Book review: Mona’s Eyes

“Schlesser’s passion for art is evident.”

My wife gave me the novel Mona’s Eyes by the French art historian Thomas Schlesser for Christmas 2025. A few months later, I asked her why. She thought it sounded interesting; I had not heard of it, honestly. Then, I was obliged to do a book review.
Mona, a ten-year-old schoolgirl – yes, she was named for the da Vinci piece –  suddenly experiences a bout of inexplicable blindness. While the episode was temporary, her terrified parents took her to a physician.
The doctor’s examination found no physical cause of the event, so he recommended that Mona see a psychiatrist. Mona’s maternal grandfather, Henry, volunteered for the task. However, the art lover and expert eshewed taking her to the shrink. Instead, Henry takes Mona to various Parisian museums, hoping to help her appreciate the beauty of art, especially if she should become permanently blind.
Every Wednesday for a year, the pair visit a single masterpiece in one of three famed Parisian museums. Mona learns how each artist’s work shaped the world around them, with grandfather and grandchild engaging in what I’d considered a Socratic dialogue.
My initial difficulty with the book was figuring out how to approach the text. After the 20-page introduction, each six-to-eight-page chapter was a, for lack of a better word, a triptych. Part one is a narrative about Mona’s day, usually at school, at her dad’s shop, at the doctor’s office, or at home.  The second part is, more or less, a page describing the artwork visited. Finally, the duologue between Mona and Henry.
Seeking an approach
I wondered: should I stop reading and look at the artwork to see how well the description matched?  After contemplating looking at the pieces, I opted against it because I thought it would interfere with the flow.
I was very interested in the critical response to “Les Yeux de Mona”/ “Mona’s Eyes.” While it was a #1 bestseller on many lists, I found a lot of backlash against it.
One reviewer called it “an art history book that plays dress up as a novel…  It’s too didactic to be entertaining as a story, and the art and discussions around the art are overpowering the plot, flimsy as it is.

“I feel that the plot was an excuse for Schlesser to showcase his knowledge about art… ending with an anticlimactic conclusion.” The ending was a bit predictable.

“What I liked. The concept of the book was enjoyable – short chapters, each focused on a specific piece of art, with Mona and her grandfather analyzing and drawing life lessons from them. Schlesser’s passion for art is evident. The way he describes the paintings and sculptures is vivid and really makes one see, with the mind’s eyes, what most of them look like in real life. The book also includes photographs of the artworks, allowing readers to reference and study them in (more or less) detail after reading the descriptions.

“The art and history lover in me also rejoiced at the trivia that Henry inserts into the conversations – bits and pieces about various artistic movements, about the lives of the artists, and connections between the various artworks in the novel.”

I totally agreed with the positive elements described.

OTOH

The complaints, and there were many, include “the plot felt forced and filled with insignificant details that did nothing to move the story along.” I was less bothered by this than some. Sure, there are threads in Mona’s school life that weren’t resolved. Nor was I bothered by Mona’s preternatural wisdom, if only because I bought into the mystical reason why.

The fact that Henry and Mona were lying to Mona’s parents for nearly a year was addressed, albeit obliquely.

I did have problems, though Mona’s dad was almost certainly an alcoholic, which he seemed to almost magically overcome when some tchotchkes he found at the curiosity shop sold; there’s a backstory about those pieces. And his new project suddenly brightened his outlook. In many ways, Mona’s parents were ciphers.

Here’s a  piece from a Reddit feed titled, “Mona’s Eyes” is an outrageously repetitive art history book disguised as fiction (my manifesto).” A key paragraph: “Chapter after chapter after chapter. Don’t believe me? Read it. I can’t take it anymore. The fact that I’m expected to recommend this art history textbook disguised in clumsy fiction drag to innocent customers is crazy. Every time I do, I feel like I’m spitting in their food and picking their pocket.” Barnes & Noble selected the tome as Book of the Year.

Split decision

I’ve never seen so many one-star reviews with DNF (did not finish). I usually think that a one-star review without finishing the book is unfair, but I get it in this case.

Ultimately, I’m glad I read the book for the discussion of the art, which helped me see it in a fresh way. Incidentally, there is The Mona’s Eyes Reader’s Companion: Week by Week Guide to All 52 Artworks, Life Lessons & Discussion Questions by Claire Beaumont

But Mona’s Eyes is probably not a great NOVEL.

This is the basis of my oral book review at the Albany Public Library on Tuesday, April 14.

Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto.

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