Rating: 
Summary: Clever, affecting, and engaging
Review: This was a really good book--especially for a first novel. Chevalier did a great job of weaving the two stories together and giving the reader just enough information to make you wonder what was going happen. Although the ending was so intensely sad I felt as though my heart was being pinched, I wouldn't have missed this read. A lot of history and great description of the French countryside. Throughly entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but falls just a bit flat.....
Review: Having read 'Girl with a pearl earring' and loving it, I was excited to pick up a copy of Virgin Blue. It wasn't really what I expected. In spite of the classic cover, the main character, Ella, is a modern day woman who has traveled to France with her husband for his job. While we read of frustrations with this situation, we never really see why. She starts off fine with her husband, and the next thing you know they are having all sorts of problems and she is unsure of the marriage. All the while she is 'researching' and having quite an easy time of it, her ancestry old.Woven into this story is the ancesters she is trying to learn of, so you will flash quickly between past and present. I have heard others say rhis was confusing, but I didn't find it confusing in this manner. I actually enjoyed the story of the past (I feel this is where Chevelier's talent really lies) more then the present one told in this novel. There is a mystical link of haunting dreams between the two generations, and the end swirls to a strange, dark hault for the lives of the past. One thing Chevelier does not do is give you all the details, sometimes you are left wondering exactly what happened. That being said I still think it was somewhat of an interesting story, in spite of it not quite hitting the mark. I think the potential is there for a thought provoking generational tale, but Chevelier doesn;t take you too deep in this one. While I think some who have read 'Girl with a Pearl earring' will not think this was as well executed as the first novel, it is not a true dissappoinment. Like I said, the story of the past teasches us again about history, during ancient holy wars as the Catholics were persecuted and driven from land to land. If you are interested in this subject matter, or intrigued by religious tales (Ella's ancestor Isabella is somewhat obsessed by the virgin Mary) I think you will like this novel even more.
It is worth reading if you are interested in this.
Rating:
Summary: Not quite ripe as stories go
Review: I enjoyed reading the book. I liked the character of Isabel and her family. Her husband was terrible, and her mother in law was even worse. They seemed to be women haters, and Isabel ended up tormented and punished and called a witch. All for her knowledge as a midwife, her red hair, and her love of the Virgin. This story line was enticing, and I was dissapointed when she would switch back to her modern day plot and its main character, Ella. I did like the character of the librarian. But, Ella is so wishy washy. And, I never got a clear picture of her husband. Why did she grow so uninterested in him, so quickly? This book is good, but does not contain the gentle sweetness and charm one would have wished for a vivid, colorful tale of women with so much more to say.
Rating: 
Summary: Contrived?
Review: Unlike other reviewers here, I have not read Girl With a Pearl Earring--not sure I want to, either. I found Virgin Blue to be somewhat contrived and unconvincing. Chevalier's characters suffer from underdevelopment, and I did not feel particularly invested in their (surprise!) intertwined lives. Actually, the only thing that kept me reading this book was my desire to learn if the plot was really as transparent and predictable as I took it to be (it was). Chevalier's intentions are admirable, but in this case her delivery is not.
Rating:
Summary: So much potential...
Review: After a one-day reading, I finished the story of Isabelle and Ella. Perhaps my expectations were a little too high after reading Girl with a Pearl Earring (I loved that one!)but I found this one disappointing. Stylistically, I found the Ella parts more well-written. Isabelle's passages were very severe, with these hyphens and the shifting. I never completely grasped her story because I was so put off by the style. On the other hand, I did not particularly like Ella as a person, and Isabelle's personality and her love were "warmer" to read about. As a side note, I loved the library/research parts of the book...I am a librarian and am always happy to see this in the books I read! I am glad that I read this book though, even if it was not all I hoped for. I really liked the prevelance of colors and the theme of religious history.
Rating: 
Summary: It's really not as bad as everyone is saying!
Review: I thought this novel was interesting, and I went thru it quickly. It grabbed my attention, and although I didn't quite understand why Ella suddenly was attracted to Jean-Paul and turned on her husband, I really like the story. I think that a lot was just told and not explained, for instance, why exactly did Ella want to dig up the ancient chimney? It was almost like she suddenly announced it; no thought to why exactly she'd want to do such a thing. There are other things in this that are left unexplained but dropped none the less. The most interesting of characters is Isabelle, and felt this part of the novel could have stood alone.
Rating:
Summary: "Girl with a Pearl Earring" fans will be disappointed
Review: This first novel by Tracy Chevalier was apparently published only after "Girl with a Pearl Earring" became a best seller, and one can see why. The story of Ella Turner (really "Tournier," we are told)is set in modern day France and the paralell story of Isabelle is set in the 16th century. Ella moves to France with her very likable husband Rick, and embarks on a search for her ancestors with the help of the local librarian. Ella begins to suffer nightmares that tie into the story of her ancestor Isabelle Tournier, a Catholic turned Huguenot, married to a cruel and abusive husband. As Ella becomes obsessed with the past, she pushes puzzled Rick away and delves into her dreams and uncovers the secrets of her ancestors.
The book fails first and foremost due to the heroine, an extremely emotional, directionless young woman married to a nice, well-meaning guy who can't figure out what's going on. The historical background is quite interesting, but the paralells between Ella's life and that of 16th century Isabelle are fanciful and unrealistic.
I give this book a 3 because it's reasonably well-written and I found the historical setting--the French Huguenots, the violence perpetrated by the Catholics, the flight to Switzerland, the role of superstition--quite fascinating. But don't expect anything on a par with "Pearl Earring."
Rating:
Summary: Past lives through the rear-view mirror.
Review: It has been a quantum leap, excellence-in-writing-wise, from Tracy Chevalier's "The Virgin Blue" to "Girl With the Pearl Earring". Girl With the Pearl took the bestseller's world by storm. It is a very rich tapestry, as rich as the original painting that was the inspiration for the story. However, that is not the verdict on "Virgin Blue". Chevalier tries to resurrect history, by utilizing sixteenth century imaginary characters from the Tournier (Turner) family and making it all blend with Ella Turner's present-day existence. It doesn't work well. The most interesting part of the story is the historical past when Huguenots and Catholics battled one another and both felt they possessed "The Truth". Ella Turner is newly arrived in France with her architect husband. Her plans are to pursue her mid-wife profession in France and that will require much study in order to pass rigorous exams in French. She also toys with the idea of starting a family but that plan soon fizzles on two accounts: (1) nightmares each time she tries to conceive; and (2) her burning interest in pursuing historical documentation that would tie her to the Tournier family of the sixteenth century. Where Chevalier seems to put a foot wrong is by drawing parallels that fit so badly. There is a loutish, brutish Etienne Tournier who pursues and impregnates a local girl (Isabella) from a poor family. The Tournier family's claim to fame is being in service to a local Duc de l'Aigle. Then, jumping forward to the present, Ella's own husband is increasingly faulted for not being more sensitive to her own needs, and her needs seem to be ambiguous at best. Ella's parallel character is Isabelle DuMoulin-Tournier, also a mid-wife as was her mother. Her brutish husband endlessly persecutes Isabelle, known as "La Rousse" because of her red hair, because she hails from a Catholic family, and the Virgin Mary is often pictured with red hair. Ella is plagued by dreams of blue that progressively take on more texture and form. With each dream she becomes less and less interested in her husband, starting a family and more interested in a local librarian who is able and eventually willing to assist her in her quest. It's never believable that Ella's husband, who is readily accepted in his French workplace and seems like a pretty likeable guy, has sufficient faults for Ella to be so drawn to the Frenchman, Jean-Paul, even when Jean-Paul seems to view Ella's genealogical pursuits with a great deal of skepticism. Jean is also the name of one of the sons Isabelle has borne Etienne. Ella is increasingly dissatisfied with her new home in a small town she originally found so picturesque. Further, she seems to resent the fact that her husband is so laid back and accepted while she tries so hard to fit in and is given the "cold shoulder" from the market to the library. There is also a mysterious character that intermittently pops up in La Rousse's life, a poor shepherd who she finds intriguing seeing her own life is so miserable. Not only does her husband abuse her but Isabella's mother-in-law silently and very effectively adds to the abuse. Perhaps the character, Jean-Paul, serves a similar purpose, one with whom Ella might have a future? In the end, Ella finds some of the answers she has so aggressively pursued, some of them shocking and unpalatable. In the epilogue Chevalier explains more about the persecution of Huguenots by Catholics and the Huguenots' retaliation but does not explain if some of the treatment of their children is historically accurate, i.e. slaying them and burying them within the house. Or was this entirely fictional?
Rating:
Summary: Interesting concept, difficult read
Review: The idea of an American woman who has moved to France due to her husband's job researching her ancestors who, coincidentally, came from the same area of France, has interesting possibilities. Chevalier's format of jumping from the fairly empty present day life of Ella to the troubled and difficult life of Isabelle, her 16th century ancestor makes for difficult reading. For the bulk of the book there is just too much disparity between the two women's lives to begin seeing any pattern or relationship. By the time Chevalier brings them closer together, the reader has lost much interest. It is obvious that the author researched her subject matter -- the conflict between Catholics and Huguenots/Calvinists in 16th century France and the resulting brutality -- but offers little substance for the life of Ella. One comes to respect the hardships endured by Isabelle and see her as a real life character, but Ella is relatively one-dimensional and far more pathetic that her ancestor who led a far more difficult yet full life.
Rating:
Summary: good book, but beware
Review: I loved Girl with a Pearl Earring and was thrilled when I found this book! I would certainly recommend it for Tracy Chevalier fans, history buffs, or lovers of french language and culture. But my recommendation comes with a warning: This was not, in any way, a happy book. It is actually very morbid.Very little indication of this is given by the summary or reviews, I was caught off-guard. So be aware. You should definitely read this book, but I would personally suggest checking for it at your library as opposed to buying it because you may not want to read it over and over again.
|
