About:
Jill Ciment's novel 'The Tattoo Artist' is a unique and touching story that follows Sara, a woman who, along with her husband, becomes marooned on a South Sea island in the 1930s. The narrative delves into Sara's life before and after her time on the island, exploring her transformation and self-discovery as she redefines her concepts of family, friendships, and home. The story is beautifully crafted with detailed descriptions that immerse the reader into Sara's world, where every inch of her body is covered with tattoos illustrating her personal history.
The book is a blend of historical events, fascinating characters, and important ideas, making it a thought-provoking read that captivates book groups and individual readers alike. Through flashbacks and vivid storytelling, Ciment weaves a narrative that explores themes of identity, art, and the impact of life-changing experiences on an individual's journey of self-discovery. The Tattoo Artist stands out as a brilliant and engaging novel that keeps readers captivated until the very end.
From The Publisher:
In 1970, Sara Ehrenreich boards a small plane and returns to New York City with much fanfare; she will be featured in Life magazine. She has not left Ta'un'uu-the South Seas island upon which she and her husband, Philip, were marooned during a storm-in more than thirty years. Sara doesn't know that man has landed on the moon. She has never seen a ballpoint pen. Her body is covered, head to toe, in tattoos.
Flashback: it's 1918 and Sara, a shop girl and aspiring artist, meets Philip, a wealthy member of the avant-garde elite. The two fall in love, marry, and collaborate to make art, surrounded by socialites and revolutionaries-until the Depression cripples not just Sara and Philip, but most of their patrons. When Philip is offered a job gathering masks from the South Seas, they jump at a chance to escape America's sorrows, traveling to Ta'un'uu for what they think will be a week's stay.
The rest is history-a history Sara records on her skin through the traditional tattoos that become her masterpiece and provide an accounting of her days. Narrated in vivid and starkly moving prose, The Tattoo Artist reminds us of the unforeseeable forces that shape each human life.
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