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Summary: Love the book
Review: I enjoyed the fact that it was written in reverse order.
Rating: 
Summary: not on par with "Girl with a Pearl Earring"
Review: I was a bit disappointed in this book as the characters did not captivate my attention. Ms. Vreeland's descriptive style of writing did keep me reading on, as I hoped to read more of the Veemer painting than I did of the people that came in contact with it. Easy reading for a quiet evening.
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Summary: More, please
Review: I loved this book. It was fascinating how she tracked the painting back to its origins. I wish she could have expanded on each of the stories - they all seemed so real to me.
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Summary: A treasure in hyacinth blue
Review: Beautiful novel, the story of a Vermeer painting hidden for decades. Going back in time through the lives and loves and stories of all the previous owners, this book is a small and beautiful masterpiece of art and connection.
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Summary: 5+ stars!
Review: I absolutely loved this book from the first few pages, and highly recommend it!A young professor is invited over to his reticent colleague's house to view his prized possession, a painting. But the painting has been gotten through ill means, and the owner, while convinced that the painting is an original but overlooked Vermeer, has no documents proving this assertion. What follows is a look at the origin of the painting, from how the professor obtained it, to how the previous owners came upon it, and so on. It makes for a highly entertaining, thought provoking, and very plausible story. This book is a real page turner, one that you might have to stay up all night to finish (like I did).
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Summary: magnificent historical fiction
Review: A man invites a friend into his aparment on a lonely night. There he shows his colleague an ancient painting. He insists it is a vermeer, an original and lasting one at that. We are then taken on a journey back through time to the previous owners of the painting and how it effected their emotions and lives, all the way back to the painters first ideas and beginnings of the work. Through these remarkable people, we have a revival of our own emotions, and how we can grow to love other things more than we can love ourselves. Not a collection of short stories but not quite a novel, Vreelands book a work of art, a book to be cherished and savored and threatens to burst with the luminous moments that bind it. Girl in Hyacinth Blue reminds us of how important the things we love matter to us and how we can spread those emotions and loves to everyone we know
Rating: 
Summary: Interest decresing towards the end
Review: I noticed that the book lost interest and flow after a couple of chapters. To be honest, the last chapter was so boring that I did not even finish it. I enjoyed the first 5 chapters, though. I guess it was very clear to me how everyting was tied together, exept for a couple of chapters.
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Summary: Susan Vreeland's Second Novel-to-Movie is Gorgeous Read
Review: In the opening of this moving work of fiction, an undiscovered Dutch master's painting, circa 1665, is shown in secret to a professor of art. He is qualified to classify it as a genuine and theretofore undiscovered work of Jan Vermeer but is reluctant to do so because of the shady auspices of its acquisition: it had been seized during Nazi occupation. Since the acquisition is less than honorable, ownership of the painting is both a blessing and a curse. This theme is beautifully woven throughout the story. The impact of this simple portrait of a young girl is immense. Admirers are drawn to the blue of the smock she is wearing, the "pearl" of her eye, the luminescence of the light streaming through the window near her. And, although the subject is depicted engaged in the simple task of hand sewing, it is obvious that there is something very, very different about what was going on when this painting was being made.
Through eight gorgeous and historically detailed chapters, author Susan Vreeland masterfully follows the ownership of the painting backward through time. As she plants and waters the seed of exploring the human ability to become attached to inanimate objects, we are given a view into the life and relationships of each successive owner. The challenge of the first set of characters is an awesome one: how to adequately enjoy something which is, technically, forbidden to own. Immediately, the reader's curiosity is piqued on many levels: Of course, What is the origin of this painting? But also, How does one come to terms with ownership of artistic property gained by questionable means? How can one enjoy it? And, of course, we ask ourselves again and again, if the work is authentic, if the work was actually done by Vermeer. And, if it was, what was the origin? Who is the subject? And, as we may ask ourselves in the case of the famous Mona Lisa, what was the subject thinking while she was posing and how did the composition come about? The challenges of each of the subsequent owners are as awesome as the professor's. And while each has a unique story, all of them are similarly enamored of the same stranger's work. And the delight and the pain of their human drama connects their stories while demanding our attention to a poignancy and delicacy that is unforgettable. As the author draws us in tighter and tighter to the humble creation of the painting, we can fully appreciate how one person's work can impact the lives of many strangers.
With wonderfully human characters, a highly engaging and thought-provoking story line, and beautiful, painterly prose, *Girl in Hyacinth Blue* is a glorious and fresh work of fiction, and a book capable of entertaining while also having a deep, marvelous impact on the reader.
Rating:
Summary: A slow read
Review: The first hundred pages of this book were fairly monotonous. The story picks up a bit after that, but most people might not make it that far. I did like the concept--following the owners of a painting all the way back to the painter--but the actual product just didn't live up to my expectations.
Rating:
Summary: A little slow
Review: I found the first half of this book to be fairly monotonous. While the concept for the novel--following a painting's owners all the way back to the painter--is interesting, Vreeland didn't really get me hooked in the first hundred pages. The stories got more interesting toward the end, but if I were a less voracious reader I might not have made it there.
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