Rating: 
Summary: Masterpiece in a book
Review: This was an intriguing book that took the reader into the world of a 17th century maid and her artist master. The relationship between Griet, the maid, and the artist Vermeer left the reader in suspense of the characters true feelings. From an artistic point of view the author's description of Vermeer's art captivated the beauty and effort of the painting process. However, at times the book was slow. An example is the emphasis the author put on the gossip in the market. I would recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in 17th Century art.
Rating: 
Summary: SOME MAY LAUGH...
Review: ...but I don't think I've read such a good book (poetic prose) since "The Color Purple", and that was a LONG time ago!
Rating:
Summary: Out of the Ordinary
Review: This novel by Tracy Chevalier is definitely one out of the ordinary. Chevalier depicts the life in 17th century Holland with a radiance unimaginable. She crosses the line on fiction and the historical wonder, Vermeer. With every page turned, one wonders how new maid, Griet, will survive her days working for a catholic family and what painting her master, Johannes Vermeer, with brush up next for the city of Delft.
Chevalier captures the true meaning of art and spiritual infulence in this golden novel. She concocts a story of the beginning of one of the world's finest paintings, into the epic of an entire time period. Devour this New York Times best seller and experience the rapture of one girl's path through life.
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Summary: alyssa's review of girl with a pearl earring
Review: this is an exciting book that keeps the reader wondering if Catharina will ever discover Griet and the painter, Vermeer's secret. They share a bond and a single piece of jewelerly, a pearl earring. By the time Griet finds out how much she ment to Vermeer, she already has a family and Vermeer had passed away. This book will keep the reader occupied for hours
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointment...
Review: I heard a lot about this book, and it was a bestseller, so the reading group I'm in decided to read Girl With a Pearl Earring. We were all pretty disappointed...The young girl Grit becomes a maid in the household of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. We hear about her life and passions, and her family, but she is a very unrealistic character, and you really feel that she is being written by a much older woman. The writer shows none of Grit's emotions, just tells you what they are, in a very unconvincing and detached way.
It seems unlikely, that a girl so young should be as confident, unimpressed by life and manipulating as Grit is! It hardly affects her leave her family, to fall in love or loose her virginity, nothing really surprises her, and she apparently can do everything better than everyone else: this uneducated young maid is even able to tell the master painter how to paint better! Appart from a cliched fascination with her MASTER Vermeer(that seems more like a badly formulated erotic fantasy of the author's than anything realistic) Grit shows no emotion, and the plot is unbalanced and boring. You never develop any sympathy for any of the characters, and the symbolism is MUCH to heavy. The book left me cold an bored. The only reason why it gets 2 stars, is the description and information about Vermeers paintings, which were interesting. Chevalier completely fails to make a credible portrait of a young girl (Grit is more like a 40 year old woman), and the historcal descriptions aren't very good either.
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Summary: The light always comes from the left
Review: Being an enormous fan of Vermeer for years, I HAD to read this book when it first came out. Now, waiting a while, I read it again, and it holdS up as well the second time as it did the first. Chevalier is a master talent and this is one of the best pieces of literature I've come across in a while. If you're looking for car chases (DA VINCI CODE) or a page turner (BARK OF THE DOGWOOD) this is not the book for you. Instead, it's a well thought out and expertly paced piece of writing.
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Summary: Dreaming of Holland
Review: I took this gem of a book with me on vacation and wanted
to read it on the plane. I could not put it down! I felt I was in Holland not in a stuffy, cramped airplane seat.If you like to be transported (like I do) to another time and place..pick up a copy and give yourself a treat.
Rating:
Summary: A believable and moving account
Review: When her father is blinded in an accident and no longer able to support his family, 16-year-old Griet is hired as a maid by the painter Vermeer and his jealous, egocentric, and frequently pregnant wife. Griet's responsibilities in the house are legion, and her tasks rendered more difficult by the unkindness of several of her new home's inhabitants. When Vermeer adopts her as an assistant in his studio--and subsequently determines to paint her--interpersonal relations below stairs are only worsened. Tracy Chevalier has written a believable and moving account--or imagining--of the creation of Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring," the painting which graces the cover of the paperback. The genius of the book lies in Chevalier's investing the act of painting Griet with a dark significance one would not imagine it to possess. There is in Griet's modeling for Vermeer the potential for tragedy, and in the painter's final brushstrokes a form of abuse. Communicating this significance to readers--and imagining this history of the painting in the first place--is quite an accomplishment.
Rating: 
Summary: NEED for more emotion
Review: I liked it...but the ending was a huge disappointment. What was the steamy relationship between her and the painter Vermeer?? I was expecting MORE STEAM!
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: Although I am only fourteen I loved this book for it captures
the true essence of the 1660S. It also gives a vivid
description of Griet's emotions toward the things that are
happening around her. As many people mention it also makes you wonder and leaves you wanting to know more and more about this intriguing story.
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