Girl in Hyacinth Blue

Rating:
Summary: A Hidden Treasure!
Review: I discovered this little gem by browsing the Amazon web site book review of Girl with the Pearl Earring. Susan Vreeland takes an unusual approach in tracing the life history of a fictitious artwork back through four centuries to its creation. In the process she gives us some marvelous glimpses into the lives of its varied owners. This perspective results in a very interesting and uniquely different read since the book is actually a volume of short stories connected only through ownership of the painting and the owners' interactions with that object. As we learn its history, the imminent threat of annihilation in the opening chapter becomes all the more poignant to the reader. This fact speaks to Susan Vreeland's skill as an author. We too have developed a relationship to the Girl in Hyacinth Blue, although we have never seen the painting. As with any volume of short stories there are stronger and weaker links. The whole is well worth the effort. For those who develop the yen to read more novels set in 17th century Holland, The Girl with the Pearl Earring ( Tracy Chevalier) and Tulip Fever(Deborah Moggash) make good companion books and a visit to the Metroplitan Art Museum's Vermeer exhibit this month is highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Literary fiction lite
Review: This is a pleasant simple read. What is wasn't (at least for me) is the literary blockbuster that I read about in the critical reviews. There just isn't that much meat to this work. I liked the format of vignettes going back in time. At the same time, that format left me hanging without resolution on some of the stories and thinking "why bother" about others. The writing has all the earmarks of modern, slightly pretentious literary fiction. Her writing it for creative writing classes comes through, unfortunately.

Our book club struggled to find a half-hours worth of material to discuss in the book. We'd hoped for more.

Rating:
Summary: Barb adores Girl in Hyacinth Blue
Review: This was the third novel I read about Vermeer's paintings At First I was unsure of how related all the stories were,but I was not disappointed. Each story transported me to a world of struggling people and how a work of art affects or transforms their lives. The final story in "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" is narrated by the daughter of Vermeer. Although fictitious, her dreams,desires, and longings are so natural for a young person, and I was so moved with it that I was in tears by the end. If you want to be transported to a faraway time and place...and yet feel your can identify with each character, read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Stunning...A Work of Literary Art
Review: There is so much more to life than mere existence and the everyday requirements of survival if only you strive for it. That's what I feel after reading this little gem. There is beautiful art; there is the joy and love of those around you; and there are amazingly beautiful lovely books like this one. Everything is right about this wonderful novel. Most good books tell a story that doesn't leave your mind right away. This book has a handful of them! Every chapter is a complete world of real characters. Each one could be a novel to itself. But Vreeland has woven them together into a beautiful storyline and has an amazing ability to fill every word, every sentence with meaning and vision.

I commute to work, and I read books on the train. I finished this book last night, and today I did not bring a book with me. Instead I stood with my eyes closed and thought about this book the whole way, and the opening sentence of this review is what it led me to. Now if that is not a sure-fire way to tell you that this book is special and lovely and memorable, I don't know what is.

Buy it. A true gem.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I loved this book! Vreeland's language is luminous, like Vermeer's paintings, and though each story effectively stands on its own, the sum total is greater than each of its parts. I am looking forward to her book THE PASSION OF ARTEMESIA due in 2002.

Rating:
Summary: Make it More Dynamic -As a Duo
Review: Read this book right after you read "The Girl With The Pearl Earring." Examined side by side enhances the reading experience. The juxtaposition of comparing and contrasting the way in which two women chose to approach writing about two different Vermeer paintings is interesting. Adding weight to both books, which can be quickly read. "The Girl In Hyacinth Blue" is like opening up a chinese box which unfolds another layer of interest with each turn. For further interest in the area, next read "The Music Lesson" (completely different,a good read, also addresses a Vermeer and written by a woman). The fourth one I have found and next on my list, is "The Red Hat." I certainly have a richer appreciation for Vermeer. Catch the exhibit in NYC at the MET, through May.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book interstingly told
Review: It would be difficult to improve on the thoughtful and eloquent reviews already given, but I would like to add that this (blue, paperback) version also contains an interview with the author and some ideas for a book discussion. The latter are only marginally interesting, but the interview was very nice.

I really enjoyed this book. Too often novels emphasize a gimmick rather than the story but while this novel used the device of going backwards in time, the content justified doing so, and it enhanced the impact. It gives the idea of an object's provenance new depth. Also, the cover was well-done and tied in nicely withthe idea of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating journey through history and the human heart.
Review: The book traces the history of a possible Vermeer painting through history. As we follow the painting's past, the reader is given a glimpse into the very different lives of its owners in eight short stories that are linked through the painting. Vreeland characterizations and ability to convey emotion are excellent. She is also convincingly perfects each story so that it is its own universe, yet part of the whole. Each story is distinct and each story rings true. Of the stories, "Adagia" shines. It is simply outstanding in its depiction of a long-married couple. Unfortunately, I didn't give the book five stars because a few of the stories can really drag and are a really a chore to get through. Still, an interesting read.

Rating:
Summary: warm and inviting
Review: a lovely novel of art, love, faith and history that envelopes you into it's embrace the further back in history you go

Rating:
Summary: Interesting take on the relationship between art and viewer
Review: This book is an "odd fish" offering both less and more than its promise. The first chapter "Love Enough" sets the stage for a book very different than what follows. This story is one of guilt over the father's role in the holocaust and the looting which obtained the picture. The story is open ended - will the art instructor accept the authenticity of the painting, will it be destroyed in an act of redemption; this open-endedness leads one to expect resolution in the subsequent chapters.

The structure of the book, however, is each chapter as an independent story - some connected only by the painting, two pairs that connect only to each other. "Morningshine" and "From the Personal Papers of Adriaan Kuypers" are a pair that are an excellent piece of narrative. The first tells of a farmer's wife disappointed with the lack of beauty in her life who wants to keep the painting rather than sell it to provide for the family - including a baby it was meant to support. The second is the tale of the parents of the baby. Within these chapters, the author succeeds in presenting the conflicts of life - especially well done in the case of the farmer's wife who nearly misses her husband's expressions of love for her dreams of beauty.

The second paired tales are "Still Life" and "Magdalena Looking", the tale of Vameer selecting his daughter Magdalena as the subject and her encounter with the painting years later. The strength of these stories is the presentation of the mind behind the paintings - the drive for truth and what truth means in the context of art and what thwarts the drive to present truth through art. The characterizations of the Vameer family are well done but not the defining point of these stories.

"Hyacinth Blues" is the weakest story, a story of an unsettled marriage of a French official in the Netherlands. "Adagia" is an excellent story of a long term and loving marriage - of what can and cannot be said and of actions speaking what cannot be spoken. In this story, the painting has come to be a reminder of first love. The remaining story "A Night Different From All Other Nights" is a well-crafted coming-of-age story of a young Dutch Jewish girl for whom the future, even a future, is an uncertainity.

Throughout the work, the description of the picture by the various characters provides insight to the picture itself, to the character contemplating it, and to the relationship of art to the viewer. This later item is truly to art in general not specifically to visual art.

While the construction of the book is flawed, the first story raising expectations inappropriate to what follows, many of the stories are excellent and the exploration of the art-viewer relationship is superb ... hence four stars.