Rating: 
Summary: Engaging and quick read
Review: Famous Dutch painter Vermeer left behind thirty-five works and little else. In Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier puts forth the possible story behind one of the more famous paintings.Griet is a teenager when the failure of her father's eyesight causes him to abandon his tile-making trade. The family's financial instability forces her into work for a wealthy Catholic family and her brother into another artisan profession. Griet's new life with her "new family"-that of Vermer-is certainly different, in terms of religion, daily routine, social status, and financial status. After a few months, she adjusts to her new life and finds herself separating from her family. Chevalier's descriptions of the Netherlands and of painting in the seventeenth-century helped the book because they provided a framework for everything else. Although I loved Griet, she seems too strong and too modern for the novel's time period; could a sixteen-year-old maid, with no formal education of any kind, really have outsmarted Vermeer? Her observations about her master's art seemed too astute and too quick, even if she was supposed to be a fast learner. Overall, I would recommend Girl with a Pearl Earring to anyone looking for a quick, engaging, and light novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A painting brought to life
Review: Sixteen year old, Griet, becomes the servant at the Vermeers' as her parents need her to earn money seeing her father could no longer work. Griet's responsibilities are to clean the master's studio. The novel traces Griet's life at the Vermeer's and how she becomes engrossed in her masters work, leading to the painting of Griet as the girl with the pearl earring. The novel is loosely based on Vermeer's painting, Girl with a Pearl Earring. It portrays a picture of Dutch life in the 17th century and what life inside Vermeer's house may have been like. I have seen many mixed reviews on this novel however, I would certainly recommend it to others who enjoy a fictional story based on a historic periods.
Rating: 
Summary: What do people see in this book?
Review: "I was chopping vegetables in the kitchen when I heard voices outside our front door--a woman's, bright as polished brass, and a man's, low and dark like the wood of the table I was working on. They were the kind of voices we heard rarely in our house. I could hear rich carpets in their vioces, books and pearls and fur.
I was glad that earlier I had scrubbed the front steps so hard.
My mother's voice--a cooking pot, a flagon--approached from the front room" Most of the prose is unsophisticated, but might have been fine considering it is written in first person and the protagonist is young teenager, but ridiculous passages like this (from the first page) stand out. The strained metaphors only get worse as you read on. The characters are unsympathetic and worse, unbelieveable, and the plot is paper thin.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I heard this book was good and read it...let me tell ya, it's not what it's cracked up to be! The imagery and descriptions are less than good and the plot line just gets worse...a better read? "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch... so moving. READ IT!
Rating:
Summary: Delicate and Devastating
Review: Chevalier weaves fiction together with history seamlessly. A beautiful portrait of what could have been. The author truly found the delicate voice of this fictional muse and brought her to life. The heartwarming yet devastating inner life of the central character is a masterpiece of creativity. It is amazing the worlds that canvas painted centuries ago can open.
Rating:
Summary: Come on people!
Review: This book is excellent. Well writen and described, and yeah, so what, this book might not have been exactly historically accurate... why? ITS FICTION! Give Tracy a break, she slaved over this book, so you could rip it apart. No so she could be praised and paid like the rest of you! I find some of the reviews i've read to be offensive, and rude. This book is great, it kept me intrigued and entertained, by the little quirks that happend to Griet throughout the novel. It was a very quaint read, and I thoughally enjoyed it. Read it, I know you'll love it!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! Never Look At a Painting the Same Way Again!
Review: I received this gift from an art gallery owner after making the oft-handed remark that the Old Masters were too representational in their art and today would be replaced by cameras. And that modern artists, though rarely having the same technical prowess, nonetheless are interpretive in their work and thus more intellectually challenging and provocative. Well -- ahem -- this book demonstrates the narrative in the work of an Old Master and never have I been so happy to have made too much a sweeping generalization before. Clever, imaginative, believable, insightful and educational ... the adjectives that most novels strive for but few seldom achieve. Chevalier fills in the blanks of a painting who's mystery and allure is second only to the Mona Lisa. Told from the subject's perspective, you'll gather an appreciation for the true soul of a great painting - the human interest stories that go on behind it, as well as the artist's techniques that bring it to life. A great book for yourself and for someone as a gift! It's just about impossible not to be drawn in and engaged by this book.
Rating:
Summary: Fun but a little unrealistic
Review: If you're familiar with Vermeer's art and the world of 17th century Holland this is definitely a fun book. I found the main storyline a little hard to believe, but who cares?
Rating:
Summary: sensuous...
Review: I think to truly enjoy this story is to read it through Griet's eyes and heart ... to look at things from the point of view of a teenage girl .. still innocent and inexperienced .. poor and unpriviledged .. She takes you with her on her daily duties as a maid ... she describes the way she looks at her master and the unspoken magic she feels between them ... her description of her mistress ... her feelings towards her Pieter and his bloody nails .. it is the way those wide eyes looked on life and people around them! Chevalier's style is original, simple and stunning! The meaning behind the title... the purity of Griet's emotions... I felt like I lived in that house and could imagine the kitchen , the attic .. even standing infront of the studio's window over looking the New Church... a very sentimental experience! The ending is unexpected and romantic just like when Griet pierced her ear .. I thought he would give her the portrait .. although she says that she would never see it again .. it tells a lot about the way he felt towards her and about the kind of person he is even though he is not fully_exposed as a character.. I believe that Chevalier did this on purpose just to show us Vermeer the artist ... The Griet we see at the end is a mature young woman ...protective of her family ... thankful for her new life! A beautiful story where fact and imagination intertwine to create an atmosphere filled with tension and love, and a better understanding of life!
Rating:
Summary: Pearls of wisdom
Review: Girl With A Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier is the story of a maid, "Griet," and her work with the vamous painter Vermeer. Her duties as a maid expand to assisting Vermeer -- not "acceptable for a maid" -- and Vermeer's art is not supposed to be of maids. Yet they overcome class differences, and we are brought into a painting which comes to life the minute the first page is read. In the following pages, Chavelier paints a slow, yet careful and beautiful work of art that makes the 17th century timeless. For an artist's eyes and the "wide eyed maid" exchange pearls of wisdom. The story is as beautiful and complete as a tightly strung pearl necklace. Pearls may look white, but looks can be deceiving. The story of this work of art creates an illusion that satisfies the readers' eyes.
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