David

September 12, 2011
This lush historical novel commences in 1501 in Florence and imagines the life of the model for Michelangelo’s statue of David, breathing life into the art and politics of this iconic work. The exquisitely handsome narrator, Gabriele, a stone-
mason, moves to Florence at 18 from the country to live with his “milk-brother” (Gabriele’s mother nursed them both), the artist Michelangelo. Hoffman (the Stravaganza series) stages Gabriele not only as an observer of the Florence art scene but also at the center of the political struggle between factions supporting a Florentine republic and nobles who are eager to restore the Medici dynasty. These political machinations and Gabriele’s romantic misadventures offer a compelling look at this period, though it is his relationship with Michelangelo and the impact of the statue that provide the narrative’s most powerful elements. Readers may be surprised to learn the political significance of the David, which many interpreted as a republican symbol and which inspired violence. Leonardo da Vinci and his Mona Lisa make a cameo appearance, as well, offering another perspective on the art of the Renaissance. Ages 14–up.

September 1, 2011

The author of the Stravaganaza series reveals the muse behind Michelangelo's David. 

Hoffman provides a possible inspiration for Michelangelo's famous sculpture in the form of Gabriele, a handsome fictional stonecutter whose mother served as Michelangelo's wet nurse. Gabriele comes to model for his "milk brother" in Florence during a time of political unrest. The city is split between the compagnacci, who wish to return the city to royal Medici family rule, and the frateschi, who follow the teachings of martyr and Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola, an outspoken opponent of the Medici's wealth and influence. Michelangelo warns Gabriele to steer clear of Florence's politics. But impressionable Gabriele is adopted by the frateschi even as his good looks earn him work as a painter's model for a member of the compagnacci. Soon he finds himself a pawn in a street war that threatens his very life. While the concept is intriguing and the research meticulous, the execution is as dry as the frequently mentioned marble dust. Florence's turbulent political history is provided to the reader through long, didactic speeches from a confusing crowd of secondary characters that slow all action to a standstill. The entertaining passages that detail Gabriele's youthful sexual indiscretions, which break up the long-winded political talk considerably, are regrettably few and far between.

Nonfiction masquerading as a novel and failing as either sort of narrative. (character list, historical note, glossary) (Historical fiction. 13 & up) 

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2011

Gr 8 Up-Though he is now an old man of 81, Gabriele clearly remembers four years of his life, when he joined his "brother" Michelangelo in the city of Florence. Though not related, Gabriele and Angelo had grown up as brothers in Gabriele's stone-cutting family, before Michelangelo left for school and eventually made his name as an artist and sculptor. When 18-year-old Gabriele travels to the big city, he finds life very different from the little town of his birth. Florence in the early 1500s is filled with both art and politics, and Hoffman spends equal time on both. Gabriele models for a painter and for Angelo, who has accepted a commission for a statue of David. The insider's view of the art world will be fascinating to many readers. The politics of the time were complicated, and some readers will lose the thread as they follow the many names and factions woven into the story, but the basic thrust will be clear to most, as will the fact that Gabriele is playing a dangerous game of pretending to be on one side while undertaking actions to help the other. The author doesn't skirt the issue of "lusts of the flesh," for Gabriele is extremely handsome and attracts attention from both ladies and men. Readers with an interest in Michelangelo, da Vinci, and art in general will particularly enjoy this well-written story.-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2011
Grades 9-12 Who was the model for Michelangelo's famous statue of David? No one knows, but Hoffman imagines a life for him as a stonecutter named Gabriele who is Michelangelo's milk brother (Gabriele's mother was Michelangelo's wet nurse and raised the artist-to-be). In his late teens, Gabriele moves to Florence to live with the sculptor, whom he regards as his brother, and, inevitably, serves as the model for the celebrated statue. In the meantime, the boy gets embroiled in the exceedingly complex politics of the city, becoming a spy for the champions of the republic. Hoffman, the author of the popular Stravaganza books, sets a brisk pace for her historical novel, which gives as much attention to Gabriele's complicated love life as to Florentine politics, which are, indeed, so convoluted they may baffle some readers. However, Gabriele is a consistently interesting though often naive character, and Michelangelo emerges as a gruff genius who is devoted to his younger brother.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)