Review: Attribution

Attribution should have been a book that worked for me. Linda Moore’s novel, which was published back on October 11, 2022, had art and history with a dash of intrigue. All things I very much enjoy. But something just didn’t click and the novel, with such promise, ended up being a miss for me.

Here’s the book’s description:

Art historian Cate Adamson, still grieving the death of her brother and desperate to succeed, leaves her troubled parents in the Midwest to complete her doctorate in New York, only to find herself assigned to a misogynist advisor. She attempts to impress him until she discovers a hidden painting, possibly a Baroque masterpiece, in the university basement. Risking her career, financial disaster, and further alienation from her family, she flees to Spain with the painting to consult art experts.
Antonio, an impoverished duke, clings to the decaying legacy of the House of Olivares. When he meets Cate on the train to Seville, he joins her search, and together they uncover evidence in his five hundred-year old library to support the painting's provenance including a document about the artist's final years that will shock the titans of art history. But Cate vacillates about revealing the truth, fearful that it may destroy her career, her family's expectations, and her future with Antonio.

I wasn’t totally sure why this book didn’t work for me at the time I read it and I’m even less sure now, all these months later. I can tell my initial feelings were accurate and the fact that the story didn’t stick with me is telling. Sometimes I may not initially love a book but once I sit with it awhile, I find myself still thinking about it or finally understanding some of the nuances that I had missed when I was reading it. That was not the case with Attribution. I don’t want to say I’ve forgotten all of it, because I haven’t, but the story and the writing have not stayed with me.

I think, perhaps, part of my issue was with Cate herself. She didn’t make a ton of sense to me and I questioned almost every single one of her choices. She seemed scared but also impulsive and brave and her personality remained a mystery to me throughout the entire book. I know it’s easier to hide from grief but pushing her parents away wasn’t helping any of them. I also haven’t been trying to pursue a…ok, I actually forget what piece of paper Cate is trying to get in the book so let’s go with…PhD so I really don’t understand the cutthroat world of research and advisors and all that stuff. I also think any readers who aren’t involved in the art world themselves (like me) will be a bit confused at how that world works and why Cate’s career is in such jeopardy.

As I said at the start, this book should have worked for me. I love the idea of art history and missing art. Well, I don’t love that art is missing or was stolen but the uncovering process is thrilling to me. I love the hunt for provenance and restoring a piece of art to its rightful owners. I love looking at art (I could happily spend a day wandering through art galleries) and I love creating it (though I’m not an expert by any means). I should, then, love reading about art. And I did enjoy the thought and care that I could tell Moore put into the story. She understands art and that world. That love and passion did come through and I was glad of that.

I’ll end by saying I seem to be very much in the minority regarding my feelings about Attribution. The Goodreads page for Linda Moore’s novel gives it a very respectable 4.35 average rating. Could it be that I got too weighed down by nitpicky things and just couldn’t be as wowed by the story as others have been? Quite possibly. I’d say it’s still one to consider if you absolutely adore art history and art mystery!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, She Writes Press, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*