THE BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN by Jeanne Mackin (f)

Mackin has written a novel about a couple of American ex-pats living in France spanning the years from the 1920s through World War II.  In "The Great Gatsby," the story is about Nick Carraway, but he is not the main character, Gatsby is.  In Mackin's book, the story is about Nora Tours, but in the same way Gatsby is the main character, Lee Miller is the focus of most of this book.  This makes the Nora's story somewhat awkward, as Lee is the more central and interesting character. The action of the story flows around her.  Nora's story pales in comparison with Lee's. Lee Millar was a real person, famous in her lifetime, first as a model for Vogue, then as the mistress and inspiration for Man Ray. Like Gatsby, she was living in the fast lane.  Lee Miller was a talented photographer in her own right and became famous for her war photos during World War II.  Some say her experiences during the war had a direct effect on the tragic turn her later life took.  During the 20s and 30s she ran around with Picasso, Charlie Chaplin, Jean Cocteau and was inspirational in the surrealist movement of the art world.  She was incredibly beautiful and brilliant men seemed unable to resist her charms.

Whenever an author inserts real people in her fiction, she runs the risk of that character being the center of attention, and the main character of the story takes on a secondary role, which is what happens in this book.  Nora Tours and her high school sweetheart, Jamie run off to Paris to realize their romantic dreams of making a splash in the art world and Paris is where it is all happening.  Mackin has her two lovers come from the same small New York town that Miller was from, thus the connection is made when they run into her in Paris. The twosome becomes a threesome and Miller introduces them to her inner circles.  Jamie goes to work for Man Ray, but he just doesn't have the talent that the art world recognizes and he becomes a sort of go'fer for the great photographer.  Nora is more interesting than Jamie, but cannot seem to get out from under Lee's shadow.

As the plot moves along toward the invasion of France in World War II, the characters' lives take different turns and Nora finds herself living in Grasse, the famous perfume center of France.  It turns out Nora has a particular talent for identifying perfumes and a nose for what works.  Nora has a child, Dahlia, and her fate moves the story along to its climax and the reuniting of the main characters.

I found the most interesting thing about this book is that it spurred me on to find out more about Lee Miller and a biography written by Carolyn Burke.  Miller was a fascinating woman living in an era when success wasn't always guaranteed to a talented female in the art world.  As for this novel, it was interesting enough to keep me reading, but may have been even better with Miller as the central character.