This is an excellent read for those interested in Rodin and Rilke. The book is packed with a lot of history! ( )

I expected something different from this book, more of the intersections and philosophies and less straightforward biographies. There was much there to like (intersections with Tolstoy, Chekhov, Renoir, Matisse, Manet, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Sylvia Beach...) but they were incidental rather than insightful. ( )

A fascinating, colorful read filled with details and descriptions of two geniuses, their closest friends and influences, and the milieu of a pivotal time in the development of modernism. This is a well-written, lyrical, and thoroughly researched book that brings the complex personalities and ideas of Rilke and Rodin to life. ( )

You Must Change Your Life is a fascinating biography of a friendship beautifully written by Rachel Corbett. While we learn about the lives of Rilke and Rodin it is in the telling of the friendship where this book truly shines.

Corbett gives both biographies of the two men as well as an elaborate portrayal of the friendship and mentorship they established. These difficult men are presented in all of their grandeur as well as all of their pettiness, which serves to make them ever more human and real.

One aspect in which I was particularly impressed was Corbett's ability to explain the basics of aesthetics and art history without getting bogged down in terminology. For instance, her explanation of the intellectual atmosphere of the time, a section in chapter 2, is as clear and concise an explanation one will find on aesthetics and the development of the modern concept of empathy. This sets up the rationale for both artists' reception in their own time yet does not derail the flow of the biography.

Highly recommended for those interested in the arts in general and particularly where different forms meet. Also for those who enjoy interesting biographies of people we have all heard of yet may only know a small bit about.

Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads First Reads. ( )