The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque: Jeffrey Ford

This was a really interesting, fast paced novel that at times I wasn't sure where it was going- it was VERY unpredictable. A painter in the late 1800's gets a commission to paint a portrait; however he is not allowed to see the woman. He has to paint how he sees her based on stories she tells. The stories she chooses seem farfetched and unlikely, but the artist discovers some truth to them. The story itself keeps weaving on the brink of becoming a Stephan King Sci fi, but then comes back to a realistic occurrence. It was very interesting and I was very pleased with how it ended, I was a little worried I wouldn't get closure and he would seemingly fail like the other artists before him.