K. Conner 2008-10-15

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

I really enjoyed reading the book "Girl with a Pearl Earring". I was hooked from the first page. I think the author does a very good job in telling the story of how the painting became so famous. I thought it was very brave of Griet being a young Protestant girl to be willing to go work as a maid in a house of Catholics so her family could survive. When I first started reading the book, I predicted that she would quit her job as the maid because of the painting in her "bedroom" and how it made her unable to sleep. But when she continued to work there and fulfill her duties, I was shocked. When the new up and coming artist Johannes Vermeer, decides to make their maid, Griet, his new inspiration I asked myself why such a famous man like him would paint the woman that keeps his house in order. But when I looked at the final paintings shown in the book, I saw what made her so inspirational. I figured that all of the rich buyers of the paintings would really like the ones he painted of his own maid working. In the paintings it showed a maid working in clothing that weren't as nice as the people she was serving. However, I did not like it when it seemed like when she first started working at the house she had more work to do than the other person that worked there. All in all, I think it was a fantastic book that taught me history by telling a story. I would recommend this book to anyone, it's a great book and if you haven't already read it, I would choose it as your next book to read.

Jodathechoda 2008-08-30

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

I really enjoyed this book. It was such a great story and I could not help but keep flipping back to the front cover so I could look at the beautiful painting again and again! I will definately read this again.

Miami Bob 2008-07-03

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Tracy Chevalier's depiction of societal abnormalities(at least in contrast to post-Marxist Soviet Union or post revolutionary France and America) richly delivers a tender story about a tender girl whose portrait has been named the Dutch Mona Lisa.

Embellishing stories into modern novels has been a successful and fun twist for many writers - perhaps with Maguire leading the 21st century on such with his wonderful twists to the "Wizard of Oz" and other classics. But to embellish upon the unwritten - rather to transform painted art into written art - makes the embellishment seemingly more complex and more impressive. This author looked at a painting and made a story of what happened before, during and after it was painted.

The plot has social injustice placed upon the 16-year old shoulders of Griet, the narrator and protagonist. Forced into becoming a maid because of her father's misfortune of being near a tile kiln when it exploded, from which he lost his sight and career, Griet's "involuntary servitude" offers the family its only chance of survival.

From there we learn she works for Johannes Vermeer--the famous Dutch painter of today. Vermeer came from the Dutch school that veered away from painting only religious relics, and focused instead upon persons and nature. "Is not painting God's creatures equally valuable?" Vermeer asks Griet when she is questioned about her asking him if all Catholics paint only crucifixes and biblical images.

But, even though the story is about a girl and an artist's family, the major theme is about social 17th century inequality in Holland. Social inequality of that time is worse than our 21st century minds can think. Children on Vermeer's house control Griet. Maria Thins, Vermeer's mother, controls the house. But, money controls them all. As Vermeer plodded slowly in his painting, the bills piled high and often unpaid. Behind the satin sheets and cloth drapes were the Vermeers who cowtowed to those who paid them, in a manner Griet did of her master in the Vermeer household.

Sadness resounds in the book. Joyful interludes exist, but are rare. Details about daily accounts at the backbreaking daily labours of the maid and others make one only agree how lucky they are not living then, there and in her shoes. And when we read a few hundred pages of the detailed travails of the teenage maid, we understand why the painting does not include a smile, does not include a twinkle in the eye, and does not include but a tiny hint of her hair color or length. Instead the eyes show obedience and hidden emotion. The outfit is totally unrevealing, unlike the busty aristocratic portraits. And, by such untold statements of her eyes and mouth and clothing, the portrait - especially after reading this book - tells us so much about the pains and misfortunes experienced by someone so young and otherwise innocent.

Nell Hanson 2008-02-29

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

I was fascinated with this book. I also bought the DVD and enjoyed it as well but books add so much more detail and information.

Aleksandra Nita-Lazar 2008-01-29

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

Johannes Vermeer, one of the famous Dutch painting masters from the seventeenth century, in the middle of his career created a portrait of a girl with a pearl earring, in a turban, often called "The Dutch Mona Lisa". The girl from the painting looks at us with mysterious expression, sometimes appears sad, sometimes hiding a smile... What is her story?

Tracy Chevalier created one possible version in her novel "Girl with a Pearl Earring" where some historical facts mix with fiction to create the beautiful story, vivid and colorful, reminiscent of Vermeer's paintings... The atmosphere of the book is incredible, unique, as if it were an account of an eye-witness and not the figment of the author's imagination.

Griet, a sixteen-year old daughter of a glass blower from Delft, disabled after a work-related accident, , from an impoverished, but hard- working family, inherited her father's artistic sensitivity. She starts a job as a servant at Vermeer's house and the painter becomes intrigued seeing her vegetable compositions. When Vermeer notices Griet, her life changes - she becomes his aide and, finally, a model for the famous portrait. She get a chance, but at the same time enters the different world, full of obstacles unfamiliar for her, and she needs to be careful. Their fascination with each other cannot last long...

In Holland of the 1600s the social order is strictly defined. The Protestants are completely separate from Catholics, the poor from the rich, the masters from the servants. This is why Griet and Vermeer do not even think about a romantic relationship, despite their similar view of the world. Johannes has to paint to feed his ever-growing family and satisfy his possessive, jealous wife, Catharina, who except being the mother of his children does not have much in common with him, and his mother-in-law, the greedy and conniving Maria Thinks, who manages very well to get more and more orders for his paintings. The portrait of a servant and the growing, although mainly spiritual, intimacy of the artist with Griet cause tension in the family and after a while Griet's dismissal seems inevitable and many intrigues and repressions from Vermeer's family members and friends make her leave. Such ending is obvious for all involved parties and any regrets remain unspoken... Griet marries Pieter, the cheerful butcher's son, and moves on. Only much later, the surprising gift reminds her of the time at the painter's home.

The characters are full of life: Vermeer, a full-blown artist; Griet, girl who in other reality could change her destiny; Catharina, a woman who does not see beyond her traditional role; Maria Thinks, clever and resourceful; and many other minor protagonists, sketched skillfully and with precision. It is easy to imagine the clothes, simple, ascetic surroundings, streets of Delft - the prose is very descriptive and full of details.

"Girl with a Pearl Earring" is an enjoyable book, but it is also one of the rare examples, where the film based on a novel exceeds it - the 2004 screening by Peter Webber with Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth is a great movie.