Girl with a Pearl Earring

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book
Review: Just finished "Girl With a Pearl Earring" and I loved it. I could barely put the book down. I wasn't sure how I would feel about the book being it is a fictional account of a real painting and a real artist, but Tracy Chevalier did a wonderful job with the story.

Rating:
Summary: Over-rated
Review: The book has a simple structure and there is nothing new or exciting in the story. This is the kind of book you should read on a plane ride but don't expect anything deep, meaningful or original.

Rating:
Summary: Almost Better Than The Real Thing
Review: You don't have to be an art enthusiast, or even know who Veermer is and his importance to painting in order to appreciate this novel. "Girl With A Pear Earring" transcends its focus on painting and the painter himself and reaches higher levels, when it is about love, duty and rendemption.

Sixteen year-old Griet has a simple Dutch life in the middle XVII Century until one day things change forever. She is assigned to work at the Veermer family's house. At first she is not happy to leave her family to live with strangers and, to make things worse for her, catholics. She does only small things, like going to the market, washing clothes; but her importance increases when she becomes the maid who cleans the room where the painter works. She must clean everything without removing them from their original place. She develops a methode of measuring using hands, arms, and many others parts of her body. With time, she is one of the few people allowed to enter into that room. As we all suspect, she becomes friend of the painter, despite his sense of reservation. This leads them both to events that will change their lives, and many others'.

Tracy Chevalier has done a remakable job when writing this novel. It is undeniable that she made a huge ammount of research about not only the painter, but also Dutch life in the XVII Century. She reacreats the set so perfectly that it is impossible not believe that things were the exactly way she describes. The details are impressive: the market, the streets and houses, eveything is exaustive described but that doesn't necessarily mean a boring description. Tracy's writing is alive and colorful.

Another point well explored in this novel is Veermer's paintings. While she describes his process of painting, readers can easily picture him setting the scene, preparing to paint, and, even, the painting process itself. Then again, her research about his methods, his material is impressive and very accurate. And Griet is not the only model that comes to life in this novel. Some other paintings done by him in the same period are 'explained', and the models become charaters in the novel.

The narrative is told by Griet, so she is the character that we know more. She describes her life, family, duty and even a love affair. In her 16 year-old mind, things are seen by a peculiar point of view. Her 'text' is easy as it is supposed to be, once she also barely knows how to write. The painter has a very important role in her life. He helps her in her coming of age -- depiste that none of them is aware of it. The painter is a very mysterious character. His family -- mainly wife and kids -- is much more the characterzation than real life people, but I don't think it is a problem, once it is a very young girl who is trying to describe them.

As I aforementioned, you don't need to know Veermer, or have seen his paintings, the book is a work of fiction, and can be read as it is. It is a novel about love, courage, fear and rendenption.

All in all, reading this book is so enjoyable as seeing the paint. Chevalier's work may not be as close to perfection as Veermer's, but her novel is superb and it amazingly deliveries as a piece of fiction. Anyway, who knows what really happened when Veermer painted "The Girl With A Pearl Earring"?

Rating:
Summary: A Silly Book
Review: Simplistic narrative, cardboard thin characters, silly soap-opera plot. If you never finished high school, this might pass for high culture, otherwise give it a pass.

Rating:
Summary: Slo-mo
Review: The book, as one could easily imagine, was displayed in the window of every bookshop in Holland. I fell victim to this blatant propaganda.

Not that I regretted. It was a nice peaceful read, and the author evidently did her recearch. The storyline seemed a little too obvious; there was no feeling of mystery, of strange tingling light, which one can really feel in any of Vermeer's paintings. And the approach to the "woman's view" seemed a little simplistic to me.

On the other hand, when I went to see the picture in Mauritshuis in The Hague (and it looks nothing like the reproductions, nothing at all - same is true for the view of Delft, also on the cover, also in Mauritshuis), I greeted Griet as an old acquaintance.

Rating:
Summary: Sparkling and magnificient...
Review: All I can say is...Wow! Girl With a Pearl Earring is a positively stunning novel, and one that I will remember for a long time to come. The historical detail quickly pulls the reader into another world, and the sparkling prose breathes new life into artist Johannes Vermeer, his family and most especially Griet, the girl hired as maid to the Vermeer household.

Set in 17th century Delft, Girl With a Pearl Earring begins with 16-year-old Griet chopping vegetables in her mother's kitchen. Griet's family has fallen on some hardships, and her mother has informed her she is to become a maid in order to help support them. Vermeer and his wife, Catharina, agree that Griet will make a fine maid, and with that quick decision comes a fate that Griet could have never imagined...a world of color and symmetry, secrets and passions, and one in which could spell her ruin.

Author Tracy Chevalier has created a magnificient fictional account about what could have been, the inspiration behind one of Vermeer's most celebrated works. Truly a masterpiece and one history, romance and art lovers will enjoy. Girl With a Pearl Earring starts as a fever and rises and flourishes with each turning page. I highly recommend this beautiful, eloquent, evocative tale. Readers will find themselves lost in the world of Vermeer and Griet; this atmospheric novel will have nothing less to offer.

Rating:
Summary: elusive!
Review: I just bought this book yesterday and had had to finish it before I went to bed. It is exceptional. I could feel the every breath of all the characters. Very, Very amazing.

Rating:
Summary: Great Reading.
Review: The story is set in the 17th century. A young woman, Griet, is an unassuming beauty who at the age of 16 is sent to be a maid in the house of Johannes Vermeer, an amazing painter who takes a liking to Griet. There are numerous tensions already existing in the household and Griet adds to them. The mother in law there, Maria Thins, knows that Griet is special and feels the trouble brewing. What good can possibly come of a painter/master of a house and the maid who works there? To him she became more than just a servant. She assisted him with his work and he taught his vision of the world to her. To watch Griet's character grow and come to life is the best part of this book. Her perceptions of things are wonderfully written.

Tracy Chevalier is a truly talented author. Her look into the life of the working class versus the well-off, the religious differences that were so apparent at that time and the social injustices is what makes this novel shine.

Rating:
Summary: For the love of art.
Review: In an ideal situation you would read this book in front of Vermeer's painting 'girl with a pearl earring'. Chevalier seems to inspire the reader to keep looking at the painting. She has managed to write, in a delightful way, about the development of a beautiful painting.

A love affair between painter, painting and subject. And now a love affair between reader and book.

Chevalier has created a magnificent document about love and the love for art. A must for everyone who likes the old Flemish paintings.

I found it hard to stay away from this book and was happy to read Chevalier's second book, 'Falling angels'. Completely different but equaly exquisite.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!!!!
Review: The main character Griet is very conservative, but she is a smart cookie. The descriptions of life during this period and the mention of people who were vemeer's peer's was excellent. I'm not selling my copy of this book and will probably read it again soon.