Girl with a Pearl Earring

Inspired by the Vermeer painting, this historical novel might be a disappointment if one was hoping to learn about the life and motivations of the master painter. Instead, the book focuses on the fictional Griet, a young woman who is forced to take a position as a maid in the Vermeer household, after her own family falls on hard times. (It reminded me a little of Valerie Martin's re-telling of the Jekyll & Hyde story from the point of view of the maid, ‘Mary Reilly')
In bringing vividly to life the trials and hopes of Griet, as well as what it may have been like to work as a maid in 17th century Delft, the book succeeds fabulously... the book is ‘quiet' – there's not much action, no extraordinary events... but the littlest things show more become points of high tension through Chevalier's writing. Will the bullying child Cornelia succeed in ruining Griet's reputation? Will anything come of the sleazy art patron who's trying to sleaze his way into her skirts? How about the handsome young butcher who pays her attention at the market? And what will happen with her almost-unrealized crush on Vermeer himself?
I'll definitely check out more of Chevalier's books if I come across them! show less

I only appreciated the full impact of The Girl with the Pearl Earring once I’d turned the last page, closed the book and looked at Vermeer’s painting on the front cover. This world-renowned work of art suddenly spoke volumes as Tracy Chevalier’s story of Griet’s short journey from her poverty-stricken family home to servant girl in the Vermeer household to the great artist’s muse echoed in my mind.
The turmoil, pain and confusion, devotion, innocence and longing of the wide-eyed girl seep from the canvas into your soul.
The depth and richness of the narrative lie in its nuanced subtlety where tiny details take on huge meaning: the tortoiseshell hairclip, Griet’s wild and lustrous hair, the broken tile, eight points on a star, show more the pearl earring.
The detailed descriptions of Delft in 1664 create a tangible sense of time and place – I can still see and smell the blood engrained on apprentice butcher, Pieter the son, plying his trade at the Meat Market.
Soft and sensual, intimate and moving, The Girl with the Pearl Earring unveils the imagined identity of the mysterious sitter whose beauty and allure evoke conflicting feelings of jealousy, possession, lust and mistrust in those around her. show less

A sparkling little book. It tries to put a back story to explain how a picture came to be painted, which is one of the questions that is often prompted by a good picture. One assumes that there has to be at least a framework of facts in which the story is based, but they don't actually matter too much. It's a good tale and as long as it is treated like that, its an engaging read.

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.

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

I have mixed emotions about this book. It was different from what I expected, and while it is written very well and kept my interest throughout, it made me sad and angry and I am not sure about what it wants to convey.

Griet is a young girl of sixteen when her father is blinded in an accident and she has to go out to work as a maid. She gets a post at the house of Vermeer, the painter. The household is full of tensions, grievances and jealousies, and she has to be very careful about what she does and says. This develops into an even more serious situation when Vermeer notices her and makes her a kind of assistant.

This novel deals with the topics of class and gender, but also the sacrifices people make because they have to or want to do show more so. However, I would have wished for Griet to have more agency. Vermeer's actions, or sometimes lack of actions, made me furious, and it was heartbreaking to see the lack of reaction on Griet's part. Maybe it is meant to be so in order to truly show the reader how her world worked, but sometimes it was almost an ordeal to read about it. Ultimately, the ending was a bit redeeming and made up for a lot that I did not like in the course of the story.

Another aspect worth noting is the topic of art in this book. The descriptions of Vermeer's painting are wonderful, and when I looked up his works, I immediately recognized those featured in the novel. The author really brings 17th century Delft and Vermeer's house to life. I have seen some of his paintings in Amsterdam and I hope to see those or others again one day, and they won't be the same to me then. show less

Thoroughly well-researched historical novel that probably will be a great introduction to the topic for someone who hasn't read a lot about 17th century Dutch painters. It captures the atmosphere of Delft well, however, for some reason the characters didn't convince me. To me Vermeer's enchanting painting, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, just seems to have more to her than the character of Griet in the novel. Somehow it felt that Griet's story might have come from a historical novel about any 17th century Dutch painter, not necessarily Vermeer.