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Women's Fiction
The Virgin Blue

The Virgin Blue

List Price: $34.95
Your Price: $22.02
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: HALF GOOD - LITERALLY
Review: Half good - literally

As with Christopher Pike's Remember Me 2, a book I've been rereading since I'd hit puberty, the narrative of The Virgin Blue changes from 3rd-person to 1st with every other chapter. Without going into too much detail, half the book takes place in the sixteenth century, is narrated in the 3rd-person, and revolves around a woman named Isabelle (more or less the woman on the cover, only Isabelle is brown-eyed). These chapters are astoundingly beautiful - especially the first chapter, "The Virgin": the book is off to an incomparable start. But while the 1st-person half of the chapters, narrated by a modern American woman named Ella, are well-written and often interesting, I personally was a bit bored by them, waiting for them to finish so the narrative could switch back to the wonderful story of Isabelle. I repeat, my boredom was personal/subjective: I'm an eighteen-year-old queer, so reading Ella's narrative was like reading an above-average romance novel. Tracy Chevalier seems to have done this intentionally, targeting it toward female readers. What I did like about those chapters was the truth in which women are represented: heterosexual relationships are a balance of women perpetually complicating things as their beaux try to oversimplify them.
Girl with a Pearl Earring was more enjoyable for me, as it took place entirely in the past, when women's strifes seemed, perhaps, a little more interesting to a modern homosexual man like myself. This book would get 5 stars if I was a chick. But I gave it three because the 16th century stuff was so beautifully written, while the rest was bleh.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Victim of poor reviews
Review: Despite having read less-than-perfect reviews, I recently read The Virgin Blue on the recommendation of my English teacher, and was pleasantly surprised. While I have never read Girl With a Pearl Earring or any other of Chevalier's novels (and perhaps it is in comparison to them that many people beleive this novel to have fallen short), I can personally say that I was disturbed, moved, and ultimately satisfied with this book.

The story moves back and forth between Isabelle du Moulin, a young woman in 16th century France abused by her cruel husband, whose family belongs to a strongly anti-Catholic sect, and Ella Turner, her anscestor, a modern-day American midwife whose husband's job had relocated them to France. Both women find themselves horribly unhappy; Isabelle, who still secretly loves the Virgin and has her characteristic red hair, is suspected of treason and witchcraft by her husband Etienne, and Ella finds herself having strange nightmares about the color blue when she and her husband begin trying to conceive. As Ella and her "friend" Jean-Paul, a stubborn, often crass librarian who Ella is striving not to fall for, search for the story of Ella's anscestors, Isabelle's own disturbing fate slowly creeps into light.

While many reviewers have complained of the "coinicences" that lead to the story's chilling conclusion, I believe that it is this slightly supernatural and coincidential force tying the two women together that drives the story. The parallels between Isabelle and Ella are enticing, and only occasionaly (Ella's hair color changing to red being the most notable) are they far-fetched to the point of eye rolling. Although I will admit it lagged at times, the segments of each woman's story ended in precisely the place each time to keep me reading to figure out what befell them.

All in all, I would definitely reccommend this book, despite its luke-warm reviews. The end is well worth the read.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Don't read this book first-From a Chevalier Fan
Review: I read Girl with the Pearl Earring after my aunt lent me the book. I was so impressed I began to read the next book I had by Chevalier immediately after. Unfortunately it was The Virgin Blue. I agree with many of the other reviewers that the character of Ella is not sympathetic. She is so annoying in fact that I had to put the book down several times. I wish this book only focused on the 15th century (Isabelle). It is here in Chevalier's description of the landscape, the material culture, religious views, and the plight of a people driven from their home that she truly excels. For this reason alone I am giving this book 3 stars. Let Chevalier's description of 15th century France spark you interest to read more about the subject, then stand up and shout "Down with Ella"! I am now reading Falling Angels and find the story more even. Chevalier's ability to capture life in other time periods and places is incredibly impressive.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The magnetic pull of the past
Review: The Virgin Blue is indicative of the author's love of art and history, the plot marginally less sophisticated than her later and more successful novel, The Girl with the Pearl Earring. As a first effort, this novel certainly shows the author's burgeoning talent. In a plot that has become quite familiar in recent fiction, the story contrasts the life of a young woman in France with a distant relative who lived four centuries earlier, under much harsher conditions.

Ella Turner moves to France with her architect husband, Rick. Not far from where the couple settles in Lise-sur-Tarn, Isabelle du Moulin married Etienne Tournier when pregnant with their child, in 15th-Century France. At the time of Isabelle's marriage, France is suffering through the religious upheavals that are scouring the countryside, as strict Calvinist sects wrench themselves away from the Catholic Church, intent upon purifying the religion. Still, there are holdouts scattered throughout the country, mostly in the north, were the fleeing refugees resettle, driven from their lands, their farms and goods burned to the ground.

Known in her village since a child as "La Rousse", Isabelle is now shamed by her flaming red hair, the object of unwanted attention. It is said that the Virgin had red hair, a mark of the Papacy. Isabelle hopes to pass unnoticed among the other villagers, always covering her hair in public. Her husband, Etienne Tournier, a distant and controlling man, has never trusted his beautiful young wife, fathering two sons and a daughter with her, but rigid in the ruling of his family. When Isabelle's daughter, Marie, grows fiery red strands of hair among the brown, her mother is terrified and with good reason. The innocent Marie meets her fate in a cruel world, beginning a mystery that haunts the dreams of her distant relative, Ella, four centuries later.

Ella's unremitting nightmares and the recurring shade of blue that accompanies the dreams, drive her to search for her distant ancestor and their common history. Although never as portentous as in Isabelle's day, Ella's life choices are daily more difficult; in pursuing the mystery of the past, Ella's life takes a direction she could never anticipate.

Isabelle Tournier is a strong presence in Chevalier's hands, the treatment of the past historically compelling. A sincere and honest young woman, Isabelle suffers greatly for her simple faith at a time when women have few options, save the comfort of their families. Her stigma, the genetic accident of red hair, is unavoidable, but such is the superstition of the times that Isabelle is marked irrevocably. The 15th Century is tainted by religious intolerance, as the religion in ascendancy cleanses away the beliefs of another, leaving a wake of burning homes, villages and memories. This novel is an indication of the work to come, as Chevalier fashions compelling historical fiction, a genre she makes her own. Luan Gaines/2004.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The reviews do not do the book justice!
Review: I originally hesitated in buying this book because of the bad reviews. But this book is definitely worth a read! It was very compelling, and the story was something I had never read before. The historical "legacy" that links the two women is definitely haunting, though some readers may give up learning it, because the middle of the book becomes slow, but wait until the end! The big pay off is there! Give it a chance, if you reach the end it will be worth it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Author, Good Book
Review: I enjoyed this book... It is very obvious that this is Ms. Chevalier's first book, and that the editor was not particularly observant. However, it was a very good read. It took me about two afternoons to read, and I was certainly transported into another place. I admit that I preferred the story of Isabelle (the distant past) much better than the modern day story. It also made me want to do some more digging into my own roots.
"Falling Angels," Ms. Chevalier's third novel, is much more put-together and seemless, so please don't give up on this Wonderful Author.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wonderful first effort
Review: First of all, anyone who reads this MUST keep in mind that this was Chevalier's first book. You must also remember that it was originally published in Britain, and British editing standards are probably different than those in the US, which would account for spellings that may seem strange to American readers.
Overall though, this is certainly a valiant effort. The story is engaging. It pulled me in and kept me reading to the last page. Could it have been drawn out a little more? Sure. Could some more details of both Ella's and Isabelle's story have been better explained? Certainly. Does the book's writing style lack the same grace and finesse as Girl With a Pearl Earring? Absolutely. It is definitely rough around the edges. It reads a bit too easily sometimes, if that makes sense. The language does at times seem almost too casual, especially during Ella's part of the story.
However, there is no need to get too critical about writing style and development. Chevalier is a gifted storyteller and her ideas are certainly wonderful. If you just sit back and read and don't overanalyze, you will find yourself captivated by this book.
I read this one first and then read Pearl Earring. I noticed a marked improvement in the writing style only. I believe the story itself easily stands up to Chevalier's most praised work, and after reading both books (I have yet to read Falling Angels), I believe Tracy Chevalier will quickly become one of my favorite authors.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tantalizing story
Review: Just loved that book. It has an atmosphere all of its own. Also, it's interesting to see how Ella's coming closer & closer to uncovering her family's secret. And I like how 2 different ages are starting to mingle.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Thankfully I got through it quickly
Review: I have not yet read "Girl with the Pearl Earring", yet I am glad to see the other reviews that say it is MUCH better than this book, for if Virgin Blue were indicative of Chevalier's best, I would have passed up any of her other works.

Usually I am not a grammar snob, but is it VERY hard for me to find an American character believable when she is created in the first person, yet all the spelling is British for words like favourite and practise. It made suspensions of disbelief very difficult. (Imagine Renee Zellweger not bothering with a British accent while portraying Bridget Jones!) I am not sure why the editors didn't change this before publication.

Besides the grammar, the story started out well enough, but fell apart quickly. Ella is NOT a very likable character, nor was she someone that I loved to hate. I just plain didn't like her. Her motivations are not believable, her situation is sympathetic, but the way she handles herself and the choices she makes are not.

Isabelle, while far more likeable, is a victim of circumstance and a brutal time in French Protestant history, so her story is very sad, and when we end with her, it is very unsettling and bizarre.

The historical note probably should have been at the front of the book rather than the back.

The back jacket of the book sounded so interesting, it was too bad the inside was so disappointing.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: This one lacks luster
Review: Having read "The Girl With the Pearl Earring" a couple of years ago and liking it somewhat, and having talked with a bookseller in Brace's Books of Ponca City, Oklahoma and having heard his endorsement of "The Virgin Blue", I bit. I waited until having returned home to buy a discounted copy at the neighborhood Kroger and plunged right in.

I was pleased to learn of the plot lines' connection to the "Montelliou" of my graduate studies and felt this novel, though split between the present and past of an alternating chapter scheme, to have a special interest. After all the heresy of the Inquisition presented a mysterious time in Europe, and in "Virgin Blue", the link is with the Huguenot persecution of the late Renaissance in France.

Curiously, American Ella Turner, Tournier by heritage, finds a genealogical mystery at hand with her goal of uncovering her family's past near her very location in the small town of Lisle-sur-Tarn, a mere village. Typical of the tightness of small town society, and the stereotypical treatment of Americans in France, Ella finds her neighbors to be cold and gossipy, all but the wry, and sexually intriguing librarian, Jean-Paul. Despite Ella's seemingly content and thriving marriage with her husband Rick, now assigned to work in France, she is lured into the mutual investigation of her forefathers and mothers and into a physical daliance with the stand-offish, yet attractive French researcher.

At the same time we learn of Isabelle, the discontent and abused wife of Etienne Tournier, a shepard, whose family inhabited the early times of Moutier, and who adhered to the Calvinist teachings of a wandering cleric, an act of heresy that eventually drove them out of the warmth of their primitive French life into the colder climes of refuge in Switzerland. All of Isabelle's life is revealed in parallel chapters, yet the presumed connection to Ella, the modern adultress, is so contrived that by book's end, the contrivance is off-putting, to say the least.

I do not know quite how Chevalier's writing might have been better, plot-wise, as I was certainly drawn into the mystery of the first two-thirds of the novel. I kept thinking of the words of the male bookseller who proposed that it was a good read, and wondered why I wasn't so content with the book's final third. It is certainly romantic and intriguing in that Ella's inability to get pregnant and her disturbing after [intercourse] dreams of a specific virgin blue make for sleeplessness and near despair, driving her out of the known and into the unknown, and thus to life changes that make her less and less sympathetic and more characteristically disturbed. Perhaps I was too judgmental and just tired of her personal struggle which seemed much less significant when juxtaposed to the personal struggles of Isabelle.

Having studied "Montellieu", I find that "The Good Men" better represents the period of heretical inquistion in France. And "The Return of Martin Guerre" certainly precedes the other writings setting up a nice mystery of its own. In my opinion, if you are debating whether or not to buy "The Virgin Blue", leave it to a check out at the local library or a hand-me-down from a friend and fellow reader.


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