Introduction

Printz Honor Book • YALSA Nonfiction Award Winner • Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner • SCBWI Golden Kite Winner • Cybils Senior High Nonfiction Award Winner

From the author of National Book Award finalist Charles and Emma comes an incredible story of brotherly love.

The deep and enduring friendship between Vincent and Theo Van Gogh shaped both brothers' lives. Confidant, champion, sympathizer, friend?Theo supported Vincent as he struggled to find his path in life. They shared everything, swapping stories of lovers and friends, successes and disappointments, dreams and ambitions. Meticulously researched, drawing on the 658 letters Vincent wrote to Theo during his lifetime, Deborah Heiligman weaves a tale of two lives intertwined and the extraordinary love of the Van Gogh brothers.

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Excerpt

1.

TWO BROTHERS, ONE APARTMENT, PARIS, 1887


There was a time when I loved Vincent very much, and he was my best friend, but that’s over now.

—Theo van Gogh to his sister Willemien, March 14, 1887

THEO’S BROTHER VINCENT has been living with him for just over a year, and Theo cannot take it anymore.

It is “almost intolerable for me at home,” he writes to their sister Wil in March 1887. Even though Theo has moved them to a larger apartment, this one still feels too small to hold Vincent’s outsized personality and Theo’s desperate need for quiet. He’s dying to tell Vincent to move out, but he knows if he does, Vincent will just be more determined to stay. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

Would you have done for Vincent what Theo did? Why/why not? What points in the book did you think, no way should Theo keep supporting Vincent? What do you think Vincent gave to Theo?

Some people think that Vincent's mother was terrible to him. Discuss. Ask yourself: how would it be for you to raise a child like Vincent? How would it be different today?

The common (mis)conception is that Vincent was a great artist because he was crazy. The book points out that he was a great artist in spite of his mental illness. What do you think his career and life would have been like if he had been on medication and had observed good habits? Do you agree with the "diagnosis" of bi-polar?

?Who would you like most to have dinner with in the book? Why? Who would you avoid having dinner with? Why? ?

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