Girl With a Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier
Girl With a Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier, is about how there was strict social order in Holland. It was rich and poor, Catholic and Protestant, master and servant, and everyone knew their place and would not dare get out of line. A sixteen-year-old girl, Griet, becomes a maid at painter Johannes Vermeer's house to help support her family. She thinks that her role as a maid is simple: do the laundry, housework and take care of the six children. She even feels that Vermeer's perceptive mother-in-law is fond of her because she gets him to paint faster. However, that no one expects is that Griet's quiet and shy manner, quick perceptions, and fascination with her master's painting draw her relentlessly into his world. Their growing intimacy starts rumors at the market; and when Vermeer has no choice but to paint her wearing his wife's pearl earrings, the gossip escalates into a scandal that completely changes Griet's life. This book shows how life in Griet's eyes was. From working as a maid to how the choice of marriage was up to her father. This book shows how work in Delft was not the easiest and the poor would have to work hard to get enough money for food on the table. Furthermore, this book describes that life can drastically change at any given time. This book made me realize how hard and different life was back in the days and how easy we have it right now. Girl With a Pearl Earring was an astonishing book that gave me a clear and brief image of Delft. It taught me that the life of a maid was not the easiest and once you become a maid, you have to make sacrifices. I would highly recommend this book to readers to show them how life now is much easier than how it was a couple of centuries ago.
-Reviewed by J.T., grade 9.
Comments
The cold, bleak setting could not have been better portrayed through and through to the end. The settings were perfectly described in a way that the reader was able to imagine the scenery but not have the plot overshadowed. This was an utterly realistic take in the sense that the motivations of the characters were very justifiable. You never really know what Vermeer and Griet really feel for each other; it is up to your inference. Crude behavior from antagonists suggest that this book would be inappropriate for those under the high school age. On the other hand, is it a literary crime for me to say that this classic was, in fact, incredibly boring? I finished this within a few hours and was rendered impassive. There were a few thought provoking aspects about this novel. It was also a good enough dramatic portrayal of a speculation of a painting and what's behind it. Dare I say I hope that the movie will be better? I'd give it three stars.
Reviewed by ALexis, Grade 11
Montrose Library