Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Irving Stone had the ability to do for a single person what James Michener had the ability to do for an entire country. Stone gives us biography on a large scale and it is impossible to read him without learning something or coming away from the novel a better person. The Agony and the Ecstacy is the "biographical novel" of Michelangelo but much more than that it is the story of the Italian Renaissance in all its glory. Through Michelangelo's eyes one gets a full feeling for Florence and Rome at the time. Stone paints with a broad brush the stories of wars, feuding princes, religious machinations, and the wonderful art that the Renaissance produced. This novel is however much more than that. It is an analysis of the struggle that is necessary to create. We experience the creation of just about every major work of art of Michelangelo and the personal struggles that went into the creative process. We see the artist as he struggles with family, princes, popes and other artists to get his designs accepted.And finally we see the glory of a life well lived as the artist dies leaving a truly monumental body of work behind. I don't know how much of this work was novel and how much was pure biography but I do know that the result was one of the most enjoyable reading experiences that I've had for many years. The reader need not worry that he or she is not an expert on Renaissance art when this work is read. Supplemental material and photographs of the works discussed may be found on several web sites. Jump in and enjoy.