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Summary: Passion Versus Perspective
Review: In Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Susan Vreeland crafts the history of Vermeer's fictitious "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" from the chilly study of a contemporary math teacher to the passionate painter's daughter who sat for the portrait. The eight stories which vaguely map this history challenge the structures of human relationship by delving into the private world of the observer...and hovering there in the tension between passion and perspective. To read the stories in the context of chronology (ie, backwards from the end of the book) is to read of the decline of the personal in favor of the proprietal. To read them in proper order is to join Vreeland in a conspiracy of engagement in human love and passion for life against chronology, current culture and the 20th century's most heinous crime.
Rating:
Summary: love life of a painting
Review: An officially unauthenticated, previously unknown Vermeer surfaces in an unlikely location: a chilly, locked room in the house of a secretive college professor. An art professor colleague of the painting's owner narrates the initial story in this linked series of stories tracing the "life" of the painting back to it's creation in Vermeer's studio. We meet each of its owners only briefly, but the painting itself (necessarily unseen, of course) grows more and more vibrant as the timeline grows shorter. It was a very quick read, surprisingly so. The writing is affecting and vivid, yet the stories are strangely forgettable - what remains is the description of the painting, and what it meant to the characters (security, money, plunder, etc.) during the time they lived with it. When I finished the book, I had that familiar feeling of fond loss that comes when you have to leave a character you've come to see as a friend - but, of course, it was the painting I felt that way about. It's really not fair that it doesn't exist.
Rating: 
Summary: Refreshing writing
Review: This is not a book or genre I would normally have picked to read, but a good friend recommended it to me and I was amazed myself by simply loving it. What made the book so interesting and special is the way Vreeland structured the whole story. It is very innovative and refreshing to read such a well written story. They story revolves around a possible 36th Vermeer painting - there are only 35 in known existence. Vreeland makes the painting, in a sense, the main character and whole book revolves around the people that have been touched by it. I don't want to give too much away, because I read it without knowing anything about the book and that makes the unfolding of the story extra special. I like the compactness of the story, but was amazed by the writing. It's one of those books you don't want to finish.
Rating:
Summary: 3.5 stars
Review: This book was based on a very interesting idea of tracing back the history of a painting. When the book starts, we are introduced to a painting and its origins are in question. Through a series of short stories, we see each of the previous owners of the painting and find out where it has come from. The transition from owner to owner was choppy until later in the book. Because it is a series of short stories, I found it difficult to connect to the characters since they were only part of the book for a short time. The painting was well described, but the one on my copy of the book didn't match the description contained within the novel. A decent read for anyone who likes historical fiction.
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Summary: An expressive masterpiece painted with words of many colors!
Review: Susan Vreeland, in what is to me, a very unusual format, brings to life a fictitious painting of Vermeer. So expertly is it done, that you find yourself yearning to stand in front of "Girl In Hyacinth Blue". There are a mere eight chapters...expertly and artistically created.Each one is a story in itself. Starting with a mathematics professor who is hiding a painting he believes to be a true Vermeer. His obsession with its' beauty has driven him away from the real world.He works and returns home, no friends, no socializing..his only world the Vermeer, locked in a back room. We are led in each succeeding chapter, backwards though time, in a tale of how the preceding owner gained possession and the story surrounding that particular acquisition. A fascinating journey further and further BACK in time until we witness in the last chapter the actual painting of the picture and not only discover who the artist actually was, but also the identity of the "Girl In Hyacinth Blue". I was taught in my writing classes to "paint a picture with words"...and indeed Ms. Vreeland had done just that.From a figment of her imagination, by the end of this beautifully conceived and written novel, we too can see the brilliant hyacinth blue of the young girls smock, the half-filled glass of milk, her brother's shirt in her lap awaiting the first prick of the needle as she sowed on the buttons to make it whole again, the sunlight in her hair under her starched white cap and her lovely hand which "had fallen palm upward on the shirt, her delicate fingers curled." Ms. Vreeland has truly created a gem in the literary world.Her novel has won three awards and hopefully she will give us many, many more moments of reading joy!
Rating:
Summary: A gentle writer with a good story
Review: Susan Vreeland puts words to paper as visually as a painter puts color on canvas. There are no fireworks or attention getting crises to hook you into the book, but you are drawn in, nonetheless. This is a very discussible book for book club groups. This book has the quality of true art, that is, each time you read you see something new in it.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting approach...
Review: Susan Vreeland takes the story of an undiscovered Vermeer painting and takes the reader back in time, from many of the times it changed hands. Each story woven together creates a masterpiece. Though I found it hard to keep track of how the painting had switched owners occasionally, it was for the most part understandable. I loved how each chapter was almost a stand-alone piece, yet tied in with all the other parts of the story. An excellent read.
Rating: 
Summary: Going "Dutch"
Review: I can't "go Dutch" with these two girls - Girl In Hyacinth Blue and Girl With A Pearl Earring. I do not like them equally. My book club read both books, thinking we had a unique opportunity to compare and contrast two good books which would complement each other. Everyone liked Pearl, and no one liked Hyacinth. Well, not entirely. Everyone liked one story in Hyacinth, and interestingly enough, each person's favorite story was different!
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Summary: Delightful theme, well done
Review: I had never paid much attention to Dutch painters until I read Girl with a Pearl Earring, so when I picked this one up I was ready to enjoy another sojourn into that interesting country. I liked the different approach to the painter and loved the way the author takes you backward on the journey of discovery. Delightful.
Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable book
Review: I recently finished this book and have since passed it on to friends. I can't say that it was a masterpiece, but there was definitely something about it that captured me. The mysterious path that each individual story lead me down kept me wanting to turn to the next story to learn of its relationship to the previous one. Some of the vignettes were definitely better than others (and I especially enjoyed them as they went further back in history), but I enjoyed the "quickness" of each story and meeting each new character. Any monotony with a particular character might be quickly replaced by an entirely new character. The insights of "the girl" in the last story were especially compelling.
My only difficulty with this book, and the reason that I bought it after borrowing it from the library, is that I need to read it over again and reexamine the stories' connections (in praise of the author, I have never considered reading another book twice). The book, as a whole, tells the story from present to past; however, each individual story takes place in it's own present time or is a short journey forward in time. At times I found this confusing and often found myself thumbing back through a previous story just to understand their relationship. I would have loved for the author to have spent more time telling about the actual transfer of the painting between each story's characters instead of the keeping the stories so distinctly separate.
On the whole, I would definitely recommend reading this book. It is pleasant and enjoyable and a quick read. A short escape from the present.
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