Model

Early in The Model, Peter's wife, Helene, bluntly states that 'self-centred middle-aged men must be the most loathsome beings in existence.' She is referring to the playwright Ibsen in the context of his play The Wild Duck, but I was frequently reminded of her comment as I continued reading this book. It is a perfectly apt description of Peter! I think The Model should have been a hilling psychological thriller, but it just didn't have the atmosphere to grip me and I cannot quite put my finger on why. The book is nicely written and I liked Christensen descriptions of locations and his evocation of an artist's world view. The storyline is an interesting portrayal of a man driven to panic measures by the thought of losing himself to disease. Peter wholly identifies himself as an artist so he believes potential blindness will mean not just a loss of his sight, but his complete raison d'etre. Perhaps it was this single-mindedness that prevented me from fully accepting Peter. He is very much the centre of the novel and other characters, the female ones in particular, didn't seem as fleshed out in comparison so I found it difficult to believe in their actions. Instead their functions seem to revolve around Peter's desires which in turn revolve entirely around himself! I really did not like this man at all - perhaps you've already guessed that?