Title: Art Damaged
Author: Nora Novak
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN-10: 1440167443
ISBN-13: 9781440167447
Pages: 232, Paperback & Hardcover
Genre: Fiction/Mystery
Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin, Pacific book Review
Book Review
Art is defined as the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the senses or emotions. In this regard, Nora Novak’s work, Art Damaged, is in itself a work of art.Nora Novak packs so much straight talking womanly wisdom into each sentence, complete with an uncanny amount of name dropping. Designers, delicacies, destinations and desires all are woven together into a tapestry of storytelling. It took me a moment to realize “Bloomies” was the nickname for Bloomindales, but once you get the vernacular of Novak’s style, you settle back, kick off your Prada’s and fill a Baccarat crystal glass of Tattinger, and take in her fine literary talent.
Working as a receptionist in an Orange County, or OC as it’s called, art museum, Nina, the main character is subjected to the currents of the egos, prestige and personalities of the rich and famous, as well as the not-so-rich and want-to-be famous. The pressures of success in the art world, the sexy undercurrents of social gatherings, and the creative forces which drive the industry are revealed in a way only those with the keys and alarm codes to museums understand. Nora Novak takes you behind the façade of faux barriers, to the real people who hang around the world of exhibitions and private showings. As birds of a feather flock together, the lure of an Andy Warhol brings talented artisans into one room like a lantern in the woods attracts insects.
Nina has her entourage of men, being a natural beauty and knowing how to use her God given sex appeal. Each provides a piece of her satisfaction, becoming a tile in her mosaic of creating a fulfilling life. She is underemployed as a receptionist, as her talent and ambition of becoming an acclaimed painter is far greater, yet the proximity to the culture lures her to her desk each morning. What unfolds, in what seemingly would be a dull and dreary existence, is anything but boring, as the depth of human desires entangle a web of deceptions and murder. Embellished with detail similar to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Nora Novak brushes her strokes of words over her canvas of paper. Written in a contemporary style, she masterfully creates characters which are credible, sensitive and vulnerable – real people in a surreal culture.
A bit abstract in style, Nora Novak has definitely emerged as an author with a unique voice. Her book of just over 200 pages is framed in her cover art which I shall leave to your own interpretation. After all, that’s the thing about art, it means something unique to each of us.
