Openshaw is a seasoned tour guide and veteran travel-television show writer, and his expertise in Italy, art, and Michelangelo in particular shines on nearly each page. Meanwhile, Sam’s sandwich-generation troubles—painful divorce; trying to help his aging parents; maintaining a relationship with his young daughter—has him reeling. His admission, in a seedy Bologna hotel, that he has “no home” suggests Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London, while accomplished passages of travel writing bring Italy to touching life.
Sam finds some relief in spirited carousing and a hopeful romance, and his travails are wittily juxtaposed against those of his idol, Michelangelo, though at times the balance between the novel’s three modes favors the informative, as Openshaw digs deeply into Renaissance sculpture, patronage, politics and more, considering theories of why the tomb became something of a footnote. Still, Openshaw’s depiction of Michelangelo as a human being with faults and frailties is fascinating. Michelangelo at Midlife is like a trip to Italy, edifying, informative, and unpredictable.
Takeaway: Surprising novel of art, history, and mid-life crises, including Michelangelo’s.
Comparable Titles: Stephanie Storey’s Oil and Marble, Theresa Maggio’s Mattanza: Love and Death in the Sea of Sicily.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
“A delightful combination of art history and light drama...
The author deftly relates two parallel tales: Sam’s struggle to fix his battered life and the extraordinary feat of constructing Michelangelo’s “ridiculously audacious Tomb,” which took 40 terrible years to complete. The thematic connection between the two storylines, conveyed with impressive emotional poignancy, is the crisis of middle age: the mortal battle against irrepressible time. “The arrow of Time was streaking like a rocket across the sky, leaving a vapor trail. I could see the entire arc of a human life in a single glance, in stark relief against the backdrop of non-existence. And I could see exactly where I was on that arc.”
Despite the gravity of Sam’s troubles, Openshaw largely keeps this a lighthearted tale… told with intelligence… filled with humor and tinged with an ironic acknowledgement of the travails of life. The novel is just as much about Michelangelo, whose history is expertly detailed, and includes gorgeous color photography of Italy and its artistic treasures.
This is an entertaining treat, especially for art lovers and wanderlust-afflicted travelers looking for a breezy read.” -- Kirkus Reviews