Story: 7 / 10
Characters: 7
Setting: 7
Prose: 8

An absolutely intriguing story about a man trying to fulfill the ridiculous request of a wealthy performer. The book keeps building with a clever story-within-a-story and a spiralling plot structure. The ending doesn't quite satisfy, The Potrait of Mrs. Charbuque is still a worthy read. Nothing in comparison to Well-Built City Trilogy though :) ( )

El retratista Piero Piambo, la gran sensación de Nueva York en 1893, siente menguar sus ambiciones artísticas, pese a inmortalizar a todos los nuevos ricos de la ciudad en sus óleos. Pero entonces recibe un lucrativo encargo distinto a los demás. Su cliente es una tal señora Charbuque; el único problema es que Piambo no podrá verla, sino que tendrá que sentarse delante de un elegante biombo y su modelo le contará todo sobre su vida, dándole pistas por las que él debe adivinar su apariencia. Mientras se esfuerza lo indecible para capturar en el óleo el rostro de una mujer a la que no ha visto jamás, una serie de asesinatos tienen lugar en la ciudad. Y al tiempo que la relación de Piambo con la señora Charbuque va complicándose, este sospecha cada vez más que esos terribles acontecimientos, su encargo imposible y su extraña «benefactora» están íntimamente relacionados.

A nifty little mystery set in 19th century New York. The artist takes on an impossible commission - painting the portrait of a woman he may not ever see. The conversations with Mrs. Charbuque get stranger as the artist becomes more obsessed with her and his vision of her. A dark fairy tale mixed with the grotesque. (December 07, 2004) ( )

A clever premise -- a bored and unhappy portrait painter is hired by the mysterious Mrs. Charbuque to paint her portrait, with one catch; he can't ever see her. From behind a screen she will answer any question, but no peeking. If he manages to capture her image, he will win enough money to free him from the necessity of portraiture and allow him to be an artist again -- masterfully written. The truly clever part of this is that we as readers are in the same position as the painter--we only know Mrs. Charbuque through the stories she tells, and we make our (badly misguided or flatly wrong, in my case) guesses and assumptions about her along with the main character. ( )

The premise of this book is fabulous but the execution is a little iffy. I struggled with the objectification even though the idea of the objectification is tackled in the book. I loved the mystery at the core but there were definitely moments that I got frustrated. ( )