Rating: 
Summary: The evocative and imagined story behind a painting
Review: Tracy Chevalier's novel imagines the life behind a painting, a conceit in lesser hands that could have sustained no more than a short story. Griet, the daughter of a blinded and thus unemployed tilemaker, is sent into the Vermeer household as a maid where she quickly learns the ways of servitude. Griet is not well-liked by the senior maid nor by her mistress, both of whom are jealous of her because she, and not they, are allowed into Vermeer's studio. Griet is beautiful and has an eye for color and order, qualities the painter finds enchanting. How she ends up in the painting and what it does to the futures of all involved make up this tale.This book is easily read in a couple of sittings - maybe even one, if you have the time. Because I read it back to back with Anita Diamant's The Red Tent, I found it lacking in complexity and depth, but was a good read all the same. Griet's chores in the household are well imagined and precise, and the historical details Chevalier provides, particularly those pertaining to the grinding and creation of color, are a delight. While Vermeer himself seems elusive as a character, almost as though the author were afraid of giving him flesh, the other major characters are solid. I couldn't help liking Griet and feeling for her difficult position. This is an excellent vacation book, not demanding but still evocative. You don't have to be interested in art or Vermeer or historical fiction to enjoy this book. It stands on its own as the story of a young woman coming of age and learning where her place in the world lies.
Rating:
Summary: Filled to the brim with emotion!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed Tracy Chevalier's book, "Girl with the Pearl Earring." I knew nothing about Vermeer prior to reading this book. I didn't even recognize the painting on the cover of the book - however, my book club chose to read this as their selection for May, and I wanted to keep up with them. "Girl With a Pearl Earring" is descriptive and moving, and Chevalier does a fabulous job of catching and describing the feelings and demonstrating the emotions that Griet has in having to leave her close-knit Protestant family to live with the famed painter Vermeer and his Catholic family in 17th century Delft. To imagine what it was like for a 16 year old girl to leave the comfort of her own home and abandon her relationships with her family is overwhelming. Chevalier does a wonderful job of showing the internal conflict that Griet is having throughout the book. She is torn between doing her job and what she feels is best for her relationships with those she loves. This book is not long at all, and it reads quickly, as you are captivated and drawn into Griet's life and relationships with the butcher's son, her brother, and her ill-fated little sister. This book is filled with tragedy as well as triumph, and makes me wonder about the story behind all those paintings I've come to take for granted.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful, intuitive verbal portrait of life in Holland in
Review: Tracy Chevalier creates an opportunity for the reader to step back in time -- to see, smell, hear, and feel the nuances of life in this part of the world 340 years ago. Its intimacy is the greatest pleasure. This is the story of one woman's life. Griet, the girl with a pearl earring, has extraordinary viusal intelligence. Her words exude unconscious, rich sensuality uniquely combined with a clear-sighted practicality. The story is written as if we were invisible observers privileged to read her unguarded thoughts. Her innocence is in conrast to her critical visual analysis of the world's beauties and uglinesses. With words, she paints the same detailed pictures for our imagination's eyes as Vermeer painted for our physical eyes. She sees more than most. She says less than most. The words she does use are as carefully chosen as Vermeer's surprise contrasts. Less is more. She and Vermeer are kindred spirits. Haunting.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful reading
Review: Chevalier brings 1600s Holland to life in this great novel. Her characters are for the most part vivid and true while her prose is honest and sometimes breathtaking. Although one suspects early in the novel that Vermeer would eventually paint his somewhat repressed maid, Griet, Chevalier brings the smallest of details of this event to life. The novel ends of course with Griet's triumph over her many obstacles, including Vermeer's wife. A original and well written novel.
Rating:
Summary: SMALL STORY, BIG MEANING
Review: On one level "Girl with a Pearl Earring" is an underwritten novel set in a seventeenth century Dutch town where Griet, a teen-age maid, becomes star-struck when she is noticed by the famous painter, Vermeer. Tracy Chevalier builds her story slowly with interesting little details of life in Holland in the sixteen hundreds and before we quite realize it we are swept away. So what is this book all about anyway? There is only one small sex scene, no great world-changing events, and little action as we have come to think of it in current fiction. Then why are readers buying it in droves, lining up on library waiting lists, and staying awake until the wee hours when they have it in hand? Because, perhaps, it speaks, on almost every page, to a longing which all of us feel but cannot quite articulate. Let's call it a search for a kind of perfection and the impossibility of its achievement. In this sense, Tracy Chevalier's story is about lost possibilities. Who can resist them whether in the literature of love or war or art? I once knew, in college, a pert and lovely young woman who set out on a quest for the perfect happiness. She never achieved it and her uncompromising search deprived her of a certain measure of happiness. Now I feel compelled to try and capture her yearning by writing her story. In a way, that is also what this book is about, the seductive power of longing. Vermeer achieves perfection, or something very near it, in his work. But it is at the high price of alienation from family and financial depravity. Griet, too, comes close in a different way, but is given only a fleeting glance of the perfection she desires. And Vermeer, motivated to perfect his work out of longing for Griet, or the idea of her, is likewise deprived. So why, to paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, do we beat on against the tide, seeking a kind of perfection we can never achieve? Because, perhaps, we hope for a miracle. Like the one which transformed Tracy Chavalier's banal little story into a few golden moments.
Rating:
Summary: What a read!
Review: "Girl with a Pearl Earring" is a brilliant work of historical fiction. Vermeer's works always seem to draw me, and this particular painting has been one of my favorites. Unlike any of the others (except 2), it isn't painted in front of a window and other stills. Even the two others painted with simply a black background don't have the mystery that this one carries. Tracy Chevalier digs deep into the ambiguity surrounding this work of art to create, in my opinion, an incredibly believable story about Griet, the girl with a pearl earring. The supporting characters can be divided into two groups: likeable and detestable. Frankly, I came close to developing an ulcer due to the behavior of one girl, which merely displays the good job Chevalier did with characterization. To close, the historical authenticity is commendable, especially in the areas of class structure and its rigidity, as well as Griet's descriptions of making the paint for Vermeer (the different types of materials used, grinding them, etc.). Chevalier leaves the reader with a vivid picture of 17th century life in Holland, which can make for a bit of a depressing book at times, what with how realistic it is, but really! What book of lasting literary valu isn't, in some ways, depressing? So go ahead- read it!
Rating:
Summary: What a read!
Review: "Girl with a Pearl Earring" is a brilliant work of historical fiction. Vermeer's works always seem to draw me to them, and this particular painting has been one of my favorites. Unlike any of the others, except for approx. two others, it isn't painted in front of a window and other stills. And even these two other paintings don't carry the mystery that this one carries. Tracy Chevalier digs deep into the ambiguity surrounding this work of art to create an incredibly believable story about Griet, the girl with a pearl earring. The supporting characters can be divided into two groups: likeable and detestable. Frankly, I came close to developing an ulcer due to the behavior of one of the girls in the novel, which merely displays the good job Chevalier did with characterization. To close, the historical authenticity is commendable, especially in the area of class structure and its rigidity, as well as Griet's descriptions of making the paint (the different types of materials used, grinding them, etc). Chevalier leaves the reader with a vivid picture of 17th century life in Holland, which can make for a bit of a depressing book, what with how realistic it is, but really! What book of lasting literary value isn't, in some ways, depressing? So go ahead- read it!
Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: Wonderful book! I really enjoyed it, I just wish it hadn't been so short! But other than that, I think it had a great story behind one of Vermeer's most famous paintings. When I got to the book store I headed straight to the "Best Sellers" shelf and found this little book. I read the summary on it and it seemed very interesting..I'm glad I read it, it sure was worth it and it made me think and take a closer look at the painting, seeing thru the eyes of an artist and wondering what he might have been thinking while he painted this extraordinary work of art.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring
Review: I first came across the book as I was cleaning someone's office at work. Later I saw the book at the airport and bought it. As a person who has great love for books, I have never read a book completely through. While I was reading this book, I saw pictures of her in Chicago while visiting and finally even bought the poster. As an artist myself, it gave me the perspective of how others find your work so intriguing. The language is beautifully written and almost sings its own tune. Through poverty and tragedy the young lady finds herself in the home of Vermeer as a maid. Simply a page turner.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre story
Review: I thought the story was too simple and it failed to transport me to Old Delft as I had expected. Besides the Meat Market, the Beast Market and doing laundry by hand, I didn't see anything remarkable about the Delft that the author created. It might as well have been any rich household in any country outside of the US. I've never been to Holland and I could have made up the same details. The story itself was too simple: a maid gets painted by Vermeer and his wife doesn't like it. First of all, I personally find it unlikely that Vermeer needed a maid to clean his studio every day. I found the drama in the story to be oversized, simple things are made into a big deal. Everytime Griet cries or feels an injustice done to her, I just didn't see what the big deal was. Since the story is done in Griet's voice, you don't get to know the other characters as well and you know almost nothing of Vermeer. Throughout the book, he's simply known as "he". I think it was an unwise decision to write the book in Griet's voice especially because we keep hearing how she's smarter than she lets on and how she's so wise she can see through people's words. It would have been more effective and believable if the compliments were coming from an observer rather than herself. It made her story less believable in a sense by writing it in first person.
|
