Rating: 
Summary: Period charm with ¿memento mori¿ ending
Review: In this lovely little book Amsterdam's Golden Age comes alive with its fools, drunks, painters, moralists, Calvinists, and capitalists.The period and place are very well and engagingly described as backdrop to the story of an impetuous and impecunious painter and an unawakened, beautiful burgher's wife. Several Tulipomania legends are interwoven, including the famous one of a man who inadvertently consumed a fortune (though in the legend it's a sailor who hasn't been in Holland for several years). This novel is a charming, fast read, consisting of short chapters that are written from different characters' perspectives. Through this device, their personalities are quickly but deftly drawn (the priggish painter's apprentice, the slightly smug neighbour's wife, the callow but sharp-eyed maid). The only problem is that the main protagonists also remain perhaps a bit too faintly and impressionistically sketched, rather than being portrayed with more verisimilitude, in a more highly detailed way -- which would be more stylistically and chronologically consistent with the style of portraiture prevalent at the time in Holland. The final denouement should not have come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Amsterdam's history and geography, but the writer drew me into the story so well that the earlier hints were superseded by the red herrings and other fish that Moggach merrily layed out along her paths and canals of misdirection. The "illustrations" to the book -- major period works, many of mistress and maid scenes -- are a wonderful addition, as are the almost throwaway lines about the later life of and scholarship about the works of the fictitious painter Jan van Loos. Altogether, a very enjoyable, entertaining book, even if the protagonists are not the most compelling thing about it.
Rating:
Summary: It is fall, I need to plant my tulip bulbs...
Review: Last year I read Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. It was my best book of the year, and happily I could keep on reading Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland. I loved both books, and when I saw Tulip Fever at my local book store I knew I had to buy it.
Now, a few day later the book is read from cover to cover, and I have to leave the 17th century world of Amsterdam and all it's inhabitants, paintings, lust, love and intrigues to come back to today's Norway.
Tulip Fever tells different stories, but they are all woven together through the main character Sophia. She is a young woman married to the old and prosperous Cornelis. He deeply loves his young and beautiful wife, and wants a painting to be made of them to take care of her beauty for ever. The painter, young and charming Jan Van Loos falls in love with Sophia, and as the portrait grows so does the passion between Jan and Sophia.
This is a surprisingly story with more secrets and surprises as the chapters unfold.
Every chapter starts with a famous sitat, and Deborah Moggach also uses sitats and famous people in the story. My favorite is when Cornelis and Sophia visits the painter to look at the finished portrait. Cornelis can't take his eyes from the beauty of his wife shown and says: "You have certainly caught her beauty.....The bloom on her cheeks, her freshness and youth like the dew on a peach. Who was it - Karel van Mander? Who, on seeing a still life tried to reach into the canvas and pluck the fruit......not realizing that this particular peach was not to be eaten"
Jan has already picked the fruit in his painting, is she to be eaten? You will have to read the story yourself, and I can promise you that you will not regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: Passionate Intrigue
Review: Not only was the story exciting - but beautifully written as well. Well-crafted historical novel that kept you on the edge of your seat. Loved the structure and the use of the quotes. Found the end very moving. We highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: a wonderful little book
Review: Recently I had several hours of downtime at work and read this book in one sitting. It took me only 3 1/2 hours to read! It was very interesting to me because I have never been to Europe, and it was also set around the 1650's. The prose is very vivid and detailed. I really enjoyed the fleshing out of the characters. The ending was a surprise; it's not totally predictable which I find nice. The book is sensual, comical, and talks about the unpredictability of human beings and the world in general. Read this book, it's an engaging story.
Rating: 
Summary: (3.5)The perfect ingredients for an unusual tale of passion
Review: Romance, betrayal, greed, deception: this novel has everything going for it, as well as a fast-paced narrative. 1630's Amsterdam is a city teeming with pride, culture and accomplishment. The citizens are lawful and moral. Craft guilds are prospering, and well-to-do families display paintings on the walls of their homes that typify the richness of the times. Artists are everywhere, honing their craft, masters and students; many are today considered great Masters, whose paintings hang today in the most prestigious museums. It is in this environment that a smoldering romance is born between an artist, Jan van Loos, and a youthful married woman. Cornelis Sandvoort has contracted with Jan van Loos to paint a portrait, Sandvoort posing with his young wife, Sophie. This elderly husband is a man who both treasures and covets his wife's beauty and youth, never suspecting that Sophie will fall in love with the handsome artist. This young woman married the older Cornelis to better her family fortunes and live in the luxury her husband offers. Sophie has not meant to betray her husband, but finds herself unable to govern her heart. In desperation, Sophie conceives an ingenious plan so precise that it must be perfectly timed to be successful. Jan and Sophie embrace this plan without hesitation, so besotted are they. Perfect timing is crucial to the lovers. In their favor, a phenomenon is raging throughout the land, known as Tulip Fever. A wise investment in tulip production can net a man more than he could make in a lifetime. The fever of speculation runs rampant, even among serious men, let alone a risk-taker like Jan van Loos. Jan and Sophie see this opportunity for a quick fortune as the final piece in their salvation and proceed to implement their secret plan. The author skillfully builds the pace, chapter by chapter, until the final cataclysmic series of events when fortunes are made and lost, and lives are changed forever.
Rating:
Summary: not particularly memorable
Review: Speedy little novel about a young married woman, Sophie who falls in love with the painter who has been commissioned by her husband to paint them. I found this novel rather predictable, and didn't really accept or understand Sophie's love for Jan, it didn't seem 'real'. The added pictures throughout the book gave the story an authentic air, however, I enjoyed "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" much more.
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Summary: I read this book in 24 hours!!!
Review: The first page drew me in -- a scene where Sophia is watching her elderly husband eat. It was an odd way to start a book. As an aspiring writer of fiction, I was actually checking out the first pages of several books. It made me laugh. This is a good story. I ended up caring about the characters, because the author did such a good job of describing their motives. My only criticism is the bar scene with two strong obscenities. I understood Willem's frustration without that. I'd call this great literature if not for that. Still, it's an excellent book written by an experienced writer. I'd put it up there with MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA/A. Golden.
Rating:
Summary: Not For Everyone, But Worth the Effort
Review: The reviews are mixed about this book, and for good reason. It is probably one that you will either love or hate. The story is told through the voices of the characters in turn, which can be a bit disjointed to start with when you are trying to get all the personalities sorted out in your mind. But the dizzying effect also adds to the sense of climax that is reached when all the threads of the story come together. The historical detail is interesting and adds to the flavour of the story, but it is the characters that keep you reading. Although the ending was never going to be happy and was not entirely unpredictable, there are unexpected twists and resolutions which keep your interest to the last page. If you like historical fiction, if you like a love story, and can tolerate an ending you would not have chosen for the characters, then you will enjoy Tulip Fever.
Rating:
Summary: A solid effort
Review: There are a couple of things about Tulip Fever that seem jarring at first: the present tense narration for one, and the short, choppy chapters, each one from a different perspective. It's not too hard to get used to those devices however, and the story is generally a solid, well-told one, perhaps because of those devices. The characters, however minor, all seem important, and the reader gets to know each one precisely because they all narrate at some point. The present tense action draws the reader in, although it does at times feel forced. Moggach also does a superb job blending the tulipomania and the story of Sophia and Jan--the social, political, and economic background of the novel never dominates the story, which often happens with historical and period pieces. We learn enough to flesh out the plot and the characters, enough to make their actions seem real and plausible, but we're not overburdened with extra info. And while I could never really like Sophia, or Maria, or Jan, I could understand them and their actions, their motivations, whether I agreed with them or not. All in all, this novel is very readable.
Rating: 
Summary: too precious
Review: There seem to be one of a raft of books set during the Dutch era of tulip speculation. (I assume this has some weird link to our own era of dot-com excesses.) As a guy who reads mainly women authors, even I found it too chick-flicky (although, admittedly, I only got a third of the way through). The epigraphs were distracting. I'm surprised other people found the sex offensive -- that was the best part. I think that Gregory Maguire's "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" is a much more compelling treatment of the same era.
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