Girl with a Pearl Earring
3 journalers for this copy...
Great book. I absolutely loved it. It is a thousand times better than the movie.
It was a super quick read, so I feel like I barely spent much time with the characters, but in the short time I did, I got very wrapped up in that far away world. I don't think I've ever read anything about the 17th century Dutch, so it was interesting in an historical sense. I was impressed with how the author created a whole fictional world around one painting. For the visuals, though, I wish the cover showed the actual painting, instead of a scene from the movie. As much as I love Scarlett Johanssen, I really would have liked to have referenced the actual painting as I read.
I just finished another book about Vermeer, so I look forward to reading this one!
I'll put this book up for swap on Goodreads.
This was a short book with a simple plot, simple writing, and flat characters. The only things that kept me interested were the description of 17th century Holland and finding out exactly how the girl came to sit for the painting. Aside from that, there was really nothing to the book. The plot moved very slowly with little action. The characters were boring and one dimensional, and I did not care what they did or what happened to them, aside from finding out the details of how the painting was made. I never understood their motivations and I didn't really care. The writing was stilted and full of simple sentences that seemed to be in imitation of the dialect of the time and place, but I just found it distracting.
Had it not been for the interesting descriptions of the historical aspects, such as the market, religious life, how a painting was made, or the simple tension of will she sit for the painting and how will it come to pass, I may have given up. Ultimately, the fact that the book was so short is what prevents this from getting less than 3 stars. Had the book been longer without a more complicated plot of further characterization, it would have received 2 stars.
When people talk about Tracy Chevalier, this is the book they always mention. But I wonder why? The other two books of hers that I've read were much better.
Had it not been for the interesting descriptions of the historical aspects, such as the market, religious life, how a painting was made, or the simple tension of will she sit for the painting and how will it come to pass, I may have given up. Ultimately, the fact that the book was so short is what prevents this from getting less than 3 stars. Had the book been longer without a more complicated plot of further characterization, it would have received 2 stars.
When people talk about Tracy Chevalier, this is the book they always mention. But I wonder why? The other two books of hers that I've read were much better.
