A breathtaking novel (Girl with a Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier)

Member Name: Bryn Pearson

Product:	Girl with a Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier
Date:	19/08/03 (305 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: beautifully written, attention to detail, flowing narrative

Disadvantages: none

'Girl with a pearl earring' is a novel based on a painting of the same name, and it seems to make sense to start by talking about the art.

If you scroll back up, you can in fact see the book cover, which I strongly recomend you do. The detail isn't so clear on this website, but it gives you an idea. A girl gazes over her shoulder, looking out at someone, perhaps at the artist who paints her. Her expression is enigmatic; perhaps fearful, perhaps seductive, certainly haunted, perhaps as though she about to say somrthing. It is a young face, but one full of character and emotion. The dress style is eccentric, with the colourful headdress, and the peal earring does not go so well with the dowdy brown of the cloth around her shoulders. But who is she? The artist was Vermeer, but the girl is unnamed and unidentified.

If is out of this little mystery that Chevalier weaves her tale, exploring life in the Netherlands in the seventeen hundreds and takign us into the work of an artistic genuis. The story belongs to the Girl, she narrates it.

Griet is the sixteen year old daughter of a tilemaker when the story opens. Her father has been blinded in an accident and can no longer work. Her brother has gone for an apprentice, she has a younger sister and her parents are very poor, barely able to survive. Griet is sent to work as a maid, for the Vermeer family. Griet is prtestant, the Venerr's are catholic and strange to her. She has an odd hosuehold to contend with - Tanneke, cantankerous fellow servant, Maria Thins, dominating matriarch and Catharina her unpredictable and jealous daughter, who has far more children than they can afford (eleven in the end). Some of the daughters are inclined towards friendship with Griet, but one, Cornelia, takes an instant dislike and sets out to make the girl's life a misery. And then there is the master, the painter, the man who will not let his wife into his studio.

Life is hard for Grie
t. Seperated from her family in a city threatened by plague, working long hours until her hands are so sore they bleed, living with a family that has no intention of making life easier for her. Her parents encourage her to court a butcher, it's the only way they can get meat on the table. Her mistress wants to keep her out of the way, at her washing and sewing. Cornelia wants to destroy her, and her master's wealthy patron wants her in his bed. What her master wants is an interesting question, and much of Griet's life comes to revolve around it. She is buffeted around by forces she cannot control, offered choices that are hardly choices at all and never does anyone pause to ask her what she wants in any of this.

The detail is amazing, in terms of braod sweeps of historical informaiton and detail of ordinary life. It isn't heavily or awkwardly written though, the narrative has a natural and flowing quality to it that makes it very readable. While the current convention is to put everything on display , with confessional TV, Big brother and the like making ever greater intrusions into people's lives, this book is remarkably subtle. Griet is not about to bleed onto the page or drown us with her tears. She's a pragmatic girl and she keeps her feelings to herself, hinting at them sometimes. Partly because she does not always fully understand them herself, partly because some thnigs are too private. Between what is said and what is not, you can get a good idea of what might be happening. Chevalier creates some incredible tension between the characters, mostly due to their wariness about speaking.

Perhaps the most impressive bit for me, is the way in which we are drawn into Vermeer's work through Griet's contact with him. His brief lessons to her are very educational, and the descriptions of his work fascinating. For anyone who enjoys fine art, this will be captivating. Griet's one true passion, I think, is not for any
of the men in her life, but for colour

This is an exqisitely written story, with beautiful descriptions and imagintive use of language. It isn't fast paced, but there is a lot going on. It doesn't sink into pathos or melodrama, it doesn't become too introspective. It is a skillfully crafted piece of work, and I cannot fault it in any way.

I read this book because of Ophelia's excellent review. It's the first book I've bought purely in response to an op on Dooyoo, and I'm just hoping I can inspire someone else to give it a go, because it is well worth it.

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