Mona’s Eyes

A novel that was incredibly popular in France in 2024 may not be every reader in America’s favorite French novel, as it is heavy on art and art history. Mona, who is 10 years old, is going to lose her eyesight in one year due to a disease, joins her grandfather, Henry, every week to explore a different artist and a different work of art. The goal is so that Mona can commit to memory the great works of Western art before she loses her eyesight. Honestly, it really depends on how much you know about art history, whether you even like people talking and thinking about art in long passages, and want a veritable crash course in the Western art canon. Each chapter focuses on a different artist, where we are treated to a brief biography before exploring what makes their work great. After a while, in a quite lengthy work, it starts to feel repetitive and the same from chapter to chapter. While the relationship between the girl and her grandfather could have been the main driver of the story, in reality, it is a chance to give readers a course in art history.