Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)

I had a hard time being drawn into the characters in this novel. They seemed very one-dimensional and stereotypical to me. I did not feel that I understood a lot of their motivations and I never felt I got to know any of them. I did enjoy the description of the art and artistic processes and the way the place and time were described, especially in the beginning of the book. After reading this book, I feel like I understand Guy Gavriel Kay's criticism of historical fiction with real historical figures as characters. Kay writes in his essay "Home and Away,"

"And then there are the moral questions. These emerge most strongly when we consider that 'history' isn't just about the distant past. Consider the works that involve real people - living or recently dead - saying and doing things the author has simply made up. There is no way to know if such scenes are true, indeed, put more strongly, there is almost no way that they are true. Does this matter? Should it?...

The question - or one question - seems to me to be this: are there limits, or ought there to be limits, to what writers of fiction feel at liberty to do with real people and their lives? Does anything go, in fiction as in Cole Porter songs? ...

I don't have an answer to this, I confess it freely, but I have a great many variants of the question. Can we make Elizabeth I of England say anything we want her to say to her secret lovers - lovers for the allegedly Virgin Queen - because, well, it is just a novel or a film, everyone knows we are making it up? Can we do it with Elizabeth II right now? Can we hide behind the fact that our work is fiction, even while we seek to gain readers and a thrilled attention by using real, famous people? Is there, in short, a moral issue here? Does privacy or respect for lives lived have anything at all to do with novelists? Should it?

If someone is famous can we do whatever we want with their life? If they are utterly obscure - like Almasy - can we do it? If they are dead, like Jackie Gleason? Long dead, like Richard III? Living, but so famous their lives and names might be considered public property - like Queen Elizabeth or Elizabeth Taylor? These are issues I find worth wrestling with, as more and more works today seems to be incorporating the existence of real people, with too little thoughtful discussion ensuing about the implications." (You can read the essay in its entiretly at Kay's website (http://www.brightweavings.com/ggkswords/globe.htm )

I felt kind of sorry for Vermeer's wife and daughter. They were portrayed in such a negative light and all of it conjecture without any real information beyond their names and relationship to Vermeer.

I can see why many people enjoyed the novel. It was a fast read that was very successful bringing the historical era alive. The tension between Griet and Vermeer was well done. Overall, though, I felt that it missed the mark for me.

Girl With a Pearl Earring is such a beautifully written book with a compelling story. I find the story about young Griet working for Johannes Vermeer fascinating. How Tracy Chevalier used the painting of Girl with a Pearl Earring to weave such a fantastic story. Griet is just an ordinary girl, needing to work after her father had an accident and how her life changed after she came to the Vermeer household. it's not an easy position, it's only Johannes Vermeer that she's not having a problem with. And, I love that it doesn't turn out to be a cheesy forbidden love story. It goes deeper than that. I just love this book. ( )

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I have read this book so many times. And even after re-reading this book so many times, it is and will always remain one of my favourite books, a story that is evergreen and has such an emotional story worth retelling.

Tracy Chevalier has been inspired by the artwork of Johannes Vermeer, and his most famous painting, the Girl with a Pearl Earring, that she decided to write a story of what she believes might have happened behind that painting. For me, when looking at paintings, this is one of the things that cross my mind – what is the actual story behind it, what was the relationship between the painter and the people on the painting, what were they all thinking and what did their lives look like… In this book, we are able to enter this world, where we see a story of what might have happened here, and this story is a wonderful experience.

This is a story about Griet’s life. Griet lives in a house with her poor family, a blind dad who worked all his life to gather a bit of money for them, and a mother that always fought for the family. With their money running low, Griet has to go and work as a maid in the house of Vermeer, who is a famous painter. Even though quite young, Griet quickly knows her tasks, to iron, to cook, to grab groceries from the market, and the most important bit – to stay out of everyone’s way and do her job.

In the house, things are not easy. Griet is not treated with respect, her family is worried about her, the plague kills her sister and the butcher’s boy wants to marry her. Griet doesn’t feel anything for this boy, but having meat on the table every day for her and her family is too big of an advantage to be just thrown away. I personally never liked the butcher boy, because he knew very well what his advantage was, and he kept reminding Griet how she depends on him to feed her family.


‘’Her words surprised me, but when I looked in her eyes and saw there the hunger for meat that a butcher’s son could provide, I understood why she had set aside her pride.’’

But Griet has a secret crush on Mr. Vermeer, and a great admiration for his work. And Mr. Vermeer notices Griet’s curiosity and gives her tasks around the studio, which in the end, results in him painting her. Griet gets to be involved in his world, learning what he does, and working for him in secret, while his wife is bearing another child of his. Even though Griet secretly feels like she is betraying the wife, she can’t help but feel joj when Vermeer pays attention to her.

‘’ The clothes soaking in the kitchen went cold, the water grey. Tanneke clattered in the kitchen, the girls shouted outside, and we behind closed door sat and looked at each other. And he painted.’’

Now, in the 21st century, it is normal for ladies to pose, and be painted, but in that time, it was a disgrace for a maid to be painted. Men didn’t have the respect towards women as they do now (some of them). And when Griet finds herself being painted, she knows the consequences, but as a maid, she has no voice to object. She knows this quite well.

In the end, the story is very powerful and heartwarming. While we read about how Griet sees and thinks, we will start to love her, watch her grow, and learn so much. I am forever grateful I have found this book.

I have read the 20th Anniversary Edition of this amazing book, which was kindly sent to me by the publishers, The Borough Press, and Love Reading UK, in exchange for my honest review.

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Why I Stopped Reading on p. 48 - Simplistic voice. Bland events. Flat characters. Nothing is intriguing me; I'm not even curious, much less invested in anyone.

Learning how the author came to write this story is just as inspiring as the story itself. The look in the girls eyes, her mouth just slightly open, and to top it all off - the pearl earring. Again, inspiring. ( )