I really enjoyed the historical element to this nonfiction book and enjyoed the architecter element of this book. It was engaging and had that research element that I wanted and was promised in this description. Henry Wiencek wrote this well and left me wanting to read more.

I don't expect artists to be paragons of virtue, but the subjects of Henry Wiencek's Stan and Gus really tried my patience. The book looks at the friendship (and that may be putting it mildly) of architect Stanford "Stan" White and sculptor Augustus "Gus" Saint-Gaudens. The trope of the tortured artist is the idea that artists need to experience significant suffering to create great art. In the case of these two, it seems they mostly tortured other people.

To be clear, books about terrible people can still be captivating. Wienck's work left me stuck in the middle. There were times in the book where I was riveted. His storytelling around Gus' creation of the memorial to Robert Gould Shaw was a standout. However, I just kept feeling like the narrative was too high-level and lacked the detail needed to make this a real page turner. The book is not that long considering it covers two major New York City artists and their own relationship which was more than just friends based on their correspondence. It felt like their personal relationship and their work got short-changed.

The major problem with the book feeling rushed is that I felt both men's moral failings were too highlighted for the reader to sympathize with them. Gus comes off much better. He was merely a terrible husband and excessive procrastinator. Taking into account the time period, Gus is not a saint (pun intended), but he's not evil and not drastically different from many people in his position. Stan, on the other hand, was a (rhymes with grapist). He was a predator who, on numerous occasions, targeted and groomed underage women. He got shot in the face for his troubles, or more accurately, the troubles he caused for other people.

Ultimately, the book was too short for my tastes. The story could have been much more engaging if it were longer and we got to know the men and their relationship better or if Wienck focused on just one of the men. If you are into art and architecture, you may connect with this better than I did. I wouldn't tell anyone to avoid this book, but I would say you probably need to be an art geek to truly appreciate it.

(This book was provided as an advance reader copy by NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.)