Rating: 
Summary: What an enjoyable story
Review: What an enjoyable story about the artist Vermeer from a young girl's viewpoint. Tracy Chevalier's novel was such a pleasantly surprising adaptation of what might have happened between an artist and his muse. I added this book to my list of recommendations, especially for teen readers.
Rating: 
Summary: A Let Down Ending
Review: I did enjoy Girl with a Pearl Earing. I thought the characters were well written and true to life. However, if you were looking for a story of scandal (a painter having an affair with his young maid) you won't find it. This is that classic tale of first love, one-way-street love, and love that can never be. It's a story about settling for second best, being trapped by your class, and the grass-is-always-greener feeling. Though the Girl in question has a strong backbone, she too suffers from the imobilization that love, lust, and infatuation give us.
I did enjoy reading the book, but the hype and descriptions written about it mislead my expectations.
Rating:
Summary: Culture Lite
Review: A good book, not a great one. Chevalier has created a fictional life for the girl with a pearl earring in Vermeer's luminous painting. This artifice is effective, and there is ample detail about 17th century Holland to support the plot. Yet the book is a light read. An account of the girl's budding love life and the gossipy goings-on in Vermeer's household. This will certainly appeal to those who prefer linear pop novels to deeper explorations of human or historical topics. It's a book to be read in a weekend.
Rating:
Summary: Quiet and Stirring
Review: A quiet and stirring book. As elegantly composed as a Vermeer painting itself, Tracy Chevalier seems to draw out of the darkness only the necessary scenes and dialogue.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply amazing
Review: Tracy Chevalier's novel is one of the best I've ever read. She creates Vermeer's world perfectly, down to every little detail without making it seem like a textbook. Though the plot is simple, it doesn't detract from the story at all, because of her superb characterizations and setting. The story follows sixteen-year-old Griet, who becomes a maid for the Vermeers. She slowly comes to know Vermeer, and his world of painting. This is an incredible historical tale that will keep you intrigued the whole time.
Rating: 
Summary: very disappointing
Review: I heard so much about this book I thought it would be worthwhile, but it was really disappointing. The plot is paper thin, the characters are flat, and there doesn't seem to be a point other than describing the "story" of this painting. Struck me as an MFA writing exercise rather than a real novel. Also had my pet peeve - a totally unrealistic villian who is evil "just because" - has no apparent reason to be in conflict with the main character yet pursues her destruction with bizzare singlemindedness (made worse in this case since the villian is a child! What child can concentrate on one thing for 24 hours, much less years of careful manipulation to destroy someone whom she has no real reason to hate?) I wouldn't reccommend it. Maybe it's popular just because it's so simple - unintimidating for people unused to reading.
Rating:
Summary: Girl with a Pearl Earring
Review: This story is about 16th century Holland and how life was for the everyday person. It paints a picture of how one young girl became a woman. It offers a window into what little is known about Vermeer and his family and how the relationship between Vermeer and a maid altered all their lives forever. You are left to wonder at Vermeer's true desires as he paints one of the most famous and haunting pictures of his time. As you read you become intricately involved in each character's life and decisions. It's an amazing book and a great, quick read. I absolutely loved this book. I read it because my mom strongly recommended it and I think it's a perfect book for mothers to share with their daughters.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to read
Review: I found the book to be enjoyable and an easy read. The characters and places were described beautifully so that I could easily create my own mental picture of them. Chevalier captures the whimsy and the complexity of a young girl caught up in a world in which she has little control. I could identify with many of the emotions of the main character.
Rating:
Summary: A new twist on a historical event
Review: Griet, the fictional character on which Chevalier bases her novel is a likable, relatable teenage girl. Chevalier's idea for her book is a creative one, inventing a fake muse for a real painting. She mixes fiction with fact in such a tantalizing way that she makes this book and Griet seem real. Her vivid descriptions of Holland give the reader a feel for what it was really like during Vermeer's time period. For readers who like historical fiction, this is a good book to read.
Rating:
Summary: A tapestry of words...
Review: woven together with such expertise that you find yourself not 'reading about', but 'living in' this fable. It is historically based on the painting "Girl With A Pearl Earring", one of the most discussed of the Dutch artist Vermeer's works.The painting adorns the cover and you are drawn back to it time and again as you walk down the streets of Delft in 1664 Holland; inhaling the smells, absorbing the sights and relishing all the sensory effects that the author spreads before you. You experience all things through the eyes of Griet, the narrator, and feel the weight of the luminous pearl earring as she guides you through this portion of her life. The author makes you eager to follow her no matter where it may lead you. And the harmonious flow of words are as if from Griet's mouth to your ears. Your hands become raw with hers as she launders and cleans in the household of Vermeer - torn from her family to become a maid because of an accident that rendered her father blind. You suffer her humiliations and rejoice with her when Vermeer selects her above all to become his assistant and prepare his paints.
And then, he wishes her to pose! There is so much speculation as to who the magnetic girl in the painting truly is! But for me, it will always be Griet! Chevalier's strokes with the pen are as beautiful as the brush strokes of Vermeer; and the O.Henryesque ending is yet another pearl to relish.
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