An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

 This book attracted me at Deseret Industries because it was a hard copy with an interesting, artsy cover, and when I opened it to browse, there were several paintings throughout the book. The jacket reminded me that Steve Martin is an author besides a talented banjo player and comic. The jacket also described that the story centers on art auctions and art dealers and that whole world, which intrigued me because I love art, and know little about the commercial side of it.

The characters in this book are an art reviewer and an up and coming art dealer with loose morals. She's an intriguing character, however, because of how she navigates her way through that world. There is some foul language, a few sex scenes, and quite a bit of confusion (at least in my mind) about who is dealing what and for what profit, etc., I just floated along with the story and enjoyed, for the most part, learning about this urban world. I have no doubt that most of it is fiction and that the players are not as flamboyant or free of morals as they were portrayed. It did recall for me some of the education I've had around art history and what constitutes "good art." I enjoyed pondering that question again as the characters dealt with modern art vs. Picassos and Rembrandts. It's clear that Martin knows a lot! But this book was not particularly compelling...just kind of fluffy and gratuitous... But worth the $1.00 I paid for it, just to enjoy the paintings!