Book Review: The Beautiful American by Jeanne Mackin

Reviewer: Leah

The Beautiful American, by Jeanne Mackin, is a historical fiction novel told in a flashback as the depressed single mother, Nora, runs into someone from her past, the famous model and photographer, Lee Miller; which causes her to reminisce about her past and their shared history. The story follows them from their time as playmates, to meeting Lee and entering the Parisian art world, to Lee’s betrayal and Nora fleeing for Grassae France, to the struggles of WWII, and the even harder times that occurred after the war was over.

The man thing about this novel is that it is really about Lee Miller and not our narrator. While the Lee Miller section is fascinating as Mackin really delves deep into the psyche of the famous enigma, Nora is relegated to only being our observer, hardly fleshed out, emotionless, etc. There is a section when Nora recounts what Lee has been doing from their break of friendship at childhood to their teen years, but the author tells us nothing about Nora. One can see how she wished to write a historical fiction novel about Lee, but not through her, but at the same time the Nora character should have been expanded so she wasn’t so one-dimensional. The beginning starts off a little slow as the author annoyingly teases you with information, intent on trying to hook you into the book, but as the flashback begins the story becomes more enjoyable. Lovers of the film A Midnight in Paris, will definitely enjoy this as it gives off the same feel of Paris and is riddled with other famous artists and performers; such as Man Ray, Pablo Picasso, Josephine Baker, etc.

3.5 stars