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Summary: Girl in Hyacinth Blue
Review: Not only is the writing style unique as Vreeland takes us backwards in time, but her word choices are well crafted. I had to read the book again within a 3 week period and planned to skim it. I just could not skim. Every word is perfectly chosen. To read the story was like creating a painting of people, landscapes, hopes, heartache, history, and love in my mind. As a lover of art and words, the combination of both I found very moving. If you enjoyed it the first time, read it again. Although we never know if the painting is destroyed, we have the opportunity to see how many peoples' lives it touched. That idea is so much more important than the outcome. The story teaches us that a work of art often outlasts its creator and can touch many souls well into the future. As a mediocre artist, this book gives me the desire to continue to create. Touching, uplifting, sweet, and executed with devotion.
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Summary: A Gift of Validation
Review: The simplicity of this book should not be underestimated. What seems at first a simple history of a painting's provenance becomes, in the end, the acknowledgement of the precious moments and visions of everyday life. Moving backwards in time, from owner to owner, Vreeland offers a unique perspective of those who possess this small Vermeer painting. To some a source of pride of ownership, to others a distant claim on the past, many are touched by a longing to keep this painting near as it finds a spiritual nest in their hearts. Following this backward continuum, it is difficult to understand how men can dispose of this work of art for need of finances, though they must, while their wives try vainly to excuse keeping such a thing of pure beauty in their usually impoverished homes. The painting shines like a jewel where there is little to make daily living bearable. When we meet the painter himself in the very act of creation, we begin to understand the power of his need to paint. Vreeland gives us insight into Vermeer's struggle for validation in his work, the deep need to justify such an existence, which so relentlessly lays claim upon the soul. Fine-tuning once again, we are introduced to the girl in the painting, the model, who is Vermeer's daughter. This young woman has the gift of her father's eyes, the vision of the artist. She herself longs to use the brushes, to mix the vermillion, the ultramarine, the burnt umber, with her own hands, her own vision taking shape on canvas. How fragile and unrealistic her dream; nevertheless, she cannot relinquish this small corner of herself. In the careful recreation of the story behind Vermeer's painting, Vreeland honors the gift, the act, the opportunity to create art. Perhaps only time validates the true artist, but this author eloquently reminds us to honor the artist in each of us, the importance of the moment, the beauty in simple detail. The "artist" reading THE GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE smiles in recognition, gratefully accepting this affirmation.
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Summary: Lots of little stories, but very hit-or-miss
Review: The book follows a Vermeer back through history, with little stories about how it touches the lives of the people who see it, own it, or love it. Vreeland does a great job creating a history of the painting, "tracking" it from the present-day owner back to Vermeer. In every instance, someone's obsession with the painting changes their life, sometimes for the better, and sometimes not. While of the stories are gripping,others just fail to engage you. It's a neat idea for a book, but the realization was a little spotty in places. Definitely worth reading, but be prepared to stick out a couple of chapters that may sag a little.
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Summary: Jan Vermeer's Corner of the World
Review: The Girl in Hyacinth Blue is a small book that lets us into the "timeline of ownership" of a painting. (real or imagined). Like most of Vermeer's paintings, it was painted in his home with the usual window and table. The painting is presumed to have been sold at auction in Amsterdam in 1696. We could see a similar painting in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, "Woman in Blue Reading a Letter". In this painting the woman is pregnant, perhaps Catherina, Vermeer's wife. The Girl in Hyacinth Blue may be wearing the same smock. Susan Vreeland brings 17th century Delft to life for us. The book reminds me of "The Red Violin" following the theme of ownership.
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Summary: **A lovely journey through time**
Review: This is a small and pretty book full of secret surprises. The author takes us backwards in time, tracing the origin of a (might-be) Vermeer painting. The players in each of the eight stories have full character development and each describe the beauty that has come into their lives along with the painting - you almost might be rooting for one or the other to be able to hold on to this precious work of art. An unanswered question looms for the reader at the end - and whether the painting was destroyed or not is a secret the author has kept from the reader.
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Summary: The power of art
Review: Susan Vreeland's lilting prose traces the history of a painting-a Vermeer, perhaps? That's the assertion made by its current owner, a secretive high school math teacher who unexpectedly invites the art teacher over to view the painting and validate its authenticity. What gets in the way of such validation are the burning questions: How did you get it? Where are the papers? There is also the fact that Vermeer did not leave many paintings and he had many imitators. Without papers, without a credible explanation, who could assert that its creator was Vermeer? Yet validation is the only thing that will relieve Cornelius Engelbrecht of the burden of his inheritance. He knows but cannot tell how his father got the painting. He knows but cannot prove the painting is a Vermeer. He has devoted his life to researching Vermeer, the uniqueness of his style, the history of his works, in short, to proving the genuineness of Girl with Sewing Basket to himself. He has kept the painting hidden, showing it to no one before the art teacher. He has protected it like a lioness protects her cubs. He has denied himself all normal social interactions to keep people out of his life, out of his house, out of view of the painting, out of range of questions about its acquisition. In the second of Vreeland's eight linked stories, we learn of the painting's previous owners. With each successive story we travel further back in time, learning of the life of each earlier owner, the reasons for acquiring the painting, the reasons for parting with it. At last we reach the painter himself, and finally the girl in the painting. Each story can stand alone, but only when they are linked does the full story become evident. Only then do we understand the power of art, its ineluctable pull on the artist's soul, its ability to soothe and inspire the viewer's psyche. An engrossing, well-written book.
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Summary: Hopes and Dreams Put To Canvas
Review: It is quite possible the first time you actually stop reading and put down the short-fiction book Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland may be as you complete this wonderful tale. For me this was a "one sitting" book. The story in the life of a lost masterpiece by Vermeer and the souls captured by its very existence is extremely compelling. Vreeland's narrative is as smooth and refined as a layer of varnish applied by the master artist himself. The words within each of the related stories are rendered in such a fashion that is is almost impossible to avoid feeling you are an active observer of history being made.
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Summary: What about the end of the painting?
Review: I can't believe that noone (in 47 reviews) has commented on the fact that "after all it's been through" the painting gets destroyed! To me that is the most intriguing issue. Cornelius, who supposedly loves the painting, is willing to destroy it in order to avoid the shame over his father's actions. The knowledge from the beginning of the novel of the painting's "end" really colored my reactions to the other stories of it's history.
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Summary: Episodic novel tracing a painting's ownership.
Review: I recently reviewed "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier. That book was a wonderfully realized account of what may have transpired in the life of the great Dutch artist, Jan Vermeer, at the time that he painted the lovely work named in the title. Susan Vreeland's "Girl in Hyacincth Blue," is a painting that also may be a Vermeer (we don't know for sure until the end). She traces the history of the painting's owners starting in the 20th century and going back to 17th century Amsterdam. The owners of the painting include, among others, a repressed professor whose father obtained the work under questionable circumstances, a married man who looks at the painting and remembers his first love with longing, and a poor woman who loves the aesthetic qualities of the painting but needs to sell it to support her family. Vreeland explores the themes of how a beautiful work of art has different meaning for different people and how great art has a timeless quality that can survive for centuries. She also explores the price that an artist must pay in order to fully realize his vision on canvas. One problem with this novel is that Vreeland's vignettes are not equally involving. For example, one chapter that deals with a marriage in dissolution is less interesting than the others. In addition, as soon as the reader gets involved with one set of characters, the chapter ends and the characters disappear. This constant change of cast makes the novel a bit choppy. On the plus side, Vreeland beautifully brings to life the relationship between humanity and great works of art. She also skillfully depicts aspects of the culture and landscape of the Netherlands over the past four centuries. One chapter that focuses on the very difficult struggle of Dutch farmers to keep the sea at bay is particularly vivid. Vreeland's "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" is, overall, an uneven but often fascinating look at the creative process and the meaning that art brings to our lives.
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Summary: The Price of Beauty
Review: This book is a masterpiece, like the painting (real or imaginary) which inspires it. Each short story has a life of it's own and yet when read together all are interwoven by the common thread of the painting. Some stories will appeal more than others, some are haunting and painfull; all are beautiful, evocative and real. Anyone who has pondered the relationship between beauty and money, the creative urge and the need to make a living will find this work poignant. It brought to mind Orwell's "Keep the Aspidistra Flying" and Mary Gordon's "Spending". The former is realistic, the latter utopian. "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" portrays the subject from all angles. Illuminating and perfectly balanced, quite beautiful.
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