Rating: 
Summary: Engaging, and yet -
Review: Imagine a painting in which a girl sits at her dressing table, gazing out a window. In the mirror on the table, you catch a glimpse of the painter and a sparsely furnished room. Out the window, there is a suggestion of a city. She is reserved, but looks towards the hurly burly of the market square with fear and wistfulness... Ok, enough of the tortured metaphors... and yet if there is a point to be made, it is that Girl With a Pearl Earring is a vignette that happens to run to novel length. If you go in with the understanding that this is an unusually long short story, the structure and scope of the book make more sense. There are many things to like about Girl With a Pearl Earring. Griet, a tile painter's daughter with an artist's eye for colour, tells the tale of her time as a maid in Vermeer's household. For a time, she is drawn into Vermeer's perfect, private world of colour and light, but at a cost. Griet's voice is generally true to period and character, and the glimpses of Vermeer and his household are consistent with what little is known of him. Chevalier has done her research, and mostly resisting the temptation to bury her story in nifty but irrelevant facts, she instead provides a pleasant miniature of seventeenth century Delft. And yet, there are a few relevant warnings. Chevalier's language, though on the whole excellent, occasionally hit a jarring note that dropped me right out of the story. That may well be a personal issue. A couple of people with whom I discussed the book found Griet's cool narrative rather distancing, and certainly the tone of the book is rather cold and bleak. Finally, don't read Girl With a Pearl Earring for a detailed, full face history and portrait of Vermeer. Too little is known of him to provide more than a fleeting exchange of glances in a metaphorical mirror. Ultimately, Girl With a Pearl Earring is an engaging read, but if you haven't already done so, brave the children's section and read _I, Juan de Pareja_ instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Captivating tale
Review: Captivating writing and tale of young servent Griet who become enamored and engaged in her duties to assist the great painter Vermeer. This book intertwines some historical art history perspective with a slant of suduction of artistry. Griet, only having become a servant, when her father, an artist himself of sorts in tile painting, becomes disabled. She then must grow up almost immediately once she enters the Vermeer household. She is not a well liked servent but catches the eye of the master, Vermeer himself. An undercurrent of sexual tension in the book is often present and adds a strange twist to the ending. If you appreciate good writing, good art and a good story, I can guarantee that you will absolutely enjoy this tale.
Rating:
Summary: So much trouble from a maid
Review: A 16-year-old girl in 17th century Holland has to go to work as a maid when her father is blinded in an accident. In this small community everything is reached on foot and everyone knows everyone else's business. Catholics and Protestants regard each other with suspicion. Standards of behavior and dress are rigid. The girl goes to work in the home of a painter. He is in debt, but keeps three servants for a family of seven. The painter spends months on each work. Their effect on viewers is electric. Social status is rigidly defined by wealth and occupation. Those with wealth and power do not hesitate to exploit those below, especially for sex. The web of relationships is intricate. The girl breaks out by marrying a local trademan. Fascinating and credible.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Example of Bad Writing
Review: Not only is this book pretentious and poorly written, it's dull. The author tries desperately to be blunt and sound truthful, but she basically just sounds forced and stylized. When she tries to be surprising, I just find myself irritated. The overall feel of this book is that of an amateur playing with someone else's characters - you read it but dismiss it as arbitrary and temporary. Every few sentences she remembers she's supposed to be sounding poetic and throws in a sentence like 'She said his name like cinnamon on her tongue' (I'm paraphrasing here.) I ask you!
Rating: 
Summary: mission accomplished
Review: Bought this for my wife, who enjoyed it thoroughly. That's good enough for me. At the very least, this means that if at some point I am searching the house for something to read, I'll consider it for myself.
Rating:
Summary: I never liked Period Pieces........til now!!
Review: After reading "Falling Angels" and totally falling in love with Tracy Chevalier's writing style, I just had to go back and read the best seller "...Pearl Earing." I was not disappointed. I usually stay away from period pieces and cannot usually enjoy reading about any period of time before I was born (maybe it's because I find it hard to identify with it), but these two books were so worth the read. Pearl Earing takes place in the 1600's (exactly 300 years before I was born, mind you!!) and it is a fictional telling of how Vermeer's famous painting came to be. The actual painting doesn't take place until nearly the end of the book and then it sort of felt rushed, but as the reader, I didn't feel cheated of anything. It didn't seem like any part of the puzzle was missing. I did think the exact ending was a little predictable and neatly wrapped up, but other than that, I thought the book was fantastic. I anxiously await the next piece of fiction from Ms. Chevelier and thank her for drawing me into stories that take place before I was born. I can now get a history lesson while I am doing one of my favorite pastimes (reading). If you enjoy period pieces or modern romances or stories about strong women - A Girl With the Pearl Earing is the book for you. At less than 250 pages and small in size, it's a breeze of a read - You'll be begging for more and counting the months until Ms. Chevelier publishes her 3rd & next novel!!
Rating:
Summary: A world long past and the people in it!
Review: Girl With A Pearl Earring by talented writer Tracy Chevalier is a wonderful novel inspired by history and blended with just the right amount of fiction of a world long past and the people in it. An entertaining story about social issues connected with that time frame. A book you will not want to miss.
Rating:
Summary: Lost for a weekend!
Review: This is a wonderful book for a long relaxing weekend. The writing style flows for an easy read. The author crafted a great piece of historical fiction and beautifully describes the time to bring you back there. It was nice to learn a little about this artist that I otherwise would have overlooked. The story leaves you wanting to investigate his other works especially when they are referred to throughout the story.
Rating:
Summary: I wanted more than this book gave me.
Review: Having read many of the reviews on this site, I wanted much more than this book actually had to offer. I wanted more art history. I wanted a clearer picture of life in Delft at the time the story was set. But most of all, I wanted more story and more character development. This book just didn't grab me. I love the IDEA of a book describing the events that lead up to a painting I am familiar with, but in my opinion the story simply doesn't live up to the idea. . .
Rating:
Summary: Nice Light Read
Review: This is a story about a fictional girl named Griet and her interactions with the factual Johannes Vermeer. Have you ever looked at a painting or a picture and imagined a whole life for the person or people in the scene? That's pretty much what Tracy Chavalier does with this novel. She brings to life the the girl in one Vermeer's paintings. The character she creates is a beautiful wide-eyed innocent girl who matures into womanhood under the roof of Johannes Vermeer. This girl becomes his assistant and his artistic muse. Chavalier does a great job in describing the sensuality of Griet. There are scenes in the novel that send chills all through me. Chavalier has the talent of turning a simple touch into the most intense experience imaginable. My only complaint would be that I felt that there were times where Chavalier should have given us more insight into her characters. By her lack of doing this, I didn't find myself as emotionally invested in some of Griet's story altering events. Overall, it was a good book. I didn't want to put it down.
| 
