Customer Reviews
utterly charming - By: Not Pepys, 19 Nov 2008 
I picked this up from one of those 'XXX recommends" from Waterstones & I'm so glad I did. This is a wonderful, fresh & very readable look at bohemia at the turn of the century. It's fascinating how much of the way we live now was influenced by handful of brave people who were prepared to try another way of livingin the face of severe disapproval from the stuffy Victorians & Edwardians. I was particularly taken by the bravery of the women, who had so much to lose by not getting married, eschewing the status quo & so on - whilst still being treatedin a very paternalistic manner (ie it may have been a new way of living but the women were still expected to do the cooking, cleaning & to be the ones to give up their art for the sake of a family). But it does seem to have been hard on the kids, & I do echo the previous reviewers comments about Eric Gill: Ms Nicholson suggests that having their father have sex with them didn't do the children any harm... Hmm, a little too wide-eyed about her subject methinks.
When I say it's very readable I really mean it: I'm quite lazy when it comes to books, probably reading two 'easy books' (like chick-lit) to one of 'literature', &in terms of pleasure this falls into 'easy' even though it's actually quite intellectual. Win-win!
A little too sympathetic - By: , 26 Feb 2004 
This is an interesting book about a group of people who have more fame that is really justified. Ms Nicholson does a good job of explaining why we're still interestedin the Bloomsbury crowd: their way of life remains influential even though their art wasn't so hot.
Being a relative helps. One gets a level of insight that is often facinating. But - & it's a bit of a big but - she can be too sympathetic. Too much is forgiven or brushed aside.
Her comments about Eric Gill is a casein point. Eric Gill, though a talented artist, had sex with children, including his own. If the book was judging artists for the quality of their art, there would be no problem. But Ms Nicholson investigates their lifestyles & such actions cannot be glossed over. A more critical approach would have made this a better book.
C'est La Vie... (de Boheme) - By: Bruce Loveitt, 11 Dec 2002 Dare I talk about breedingin a book that deals with Bohemians? Sure, why not! The author's father was Quentin Bell- writer, artist & academic...and the biographer of his aunt, Virginia Woolf. Her grandmother was the artist Vanessa Bell, who was Virginia Woolf's sister. With bloodlines like that, you'd expect Virginia Nicholson to finish "in the money" with this subject...and she doesn't disappoint. I think the family connection has helped her to be more charitable & sympathetic than a dispassionate observer might be concerning the behavior of the Bohemians. Where some people might only find childishness, selfishness & irresponsibility (and Ms. Nicholson can see these traits as well), the author can see nobler things. She can see the ability to think independently, to believe that Art & Truth & Beauty are worth devoting your life to.....and to have the courage of your convictions by doing just that- no matter what the cost. Many of the people describedin this book did not possess first-class talent, but they still gave it their best shot. They had little money, they often were hungry & cold, & they spent their lifetimes being rejected by the mainstream. They didn't have to live that way...they chose a way of life that had those consequences. Ms. Nicholson's achievement is to get you to respect, if not to admire, these people...rather than to laugh at them or think them foolish. The book has been put togetherin a very creative fashion. Rather than just make the book a collection of anecdotes, Ms. Nicholson has come up with an interesting theme for each chapter. For example, one chapter deals with the nuts-and-bolts of livingin poverty, another deals with how the Bohemians raised their children, & still others deal with love & marriage, interior decoration, clothing, cooking, cleanliness, the importance of travel, etc. The book is an intriguing mixture of the philosophical & the down-to-earth. On one page the author will be asking "Can a person be wealthy & still be a Bohemian?" & on another page she will describe how the sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska was so filthy that when the writer Ford Madox Ford was forced to sit next to him one warm summer day, Ford was so overwhelmed by the stench that he had to leave. But, Ms. Nicholson adds, "...as the weather cooled Gaudier was promoted to the guest list for Ford's At Homes, & Ford even went so far as to install the artist's phallic statue of Ezra Poundin his front garden". Another funny story concerned the painter Augustus John losing his temper when he found out he had been charged 43 pounds for lunch at the "Eiffel Tower" restaurantin London. The proprietor explained the bill wasn't just for lunch. It turns out that Dylan Thomas had been eating there for 2 weeks & had told the owner not to worry about the money, Augustus John would take care of it! (And he did.) On the sociological side, the author describes how many of the Bohemians, Augustus John for one, didn't so much raise their children as just let them raise themselves....giving them what amounted to almost total freedom. Some of this was a belief, a la Rousseau, that children would turn out best if brought up "in a state of nature". A lot of it was also humbug disguised as philosophy...it was a lot easier to let the kids do what they wanted while mom & dad got back to the really important stuff...like writing & painting! Interestingly, a good many of the children not only enjoyed this way of life but turned out quite nicely- they became creative, self-sufficient, well-adjusted adults. Others resented being ignored & the lack of structure....and turned out insecure, with a craving for order. Ms. Nicholson is also quite goodin describing the price creative women often paid when they got into relationships with creative men. It seems Bohemian men were no more enlightened than their more conventional brethren- the fairer sex was still expected to clean the house & cook the meals & make the afternoon tea, etc. Many of these women were so tired they had very little time or energy to devote to their artistic pursuits. The women, understandably, resented this state of affairs.....but, at great cost to their own careers, usually tolerated it. I really enjoyed this book. It is well-written, well-organized, thought provoking & also just plain fun to read.
