Anima Rising by Christopher Moore

 

Vienna in 1911 is full of characters.  It is a time of discovery and blooming in the art world.  Gustav Klimt led the way to a new type of art and he is still going full bloom with a studio full of beautiful young models.  He has mentored other artists such as Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka.  Medicine is testing new boundaries in psychology with Freud living there and Jung visiting.  Walburga Nezil is the most famous model as she was Klimt's early model and then became Schiele's model and mistress.  But Schiele's sister Gussie is also a model as are an ever changing parade of Klimt's mistresses who model until they become pregnant with his children and then they are supported by him.  Even Hitler makes a cameo appearance back when he was trying to become an artist.

But there's another set of characters going around Vienna.  Klimt finds a drowned woman in the canal one early morning while coming home from a night of opera and partying.  At first he thinks she is dead but she sputters back to life and he takes her home with him and names her Judith.  At first she remembers nothing but then slowly recalls that she has died four times and has come back to life and that she is stalked by the monster Frankenstein.  A husky dog named Geoff or G, tracks Judith down and makes her his mission to protect.  Klimt takes her to Freud who sends her to Jung when he can't make any progress helping her.  What will happen next?

I'm so glad I read this novel.  I used to read Christopher Moore but it got too whimsical for me to enjoy.  I've now found with this title that he also has a set of novels that intertwine historical fact with his comedy and I loved the mix.  I had heard of Klimt but didn't know much about him or his art and this gave me exposure to that world.  I learned what the difference was in Freud's and Jung's theories which was interesting as I'm not interested in plowing through lots of psychology books.  Sadly, I learned that Klimt and Schiele both died in the 1918 Spanish flu and it really brought home to me what a tragedy pandemics are, taking both common folk and geniuses indiscriminately.  This novel is recommended for those looking for an entertaining book along with a history lesson.