Cooking for Picasso is compelling historical fiction. Written by award-winning author Camille Aubray, the novel is narrated by two strong female characters — Ondine and her granddaughter Celine. The women’s stories span two countries, several decades, and a multitude of family struggles. The novel also offers a fascinating look at Picasso and his tumultuous personal life, thanks to Aubray’s intensive research. While the plot moves slowly at first, the story builds in speed and intensity, with cliffhangers in all the right places. Aubray writes with vibrant color and beautiful descriptions, sprinkling in French words and phrases. While some of the twists and turns were a bit far-fetched, the story is creative and entertaining. Cooking for Picasso is recommended for history and art lovers alike!
This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Random House
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 20 religious exclamations, 24 mild obscenities, 7 derogatory names, 5 scatological words, 7 anatomical terms, 8 f-word derivatives.
Violence/Gore: A few implied occurrences of violence, including a fight between women; multiple secondhand reports of violence including murder, the Nazis, child abuse, suicide, soldiers killed in battle, and a character playing “The Knife Game”; a few brief scenes of violence including a character being punched; a scene involving destruction of property with no casualties.
Sex/Nudity: Multiple incidents of kissing; multiple sexual references including mistresses, prostitutes, a character being asked to remove her underwear; multiple implied or reported incidents of sexual activity including brothels, affairs, threat of rape, mistresses, and mythological stories and illustrations; a few incidents of touching areas normally covered by a bathing suit; several scenes of nudity with sexual innuendo including extended (a page) descriptions of several of Picasso’s nude and/or sexual paintings, a man — sleeping naked — is described in detail; a few mature discussions regarding sex; an incident of sexual activity without explicit detail between adults; a brief scene of sexual abuse involving a child; a few brief explicit descriptions of sex and one extended description of sex.
Mature Subject Matter:
Domestic abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, child born out of wedlock, war, death of family members, suicide, underage drinking, divorce, Hitler and the Nazis, the Mob, kidnapping threat, extramarital affairs, murder, bribery, homosexuality, nude and sexually suggestive artwork.
Alcohol / Drug Use:
Frequent drinking with meals and smoking; young adults are described in one scene as “tipsy”, underage drinking; tourists get drunk.
