Rating: 
Summary: Wow!
Review: This is a stunningly beautiful book, one of the best I have read in a long while. Chevalier has created a heroine who is at once a hopeless underdog and a certain champion. Griet is both an engaging narrator and a loveable character. Vermeer's character is drawn less descriptively but nonetheless equally fascinating. He is shown as a masterful artist and also as a human being.The novel builds with a steady, powerful tension despite the fact that we all can guess what is going to happen. I loved the descriptions of Vermeer's painting process. The scenes in which he is studying and drawing Griet are sensual and smartly written. I found myself flipping back to the front cover of the book to study the painting as I read about its creation. Everything is there, exactly as Chevalier describes it in her story. The folds and shadows of the cloth in her hair, the wetness of her lips, the expression on her face as she turns to look over her shoulder, the faint glow in her eye as it catches the light of the earring, and of course the pearl earring itself. With each element that is added in the story, the painting on the cover becomes more and more real.
Rating:
Summary: A whole new way to see painting
Review: Just as artist Vermeer teaches the family maid, Griet, so see painting in a whole new way, this wonderful historical fiction novel will also do the same for you. While reading, I kept flipping back to the cover and could see and understand more and more about the painting and this girl, who, although fictional, seems so real. Luckily for the author, apparently almost nothing is known about Vermeer, so she was able to create this wonderful story of his life and the life of Griet in 17th century Delft. This is a brilliant novel with great "artistic" merit.
Rating:
Summary: A maid set free
Review: I was sucked into the world of Griet from the first sentence I read.... I truely enjoy it. Its a piece of art as Vermeer's painting!
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly good!
Review: Taken one element at a time, this book has little to recommend it. The plot is very thin. The characters are for the most part either uninteresting or unpleasant. There is no action and little dialog. Yet, somehow these elements combine to make a surprisingly good -- even great -- book. Part of the credit goes to the writing and part to the innovative and imaginative concept. I can just picture the author looking at Vermeer's painting and wondering, who was she? We've all done that. Yet, Tracy Chevalier went a step further and created a possible reality that rings true while never pretending to be anything but imaginings. An incredible accomplishment. I don't think I'll ever be able to look at a Vermeer painting without thinking of this book.
Rating:
Summary: good for all
Review: I am a 20 something year old man and i loved this book. The movie is great too and it is intersteing to note the differences between them. Both my parents loved this book and I think it is not only a good story but intersting to get into the mind of a famous painter.
Rating:
Summary: Very absorbing read
Review: I think Tracy Chevalier has imagined an interesting and plausible story here. Her writing style is engaging, her research excellent, and this story really does take you back in time. I would imagine this sort of novel was no small feat to pull off, and Chevalier pulls it off admirably. I recently saw the movie version, and was surprised to find that the movie is even better than the book. I didn't see how this book would translate well to film, but it absolutely did.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I thought it was going to be
Review: I really did not enjoy this book. While it started off okay, I really found it dragging. After a while I wasn't even excited to read it anymore. I really disliked the main character which may be one reason. It moved too slowly and there wasn't enough action. Don't waste your money.
Rating: 
Summary: TOO PREDICATABLE
Review: Poor girl becomes maid, in a house full of ill natured women. Prince comes along, who just happens to be a painter. Charms, disarms, and winds up painting her. All what's missing is a glass slipper and a pumpkin....
I was dissapointed in the approach of this wonderful painting. But, it was nice to get a feel of 16th century Dutch life.
I wish they would have left this painting as a mystery..
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and worth while reading
Review: I read this book in 2 days and really had a hard time putting it down. I found the character of Griet interesting. It was a nice insight to the life in Holland in the 1660's. Vermeer was a talented artist and this story takes a look of the possibility behind the identity of the girl in the portrait. However, I did wish more time was actually spent with the artist than in the laundry room. The pregnant wife of Vermeer was nasty and if she was truly like that, I wonder if he would have gotten her pregnant so often. (They had 11 children.) She didn't seem to understand her own husband and the pairing was unbelievable, especially when the story indicated at the underlying attraction between the maid Griet and the artist. It will be interesting to see this book turned into a movie with Colin Firth as Johannes Vermeer. I just hope they give him more screentime than the book indicated.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining but no masterpiece
Review: I read this book in two days. While it was appealing to me as a person interested in art and gave me a renewed appreciation of Vermeer, it has little more to offer than that. The writing is cut and dry and the characters are just generic, paper-doll types (the humble maid, her witch of a mistress, the more understanding elderly lady). Chevalier seems afraid to develop too much the character of Jan Vermeer lest her description strays too far from historical accuracy. This is a bland novel with an anticlimatic, yet realistic, ending.
| 
