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Summary: Loved this book!
Review: My husband and I both loved this book!!
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Summary: Plot Does Not Make Sense and Not Believable
Review: The basic elements of this story make no sense and are never explained. Why is it a secret and a big deal that Griet has been given the task of grinding pigments for her employer, Vermeer? Grinding pigments was part of the daily work of the household, something a servant would have been expected to do. The author, Chevalier, never suggests any reason. Why should the wife, Katarina, go beserk when she learns that Griet has been sitting for a painting and wearing her pearl earrings while doing it? The other maid had already been in a painting (the famous 'Woman with a Pitcher') so that could not have been any surprise or outrage. Half of Vermeer's paintings are of women wearing what Chevalier supposes was Katarina's yellow ermine-edged shawl, and her rope of pearls. Why should she have had any problem with the same thing again? Again Chevalier has no idea and proposes none. Since, in the story the painting is commissioned by the patron Van Ruiven specifically because he is in lust with Griet, and Van Ruiven specified who he wanted in it, Katarina's fury makes no sense at all. Finally Vermeer's gift to Griet by will of the pearl earrings, "each as large as a hazelnut", and even larger in the painting, is not believable. Vermeer would have known that, now ten years on, Griet was married and well-provided for. He would have known too that his eleven children were going to be in poverty when he died. That he would have given away immensely valuable pearls to a former maid, even one he had some feelings for, is not to be believed. Based on the internals of the narrative, the earring weren't even his to give. They belonged to his wife. Nor are these minor details. The story line and the ending revolve around them. Peripheral plot failures can be overlooked. Central ones cannot.
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Summary: Best book I've read this year
Review: This is the best book I've read all year. The author's description of Holland in the 1600s is so vivid, it feels like you are walking the cobbled streets alongside the main character. At the same time, she has not cluttered her book with mundane descriptions or details. Her language is simple and crisp, easy on the reader. The story itself is graceful, but riveting. It's like listening to fine music. You want to see what happens next, but at the same time, you don't want it to end.
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Summary: Nothing Ever Happens...
Review: I heard so much about this book but I felt that not only were the characters underdeveloped but the story was as well. I kept waiting for something, anything, to happen, and nothing ever did.
There were so many directions she could have taken this simple story, and instead it led disappointingly nowhere.
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Summary: Easy Read
Review: This was a quick easy read. The writing style was not very sophisticated, but it did paint a good picture (no pun intended) of life for a working girl at that time.
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Summary: Interesting but not compelling.
Review: While I this book is well written and enjoyable, the story is not particularly compelling and the characters lack something. It provides an interesting picture of a young girl in Holland, but little else. Certainly not a page turner, but a solid and capable novel.
Rating:
Summary: disappointed
Review: I must have read another book. After reading so many good reveiws on this book I ran out and bought it. I should have saved my $13. It just seemed like through the entire book you were waiting for something to happen, anything! But it never does there is really no turning point, no pinnacle moment in the entire story. I fell in love with the characters but it just seemed like the author didn't know what to do with them once she created them. Save the $13 and see a good movie.
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Summary: A Fair Book
Review: I was attracted to this book because of the original concept; also because I am a teen myself, much interested in art and art history. But perhaps my expectations were too high, because I was disappointed in it. I didn't feel I could relate to the main character, and I felt the "girl against the world" theme was overdone. Overall, I just felt the characters and storyline were too unbelievable. I would recommend this book for a rainy day, but rent it from the library. Don't waste your money on it.
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Summary: Thoroughly mediocre
Review: Unlike Vermeer who obviously had talent, I am hard pressed to believe that this author has produced a best seller. I truly wanted to like this novel,(as it was a selection by my bookclub), alas I did not. My reasons for disliking it are simple; it is terribly dull. I kept waiting for something to happen (it never does). The characters are one dimentional at best, and our muse Griet would appear to be the most amazing and accomplished teenager to have ever lived. At the tender age of 16 she knows everything about running a large household, raising children, manipulating the mature women of the house, fending off the advances of men, and in case that wasn't enough she's giving art tips to the master himself, um sure... that's plausible. While the premise of this book was fascinating the execution certainly was not. The best thing about this novel?... the cover art!!
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Summary: Simply a great book.
Review: I had heard great reviews about this book, so I decided to pick it up one day. For me it was a rough beginning, but once she got into Vermeer's house, and started living there, I really wanted to read this book. I could tell what was coming as the book progressed, but loved it anyway. I really liked the description of his art studio, and when he finally got down to painting the girl, I kept turning to the front of the book to try to see the different things the book was describing. Overall a great book, and it makes me want to pick up that other book about his work, "Girl in Hyacinth Blue".
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