Girl with a Pearl Earring

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Summary: The Colors Of A Maiden's Heart
Review: Griet, a 16 year old girl, narrates her two years as maid and assistant to Johannes Vermeer, Dutch 'Golden Age' Master. During her tumultuous experience in his household, Griet becomes the subject of his most famous portrait, "Girl With A Pearl Earring."

Author Tracy Chevalier is also a Master, painting the emotions of Griet with soft sensuous strokes mixed with bold brushes of self-discovery. Chevalier develops vivid characters, especially the artist's wife and mother-in-law. Vermeer, is a quiet genius, but the short spurts of his voice and the movement of his eyes provide the canvas for Griet's emotions.

This novel is moderate in length, but I gladly would have enjoyed twice as many pages. Chevalier leaves us staring at the painting, wondering -- as she did -- what further adventures awaited the "Girl With A Pearl Earring".

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Summary: a novel, almost as beautiful as the painting
Review: Girl with a Pearl Earring is an outstanding novel written by Tracy Chevalier.
Griet is an observant, wary, and thoughtful 16 year-old Dutch girl. She becomes a maid for the painted Johannes Vermeer when her blind father can no longer work. Griet must do harsh housechores as well as clean her master's studio. She must clean the studio very carefully and meticulously, since she has to put each object exactly in the position they were before so it looks as though it wasn't disturbed.
Griet finds it difficult to find her place in the large household of five children, another maid, Johannes Vermeer and his strict and jealousy wife Catharina, and Catharina's keen and sharp mother Maria Thins. However, she begins to receive attention from her quiet master, Vermeer. She begins to understand her master more and more as she sees his paintings.

And finally Vermeer decides that he will paint Griet, the painting that has now become so famous and widely known among the world today.

This is probably a quite easy read for all you avid readers out there, however it is still deep in its meaning and very poignant and delicate.
I highly recommend this book to anyone. You won't be ble to stop reading it! (I finished it in one day!)

Rating:
Summary: interesting
Review: chevalier does an excellent job portraying the heroine, greit. the book remains interesting throughout. i enjoyed it. it was an interesting way to view a painting. i kept flipping to the cover to see greit in order to fully visualize her. i thought it was very well written and certainly readable without a dull moment throughout. i found myself fascinated and read whenever i got a spare moment. girl with a pearl earring is definitely worth anyone's time.

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Summary: Beautifully Subtle
Review: "Girl With a Pearl Earring" is a prime and shining example of intelligent writing. Chevalier portrays the main character, Griet, so indirectly it's like God is telling the story. Griet is by far the most striking, and believable characters I have ever encountered in my years of reading. And through Griet, we encounter the mysterious genius of Vermeer. This story does not require a complicated or exciting plot to hook the reader. It breaks the fundamental rules of grammar school story telling, but Chevalier pulls this off with amazing grace and stunning detail.

A beautiful and captivating read that will sick with you!

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Summary: Enjoyable book
Review: Girl With a Pearl Earring is an interesting fictional account of the life of a maid, Griet, as she works for the painter Vermeer and his household. Even though I am not familiar with the painting or Vermeer, I've learned about some of his paintings and his favorite subject matters. This book will especially interest you if you are a history buff or an art lover.

Griet tells the story in first person. You feel her pain, her fear, her insecurities and her frustrations. Her family forces her into servanthood after her father is stricken blind in a kiln accident. She goes to work for the painter Vermeer. Even though he is the man of the house, it is clear he does not run the house. His wife, Catharina, and his mother-in-law, Maria Thins, are the true overseers of the house. Catharina is perpetually pregnant, and the house is full of little girls. One in particular, Cornilia, proves to be a handful.

The book educates the reader as it describes the life of a maid in the 17th century, as well as some of the notions and the culture of 17th century Holland. I would have liked for the book to be longer, but the book is the perfect length for the story lines that are developed. All of the story lines are completed, and I didn't find myself wanting to know more about certain characters.

I look forward to reading Tracy Chevalier's other works.

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Summary: A richly painted novel
Review: The reader will find themselves drawn into this finely spun story, richly lavished on pages you can't help but turn quickly.I appreciated the main character keeping her dignity, and the book not turning into another good-girl-gone-wrong story. Bravo!More!

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Summary: Griet knows everything at the beginning. What's to learn?
Review: There is no journey worth sticking around to learn about. This narrator is so wise, and just keeps moving on, knowing everyone's motives at the start. She isn't interesting, this is a very placcid, superficial read. Her ability leave her family so easily wasn't real and fit right into another world. Very disappointing read.

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Summary: A Girl From Art
Review: Tracy Chevalier does an extraordinary job in bringing to life the girl pictured in one of Jan Vermeer's famous paintings. She mixes real history and pure fiction to create a beautifully detailed and evocative tale.
This unknown, girl is given a name (Griet), and an interesting personality that makes up the colors of the novel. Vermeer, an artist whose life is known little about, is also given a completely made-up personality, yet deep and thorough, and with the colors Griet offers him, he paints the rest of the story.
Griet is Vermeer's maid and she is responsible to clean the studio in which he paints. She is the only one allowed to enter his studio and there is an air of jealousy from Vermeer's wife and daughters. This special permission immediately causes a
intimate relationship between Griet and her master. She learns the techniques to painting a picture and even gives Vermeer some advise upon making a perfect scene to a portrait. Though the two never physically touch, they develop an intense and sensual relationship that is shown only through subtle movements such as a quick jerk of a hand or a glance from an eye.
Griet's launguage is simple but her expressions are complex. Her attraction to Vermeer is due to his charisma and talent. Chevalier creates a story told by Griet that is seductive and is a portrait of radiance and canniness. If you are not an artist, you will finish this book with a sense of what it is like to paint and mix colors through Griet's eyes and experience. If you are an artist, you will experience the beauty of painting through Chevalier's words and imagination. It's a quick read and delightfully entertaining.

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Summary: Where paint meets pages
Review: How delightful it was to spend a dreary afternoon lost among the sloping streets and shimmering canals of Delft with Griet! I found this book to be a delightful meld of the literary and the artistic world, as Chevalier "paints" a colorful history of a somewhat exasperating girl. I admit, at first I was a bit trepidatious of reading a book that dealt with painting, and Vermeer's paintings at that, in a literary form. How was the author going to capture the incredible skill, and beauty of a painting with words? I extend my congratulations, for Ms. Chevalier did just that. Somehow, she managed to meld the words into a medium that conveyed artistic flair, perhaps grinding her ingredients just as Greit did, into a paint that she splashed on the pages. Her descriptions of Delft, and the houses surrounding the canal I found to be a surprisingly perfect setting for this story. I recommend this quick, but engaging read for a cold day and a hot cup of tea.

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Summary: Two recent looks at Vermeer
Review: Girl with a Pearl Earring is an engaging portrayal of how the author imagined the famous Vermeer painting came to life. I enjoyed especially the author's abundant use of imagery. Chevalier creates a word picture herself with so many colors, similes, and metaphors.
Some other strong points I appreciated are the insights of the protagonist Griet. She is very observant as well as sensitive, even though she realizes she is trapped in a world not of her choosing. How she manages to survive and build another life for herself is touching because she has to overcome personal loss, the jealous Cornelia, intimidating Maria Thins, pouting Tanneke, and tempestuous Catharina, not to mention the sensitive yet insensitive Vermeer himself.
Griet is presented as a very strong young girl who is able to hold her own among some ineffective and weak people. This aloneness of Griet's is what also drew me to the story.
That said, I must admit I prefer Girl in Hyacinth Blue, which also centers on Vermeer's art. Its more intriguing presentation won me over, once I figured out what was going on. Chevalier and Vreeland have very creatively re-presented a master to us in this new century of continuing crass commercialism and shallow efforts.