CBR Bingo: wealth, because this entire book is a monument to the wealth of J.P. Morgan
A book suggested for IRL Book Group! This is a work of historical fiction, about the woman hired by JP Morgan to build out the collection of the Morgan Library. Belle da Costa Greene was a white-passing Black woman, who remained JP Morgan’s personal “librarian” until he died, never marrying but responsible for the accumulation of millions of dollars of rare manuscripts. And when I say millions of dollars, remember that this is in the early 1900s, pre-Depression, so it’s like a billion trillion dollars in today’s money.
I put librarian in quotes because while Greene was undoubtedly trained in library sciences, her real skill is clearly the purchasing of items with an unlimited bank account. It’s not to diminish her achievements, but it does seem like it would be easy to be a big boss in the art world if, indeed, you had big boss money. In one climactic scene, where Greene is securing a singular book that she’s been chasing for a while, there’s actually not very much that’s anxious. We know that no matter what the bidding goes to, Greene will be able to top it.
I feel like my review might be a bit harsh, especially after I realized that some of my frustrations are with things that happened in real life–e.g., Greene continues to be obsessed with this useless drip of a man, who seems to have no real redeeming qualities other than having authored a book she read when she was young, but indeed she did have a relationship with him for years. But even so, I think I’ll keep it as is because of the tone of it all. Without seeming very mean, the tone of the book is just so very…cringe? Because we’re reading it all in the first person, we hear every. single. thought that Greene may potentially have had about everything. She thinks about being white passing? We hear about it. She thinks about Bernard? We hear about it. For a woman who achieved so much, we spend a lot of time hearing her narrate her life.
It made it hard not to eyeroll, is what I’m saying, which is a pity because I found her an intriguing character. A third person POV, which allowed some narrative remove, would probably have served me better.
