Girl With a Pearl Earring (Wheeler Large Print Book Series (Paper))

Rating:
Summary: Read better...and worse.
Review: What I must straightaway establish is that, while I may have given the book a relatively small rating, this is by no means an indicative of my thinking the book bad. It wasn't a bad book in the least, but I'm afraid it was simply too uninteresting to warrant any reaction, dislike included.

The premise, mind one, was fascinating. The great painter Vermeer's interactions with a common, plain little girl who's known nothing but hardship and yet who finds herself the object of interest in a world so uniquely different to her own and is even immortalized in what can be argued as his best painting. As someone with certain art studies, and having had this book recommended to me a good number of times, I was looking forward to the experience of its reading -- and yet this wonderful concept had such a poor execution that I was left with a bitter taste as well as questioning the reason for the book's hype.

Mrs Chevalier's main failing, I think, lies not in her prose (however flat, at times, and thoroughly inexpressive even in what are supposed to be most tense moments indeed) so much as in her characterization, or better put, lack thereof. Arriving at the painter's house as a sixteen year-old maid, young Griet is oh-so-tormented by every one of the masters of the keep. From the young wife Catharina, seemingly jealous of the girl (why, specifically since her husband at no point expresses an explicit romantic interest in the girl, nor she in him, we will never know) to her demonic children, an overly-vain cook/main/attendant, and then the elder mistress and Vermeer's in-law, Maria Thins, whom Greit tells us is intimidating, but whom we only see acting out as an old lady who tries to survive, and to keep her family alive.

This is another point that Mrs Chevalier over emphasizes to her disadvantage: Greit abuses her first-person perspective and tells us just how everyone is and acts, rather than the authoress herself showing us different characters' personalities through their actions. We reach the supposed "climax" of the story wherein, if Greit hadn't kindly announced me that she was in big trouble, I would never have quite understood there was a fuss to be had about anything to begin with.

Chevalier has obviously gone through a good deal of trouble to write her characters as complex individuals, but she doesn't manage to depict this exact complexity. She's at her most disappointing with the very Griet. After more than 200 pages, I had expected to be able to at least divine when the girl will have fallen in love with her master, but there's not even the slightest hint to as much, not a clue. One day, during her visits to her parents' house, her mother gives her "meaningful" looks and Griet understands that she knows she's fallen in love with the painter. From where has this love stemmed? When has it blossomed? And where in blazes was I, the reader, when that happened? I'll never quite know.

I've purposefully left the book's strengths at the end, for I feel it's best to at least leave those who'll bother to read this review with the idea that there is something good about the book. And there is, really.

To begin with, the prose is light, making the book easy to read, and therefore accessible to a variety of ages. It's not a demanding lecture, but a mildly entertaining one. The concept in itself, again, deserves a few praises, both for its originality and the author's bravery in providing her own theory concerning the painting's making in such an intricate historical society. While I hesitate to call her descriptions of how the painting was executed masterful, I'll have to admit that I myself am biased because of having gone through the ordeal -- yet I can definitely see how and why the process in itself, and the depicture the author provides us with in its concern would be very engaging to other readers.

I don't know whether this book is one I would recommend to other readers. As I've said before, it's not bad, but then again, neither is it good. I do think, however, that I'll again take the time to mention that Tracy Chevalier's "Fallen Angels" is by far a more remarkable reading experience, and I'd urge all readers to acquire it!


Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I found this book to be incredibly enjoyable. The way that Tracy Chevalier brings the art work of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer to life is amazing. Not only to you get to see the paintings vividly in your head but you also can understand the feelings of the characters. Griet is a young girl that is torn two ways, one of which she knows is wrong. She knows that there is a connection between her master and herself but at the same time realizes that nothing can ever happen between them. Then ther is her butcher boyfriend who, though he is a great man, is not what Griet wants in life. You watch her struggle as she works for the Vermeer family living only for the time in His study. It is a thrilling story about the hard truth of the 17th Century.
I absolutly loved this book and would recommend it to anyone. I have never before had a book that gave me such amazing visual images.

Rating:
Summary: Pulp fiction
Review: I can not understand all the hallaballoo about this work. I kept waiting for the story to unfold. OK, the principal character is 16, but must the writing style be of a 16 year old. If this book had not been give the promotional spin it recieved, it would have been relagated to the fiction section of the local supermarket.
Perhaps it would make a good Hollywood movie.

Rating:
Summary: Simple beauty
Review: This is not the typical book I like to read, but it was recommended to me by my mom so I gave it a shot and found that I really enjoyed it! The heroine, Griet, is a well-developed character that you love and pity at the same time. I loved that true beauty was found in the simplicity of a servant.

Rating:
Summary: Good but not remarcable
Review: The idea is great, the story is good, but the writer lucks talent. I didn't like her way of writing, too simple and full of inconsistencies.
This is a very easy read, I finished it the same day. As I said, it is a good book, but far from being a masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: A MUST READ!
Review: I started reading this book and I could NOT put it down. Tracy Chevalier has a way of writing the point of view of a young lady in this book that you'd actually think that it happened in real life. I like how it is written from the point of view of the young lady 'Griet'. I love the way its written. Its easy to understand and the book just sinks you into it and you want to know more. I cant wait to buy and read her other books. An A+++++ on my scale! You must read this!

Rating:
Summary: Such a pleasant, unique novel. Refreshing & unique!
Review: Girl with a Pearl Earring -- by Tracy Chevalier - Such a fantastic story. I couldn't put it down. Compares to: "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" by Susan Vreeland, "The Lady and the Unicorn" by Tracy Chevalier, "Memoriors of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden, "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb, "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel" by Rebecca Wells; "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb, and "When It Rains" by Marjorie Spoto and "The Davinci Code" by Dan Brown.. A Must Read.