients to entice readers: a stunningly beautiful young woman who inspires love and desire; the famous Medici family; 15th-century Florence; and the Renaissance painter Botticelli.
One of the wealthiest cities in the world at that time, Florence dominated trade and finance. Lorenzo de’ Medici — and his father and grandfather before him — were great patrons of the arts as well as the city’s most influential citizens and financiers. The 15th century spawned artistic, humanistic, technological, and scientific developments known as the Renaissance that are still honored today.
Simonetta is a beautiful woman who, early in the story, weds Marco Vespucci. She was an only child, defined by her beauty since birth, and Simonetta’s parents are anxious to marry her off to a wealthy man who can provide a good life for their daughter and the necessary dowry for their later years.
The Florentine Vespucci not only fits the bill, but is friends with both Lorenzo and Giuliano de’ Medici.
Palombo portrays Florence as a city of great art, intellect, and decadence, its wealthy citizens somewhat at odds with strict, moralistic Catholic teachings.
At first, Simonetta is thrilled with her new life as Marco’s wife and enjoys being the center of attention at the Florentine court. Early in the story, she is drawn to a painting done by Sandro Botticelli and, later, when he asks to paint her, she convinces her husband to agree.
All her life, Simonetta has been told that “beauty was a weapon, a tool, a source of power — sometimes the only one available to a woman.” As the novel unfolds, Simonetta questions her value and how others see her.
Is “such beauty a gift or a curse?” Is beauty “the means to an end”? “What is it about beauty…which makes men think they have the right to desire you?” “This was what beauty was good for. To create a masterpiece.”
While the novel has some powerful moments, particularly at the end, it is weighed down with too much description and too many paragraphs full of Simonetta’s thoughts and reflections. Occasionally, dialogue jars the reader with phrasing that seems too modern, and the prose is too extravagant.
As historical fiction, the story is not immersive enough. The author misses the opportunity to reveal the history surrounding the Medici family and its banking prowess, the political situation of the time, the rich traditions of life in Florence, and more of the artistic world of the Renaissance.
I stayed up late every night this week reading The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon. It's no great surprise that I loved it. The plot involves Lynnie, a young white woman with an intellectual disability, and Homan, an African-American deaf man. They fall in love and run away from "the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded." Lynnie gives birth to a child and, just before being dragged back to the School, gives the child away to a kind old woman she has just met. The book traces the contours of their lives–the old woman, the baby, Lynnie, Homan, and Kate, a woman who works at the School and befriends Lynnie.
Rachel Simon grew up with a sister with an intellectual disability, and she wrote about this experience in the bestselling memoir, Riding the Bus With My Sister. Much of this novel takes place inside Lynnie's head, and as a reader I was able to see the world through different eyes. Moreover, I was able to understand Lynnie, understand why she refused to tell anyone about her baby, understand why she refused to speak.
This book is an indictment of institutional life, although Simon never stands on a soapbox. Even the most despicable characters remain human, and the potential for relationships within the School offer some redemption. Lynnie not only falls in love with Homan, but her friendship with Kate spans decades. In the book, as in life, the abuses within the School were exposed in the 1970s and Lynnie and her friends moved into group homes in the 1980s. In this sense, Simon traces the history of disability in the United States through the lens of one character.
And yet while I was reading this novel, I came across an article in the New York Times that detailed ongoing abuses in state institutions. Here again, in 2011, is the story of a young boy with autism killed by a worker. Here again are stories of incompetence, ignorance, and abuse. Simon's book is not historical fiction. It is present day reality. The Times article calls the toleration of ongoing abuse "inexplicable," but Simon's novel gives us explanations without ever offering excuses. We are all far more willing to turn our heads away from the abuse of people with disabilities than we would like to admit.
The most surprising aspect of the novel for me was the way in which Simon explored the faith life of each character. The old woman, for instance, doesn't attend church and has her doubts about God's goodness, and yet it was a passage from Matthew's gospel that provoked her to welcome Lynnie and Homan: "I was a stranger and you invited me in." Kate returns to faith and her trust in God's leading prompts some of the most important transitions within the novel. Some well-meaning strangers take Homan to a faith-healing service in which he is treated more like an object than a human being. Lynnie's parent's rabbi urges them to institutionalize her. Just as Simon complicates the picture of institutional life with stories of terror and hope, so too she creates a realistic and therefore complex faith for her characters.
Homan wonders for years whether a creator-God exists and whether that God cares, whether that God really does tell a cogent and redemptive story. I won't disclose the ending, in which Homan's questions receive a subtle answer, but I will recommend that you read this novel for a story that gives a glimpse of humanity in its basest depravity and its most glorious possibilities.
DeMarco: The Hex execution and look, first sequence, was really about the story we were trying to tell first and foremost. So, in Episode 4, when Monica Rambeau goes through the Hex, it’s about mystery and not knowing where she went. We wanted this invisible boundary where you saw some television texture and [which] hinted to the audience where it went.
The Episode 5 boundary when Wanda came out is about her being mad — she does not want anyone to come in — and so making sure it grew and it was red. We [used] the language of television as much as possible to try to tell a story with that one.
The subsequent ones are really about how to change the character or the object from the exterior world to the sitcom world and what you see when that happens. So that would drive those decisions. Having so many Hex looks and knowing that it had to serve so many purposes was actually quite complicated to figure out.
DeMarco: He has always had a silver headpiece that was created in CGI. They used to put a whole prosthetic cowl on for Vision but they discovered across the movies that they didn’t end up using that too much – it would have to be out of focus because it wasn’t quite metal and the metal actually sits in his skin, and the panels that are drawn also sit in his skin. So they had replaced it many times before. They filmed with the cowl and with little – I know Paul [Bettany, who plays Vision] talks about his detachable earpieces so he could hear. But those ears are slightly closer than Paul’s ears so they might have to paint them out and put the CG ears closer [too]. We discovered that if we were doing all that CG work anyway, we might as well let Paul be a little bit more comfortable and not [have him] have to wear the full prosthetic.
DeMarco: Honestly, we match her hand movements when we execute the VFX. So it is all up to Elizabeth Olsen and what she’s doing. We will cue off that and put something tasteful with her hands that isn’t distracting from her performance, or something that shows off her power. So, really, we let her do her thing and we just follow suit.
DeMarco: I don’t know if anybody else would be surprised but the silly string was CGI [in Episode 6]. And the gazebo in the Halloween scene was CGI. Because of the nature of filming, I don’t think we had time to silly string and un-silly string … and clean that all up. And then the gazebo, because of the nature of the shoot days and the length of the builds, we needed to film it together and then destroyed for the battle and then also at night for Halloween. Just the way the schedule worked, they weren’t going to be able to film with it at night together so we ended up scanning and making a CG gazebo. Was that what you were expecting? Somehow I don’t think so!
Catch WandaVision on Disney+. To learn more about WandaVision and the MCU and to visit the Fandom shop to purchase from a curated selection of Marvel merch, click here. To read our interview with the showrunner and director of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, click below.
One night two residents of the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded escape. The year is 1968, and conditions in the institution are deplorable. It is a place where families can send the unwanted. However, even a developmentally disabled white woman with speech difficulties and a deaf African American have sense enough to recognize their wretched existence, and so they flee. They need shelter, as Lynnie has just given birth to a baby girl. When she sees a lighthouse, she knows she has found safety. It points the way to the home of Martha, a retired teacher. Shortly after she explains their circumstances, the authorities from the school surround them. Homan slips away into the woods, while Lynnie slips the baby into Martha’s arms and whispers, “Hide her.” Of the three who escape the school that night, only one returns.
This story takes place during a period of history when institutions were the norm. The nation had not been exposed to the horrors that emerged on television by Geraldo Rivera in the ’70s. As this story portrays, a journalist exposed the abuse, neglect and squalid conditions in these living tombs for the disabled. It is hard to fathom their existence. Inspired by factual events, Rachel Simon shares this warm and emotionally moving story of a woman whose life is a lamentable struggle. The author makes this a beguiling story that evokes strong passions. Through her strong characters, the author captures the power of love and the indomitable determination to live. Readers won’t forget Lynnie. Her embraceable spirit will make you want to hug her.
Simon also reminds us all about protecting the basic human rights of everyone. The Story of Beautiful Girl is globally relevant, with promise of high praise from all who take heed to read it.