The Prize

July 20, 2015
In this luminous behind-the-scenes view of the art world, the poet, novelist, and memoirist Bialosky (History of a Suicide) explores the complicated terrain of relationships, as well as the inspiration behind creativity and the roles commercialism and politics play in artistic expression. Manhattan art dealer Edward Darby, who obsessively compares himself to his father (a Romantic poetry scholar whose life imploded years ago), seeks to navigate the precarious balance between passion for his work and the demands of a wife and daughter. Though it’s not an unusual struggle, the author stacks the odds against Darby, with a brilliant father who emotionally and physically derailed when Darby was a young man, and Darby’s lingering guilt over his first wife, who died in an accident years ago. Added to the mix is Agnes Murray, a temperamental up-and-coming artist whom Darby takes under his wing. A prestigious artist’s prize raises the stakes for Agnes, as does an affair and an aggressive professional rival, forcing Darby to examine his heart in a way he never has before—in terms of his marriage, his choice of profession, and the secrets he has kept all his life. One expects a poet’s prose to soar in fiction, and the author does not disappoint, crafting her own work of art with her evocative, fresh descriptions and her careful observations of how artists transform inspiration into their work.

Starred review from September 1, 2015
A respected New York art dealer feels his reputation and the ideals he's lived by falling out of his grasp in this novel by celebrated poet and memoirist Bialosky (The Players, 2015, etc.)."Art should transport the seer from the ordinary to the sublime": these words from Edward Darby's father, a Romantic scholar, are always at the back of his mind. Both driven and haunted by his father's constant search for deeper meaning, Edward has built his career on finding the artists who are reinventing their mediums, creating art that has "the power to suggest that the most ordinary spaces of human life could be made special." He gets his big break with fragile-but-brilliant artist Agnes Murray, who, in focusing on images from 9/11, has taken the anguish of that day and expressed it on canvas in a way that makes the public look-and, more important, feel. "Art must capture what we're afraid of most," Agnes says to Edward, quoting her mentor-turned-husband, Nate Fisher, a provocative megastar of the art world. Bialosky's writing mirrors these qualities that determine "great work"; she captures in everyday moments the fears that consume us and have the power to either drive us forward or bring us to the brink of collapse. Feeling more and more distant from his wife and, perhaps more disturbingly, his passion for art, Edward finds himself drawn to sculptor Julia Rosenthal, a woman he first met long ago, who stirs up old memories and reinvigorates his appreciation for beauty in all forms. But Edward is aware that "one could not embark upon the new without giving up something in return." And for someone whose life is built around finding the significance in the smallest of moments-moments which Bialosky captures with such powerful insight-there is much at stake for him to lose. In the end, after betrayals and loss and sadness, Bialosky asks her hero to consider what he holds most dear. Like Edward feels upon discovering a transcendent piece of art, this book finds that little opening at the edge of your soul and seeps in.

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Starred review from August 1, 2015
Edward, decorous and attractive, has a sterling reputation as a partner in a top New York art gallery. He is also a man who genuinely admires and is surrounded by women. There's his wife, dedicated to rescuing animals and running their Connecticut household; their teenage daughter; and Edward's mother. His therapist and his boss are female, and Agnes is his most successful new artist, a high-strung painter of extraordinary talent and vision who has either guaranteed herself a headline career by marrying her former art teacher, now aggressively famous and rich, or condemned herself to the role of second fiddle. Then there's Julia, a sculptor with whom he's infatuated, and the long-dead woman who shadows his inner life, her significance to him a secret he's kept from his wife. But it is Edward's father, a brilliant literary critic driven to a tragic end, who haunts him the most. Bialosky, a memoirist and poet (The Players, 2015) as well as novelist, articulates with grace the crass and the sublime as she explores questions of character, art, obsession, ambition, lies, loneliness, and love. This fluently sophisticated and exquisitely pleasurable novel is radiant with precise and sensuous descriptions and intricately laced with discerning and affecting insights into the passion and business of art and the meaning and struggles of marriage.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)