Girl with a Pearl Earring

A slim offering of historical fiction about Johannes Vermeer's enigmatic portrait of an unknown young girl, circa 1665.
It's a breathtaking, tantalizing love story….tantalizing because Vermeer and the maid, Griet, almost embrace their passion, each stepping over the line without transgression, but not without hurt.
Vermeer, the worldly one, the master, tempted to the edge of the precipice…
Griet, the child innocent, heedless of her woman's heat, trespassing unaware and ever nearer to the mystery that she barely understands in the beginning….
She feels the lush weight of the earring, his fingertip sears her skin, she inclines toward his touch, trembles with a disembodied, virginal start of pain….
Quickly stilled, she sits for him.
He show more trembles—a long moment—with the rush of desire, masters it, and steps back to his easel, granting her a little more time in the childhood she is leaving behind, giving her a peace that will become a bereavement, a keening memory….
They look at each other, mute, apart yet bound, in flagrante delicto, withering, without joy…. show less

Griet is 16 when her father is blinded in an accident. To support her family, she is forced to become a maid for the artist Vermeer. It's not long before her personality, creativity and attention to detail win the attention of her capricious master, his envious wife and lustful friends. This could be the opening of a lot of cliched, predictable plots: a historical bodice ripper, chick lit about a poor oppressed woman, chick lit about a plucky heroine who succeeds in spite of the odds. Luckily, writer Tracy Chevalier combines elements of each of these genres to tell the story of a woman whose options are shaped by her gender and class but whose ultimate destiny is a product of her personality.

Griet's witty, observant narration anchors show more the novel but Chevalier's attention to historical detail brings it to life. Each page helped me imagine 17th century Holland, the running of an aspiring-to-be-wealthy house, and the process of creating a work of art. Add this to a memorable, believably flawed cast of supporting characters and the final product is a highly satisfying novel. This isn't a book to change your life, but most people will find it an excellent choice for a little literary escapism. show less

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is a piece of historical fiction. Published in 1999, it has enjoyed critical acclaim as well as commercial success. It was long listed for the Orange Prize in 2000.

The book presents a fictional account of the story behind Johannes Vermeer's painting Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Last year I read another book featuring a fictional account about a ‘fictional’ Vermeer painting, Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland. I loved that book very much despite it being way out of my usual reading comfort zone. So, I thought I should probably give Chevalier’s book a try too since they both deal with a similar subject matter.

I have to confess that I liked Girl in Hyacinth Blue much better than Girl show more with a Pearl Earring. Girl with a Pear Earring is also a fairly good book. But I felt a bit detached from it all. I couldn’t properly focus on the Vermeer-Griet dynamics and the process of the painting of the eponymous painting. I needed more emotion from Griet. Griet, who is basically ‘bullied’ into having a relationship with Pieter by her family and Pieter himself, hardly reacts to it all. Nevertheless, her longing for a better life restrained by the shackles of society was touching.

We get to see very little of Vermeer. We can hardly be sure about how he feels about anything. But this is only natural as we mainly see him through Griet’s eyes, a ‘mere’ servant girl who is deeply infatuated with him. I felt he is a loyal husband and a father but above all he is an artist. His art has to come first, before his love for his wife and children, before the mounting debts and of course before Griet’s feelings, about which he remains at least vaguely aware.

Pieter, I did not like much. But again that is probably because of watching him through Griet’s eyes. The first thing Griet notices about Pieter and his father is their blood stained cloths and nails. Her master’s clean hands linger before her eyes. She is repelled by Pieter but is aware of his good looks. In his own way he is kind to her but his pushiness quite repelled me. The scenes in the alley I found to be particularly nauseating. I think in the book he is much cruder than he is in the movie.

I liked the character of van Leeuwenhoek. This character is not in the movie version of the book. In the movie Pieter is given his dialogues. As a result, Pieter’s character becomes softer.

Maria Thins is a character I liked. She is shrewd and often ruthless but kind nonetheless.

van Ruijven is the archetypical leering villain. Not much depth to his character.

Vermeer’s wife Catharina is a childish woman who often feels she plays second fiddle to her husband’s art. Her constant pregnancies and her irritation with the world in general I understood.

Vermeer’s young daughter Cornelia is painted as the main villain in the book. Surprising considering that she is barely 7-8 years old. I didn’t understand the reason behind her hatred of Griet.

Chevalier’s writing is good. Her usage of metaphors is often fascinating , like these lines from the first page of the book,

“...a woman's, bright as polished brass, and a man's, low and dark like the wood of the table I was working on.”

“My mother appeared in the doorway, her eyes two warnings.”

Quite unique and charming in my opinion.

Girl with a Pearl Earring is a well woven character driven novel. I had just hoped to like it better. Something’s missing from this imaginative yet at times stilted historical fiction. I wish I could pinpoint what that missing ingredient is. show less

The story of Johannes Vermeer’s fictional maid, Griet, and how she came to assist Vermeer and sit for his painting in the title. Chevalier brilliantly tells about Griet’s life in the years surrounding the painting and how it was transformed as a result. She also creates the Dutch world in Delft in the 1660s and how much the creation of art, and the attention of Vermeer, meant in the harsh life of a maid:

Years of hauling water, wringing out clothes,
scrubbing floors, emptying chamberpots, with
no chance of beauty or color or light in my life,
stretched before me like a landscape of flat land
where, a long way off, the sea is visible but can
never be reached. If I could not work with the
colors, if I could not be near him, I did not show more know
how I could continue to work in that house. show less

Sokrétű regény - imádtam lefejteni és értelmezni az egyes rétegeit, szintjeit. Egy újabb történet a női kiszolgáltatottságról, magányról, becsületről. Érdekes időutazás a középkorba, ahol teljesen máshogy értelmezték az erkölcsöt, a női szüzességet, a tisztességet. Félelmetes, hogy mennyi mindentől kellett megvédelmeznie magát egy fiatal hajadon lánynak, hogy mennyire kevés védelmet talált a közvetlen környezetében, vagy akár a családjában. Egy nagyon magányos sors rajzolódik ki a lapok között, ahol nem lehet őszinte még a legközvetlenebb családtagjaival szemben sem.
Nagyon kiszolgáltatott sors... De mindegyik összefügg valamilyen módon a másikkal.
"Akár egy halom hasított show more fa,
hever egymáson a világ,
szorítja, nyomja, összefogja
egyik dolog a másikát
s így mindenik determinált."
Egy réteg a férfi-nő kapcsolatról, egy másik pedig a művész-múzsa-alkotótársról szól.
A legizgalmasabb persze a közös nevező...
Mennyi elveszett tehetség lehet a világmindenségben, aki alkotni vágyik, aki jobb sorsra érdemes, de sohasem kap esélyt, s még a vágyait is el kell titkolnia.
A legszebb szerelmi történet az egyik oldalról, a legnagyobb kihasználtság és elnyomás pedig a másik oldalról.
Emellett persze nagyon jó leírások a művek születéséről, az alkotás folyamatáról. show less

Absolutely beautiful! I would have never expected to appreciate this book so much. I will try to be brief.

1. The predominant sense is sight. From the very first sentences of this book the reader can clearly see that everything is filtered through visual images - the description of places, actions carried out by the characters, the caracters themselves, and the paintings... It all relays on visual elements. The writing style transports you there with Griet, while life starts changing right in front of her eyes. Great job Ms Chevalier!
2. I believed every single word. The author's incredible ability to tell a story is so powerful that, even if the reader knows it is all an invention, it makes you believe that all of the events told show more really happened. Vermeer's painting process is a very good example of this. Now that I have read this book I can not stop thinking about how Vermeer's paintings are set up and the way the painter's hands moved in order to make such a beautiful piece of art.
3. It is a story of personal growth, love (forbidden love, to be exact), and discovery of a world that is very different from what it was always expected to be. I would have never imagined that this story could be so deep.
4. Vermeer and Griet never really touched... And yet, the passion between the two is so intense that it could burn your skin.
5. It gives an amazing picture of the Nederlands in the 1600s. A country whose history, to be completely honest with you, tends to elude me. A beautiful and creative window inside the life of one of the greatest and most influential Flemish painters of all time.

If you love art, strong characters, and are dying to give a name to the girl in the painting, this is the book for you. show less

Subtle and quiet as one of Vermeer's paintings, I really enjoyed Girl with a Pearl Earring. Tracy Chevalier's other books haven't really worked as well for me; I don't think they achieve the level of reflection she achieves here, the calm with so much going on under the surface. Because this really isn't a romance at all—it's the story of a young woman whose choices in life are constrained by her gender and her class, but who manages to make her own way regardless.