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Summary: COMPANION TO A PAINTING
Review: There are two paintings on the cover of this book. One of a city (Delft) and one of the girl with the pearl earring. I don't know why, but I've always liked the latter. Very little action-wise is going on in the painting, yet it still catches your eye and holds your attention. So it came to be a big surprise that Tracy Chevalier was able to create a more or less interesting story on such a simple painting. The book IS rather slow, but I don't think anyone could have done much better. The characters are likeable and realistic. The author also does a good job of setting the scene in which this story takes place. You will learn many things about painting that you never thought of before. There are many parallels in this book--events or objects early on are reintroduced at later times. I appreciated Vermeer's painting a lot before reading this--now I appreciate it even more. After reading this book, you will be changed: you will see the blues and reds in every cloud, you will see the story in every painting. . . .
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Summary: girl with a pearl earing
Review: Well written historical fiction.Tracy Chevalier brings the reader into the world of a great artist as well as his servent girl. I tried to purchase her 1st novel only to find it had gone out of print. Hopefully the publisher will reprint her first if it is as good as The Girl With a Pearl Earing.
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Summary: Truly Captivating
Review: Tracy Chevailer's novel was truly the most captivating historical fiction novel that I have read yet. I knew very little about Vermeer beofre reading this book, but while reading this tale I found myself researching Vermeer, his life and his works. Chevailer's has admirably succeeded in representing history and adding an interesting and beautiful fictional plot. The heroine is simply that. Her sensible nature combined with natural, and believable, desires created a character who is sure to be admired by readers for a long time.
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Summary: wonderful and too short!
Review: I so loved this book. I am an artist and the book's cover actually made me buy it. I cared so much for this young girl and couldn't wait to find out what happened next, when she would see Vermeer next, what the wife would say... I couldn't wait to pick the book back up every day. I was sorry to see it end.
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Summary: Great history - great story
Review: Loved everything about this book - the characters, the description, and the plot. The book led me to investigate Vermeer's paintings. Would recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction. Also would point them to "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" - another wonderful Vermeer story
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Summary: What a Pleasure
Review: Girl with a Pearl Earring is a wonderfully pleasant read. Not too challenging or mindboggling, just an imaginative story that I think most people will enjoy. Tracy Chevalier has come up with an interesting concept--she takes an enigmatic Vermeer painting--The Girl with a Pearl Earring--and weaves an interesting and well-written story about it. Griet is a young woman whose family's financial luck has changed after an accident leaves her artisan father blind. She is hired as a teenage girl to work in the Vermeer household as a maid and soon, because of her own artistic sensibilities begins secretly assisting the artist. Griet ultimately models for the famous painting, and the conflict it causes is her story. There are many other stories swirling around Griet, those of her own family, the Vermeer family and Peter, a young man she meets at the market. I found this an interesting read, perfect for a warm summer's day, when you are searching for something a little more substantial than the usual summer fodder. Enjoy.
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Summary: Disappointing
Review: The author, Chevalier, had a good idea of weaving a story around a famous painting, but this book is a big let-down; it was downright boring. Considering that Chevalier has a degree in creative writing, she does a poor job writing this book creatively. The characters are dull and lifeless. What's more, you just don't care about any of the people in this book. The ending is so predictable - I didn't even have to read it. I don't know how anyone can rate this book highly or recommend it, and I can't believe it made it to the New York Times bestseller list.
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Summary: Very enjoyable and thought provoking
Review: This book relates the adventures of a young girl forced into becoming a maid by a family misfortune. The struggles of someone without status or power to navigate her way through her new masters (with their contrary demands), mischevious children, and powerful community members makes for a very good plot. I would highly recommend this book to all readers. No special interest in history or art is required. Side note: This story is so well done that I think the only possible criticism might be related to its very perfection. Griet-our young maiden and main character-seems to be just a bit too perfect; both in her responses to each situation, as well as perhaps also her keen powers of observation. (Critics of Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby" have said something similar, e.g., that Jordan Baker's knowledge of the details of Daisy's past are difficult to credit.)
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Summary: Very nice little book, this.
Review: Tracy Chevalier, Girl with a Pearl Earring (Dutton, 1999) To date, I've read only one bad review of this slight novel, and a whole lot of excellent ones. I'm casting my vote on the excellent side. Chevalier took one of Vermeer's best-known and most enigmatic paintings and built a story around it (there are a series of these novels; Joyce Carol Oates' I Lock My Door Upon Myself is the only other one I've read, and it is similarly excellent). Griet, a sixteen-year-old from the Protestant side of the tracks, becomes the maidservant of the Vermeers after a kiln accident forces her father out of a job, and the story alternately skips between the variouis tensions within the Vermeer household and Griet's courting by a somewhat ham-handed, if well-meaning, butcher. It's subject matter that could have (and has) been screwed up in too many ways to imagine, but Chevalier pulls it off by keeping the prose spare and letting the silences speak most of the necessary lines. ****
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Summary: Girl with a Pearl Earring
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As I initially read the reviews I was skeptical, but the title kept coming up on the list of books I might enjoy. They were right. The title character tells the story from her point of view and you can't help but be captivated by her story.
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