Romanian review: I-aș fi dat romanului lui Tracy Chevalier cinci stele, dacă descrierea tablourilor ar fi fost mai impresionantă. Din păcate pentru această carte, am citit Sticletele înainte, iar Donna Tartt reușește să transmită mult mai multă emoție prin descrierea tablourilor. După ce citești o descriere de-a ei, înțelegi și are sens că un tablou influențează viața acelui personaj și are un impact profund asupra lui. De asemenea, mă așteptam ca scena în care Griet este pictată de Vermeer să fie plină de încărcătură emoțională și de tensiune. Din nefericire, a trecut repede și m-a lăsat oarecum dezamăgit.
În altă ordine de idei, autoarea reușește destul de bine să transporte cititorii în secolul al-XVII-lea, iar comportamentul personajelor este adecvat acelei epoci. Se întâmplă ca romanele de ficțiune istorică să includă momente în care personajele au o gândire specifică epocii noastre, ceea ce spulberă iluzia realității creată până atunci. De data aceasta, nu este cazul. Tracy Chevalier nu cade în acea capcană ideologică feministă, eroina ei nu visează la independență, pentru că, în acea epocă, nici nu prea poate.
Aici, intervine cel mai bun aspect al romanului. Ceea ce mi-a plăcut cel mai mult la roman este impactul pe care îl are arta asupra lui Griet. Griet este îngrozită că întreaga ei viață va consta în a spăla rufe, a șterge praful și a da cu mătura. Pentru ea, tabloul, arta, culorile reprezintă o evadare din condiția ei de slujitoare, din banalul vieții sale de zi cu zi. Clipele în care îl ajută pe Vermeer să-și prepare culorile, în care îl privește pictând, sunt cele pentru care trăiește.
Deși Donna Tartt este, după părerea mea, o scriitoare mai bună, Tracy Chevalier reușește în felul ei să descrie felul în care arta îi schimbă pe oameni, le lărgește orizonturile și îi ajută să evadeze din banalitatea vieții de zi cu zi.
Poate că acțiunea este lentă, iar personajele, deși interesante în felul lor, nu sunt extraordinare, însă, pentru mine, ,,Fata cu cercel de perlă" a fost o lectură foarte plăcută.



English review: I would have given Tracy Chevalier’s novel five stars if the descriptions of the paintings had been more impressive. Unfortunately for this book, I read The Goldfinch first, and Donna Tartt manages to convey far more emotion through her descriptions of paintings. After reading one of Tartt’s descriptions, it makes sense that a painting would profoundly influence a character’s life and leave a deep impact. Similarly, I had high expectations for the scene in which Griet is painted by Vermeer—it should have been emotionally charged and full of tension. Unfortunately, it passed too quickly and left me somewhat disappointed.
On another note, the author does a great job of transporting readers to the 17th century, and the characters’ behavior aligns well with that era. It’s common for historical fiction novels to include moments where characters exhibit modern mindsets, which can shatter the illusion of reality created by the story. That is not the case here. Tracy Chevalier avoids falling into the ideological trap of projecting modern feminist ideals onto her heroine. Griet does not dream of independence because, in that era, it was not really an option.
This leads to the novel’s strongest aspect. What I appreciated most is the way art impacts Griet. She is terrified that her entire life will consist of washing laundry, dusting, and sweeping. For her, paintings, art, and colors are an escape from her condition as a servant, from the banality of her daily existence. The moments when she helps Vermeer prepare his paints, when she watches him work, are the ones she lives for.
While Donna Tartt, in my opinion, is a better writer, Tracy Chevalier succeeds in her own way in depicting how art transforms people, broadens their horizons, and helps them escape the mundanity of everyday life.
The pacing may be slow, and the characters, while interesting, are not extraordinary. Still, for me, "Girl with a Pearl Earring" was a very enjoyable read.

So the parts when Vermeer was actually being a painter were interesting. Seeing as I slogged through this on account of a recommendation that arose from an art-class lecture on Vermeer, I was hoping that the art stuff would at least deliver.

But it's not a good sign when a book's most compelling moments revolve around two people grinding pigments. And, no: "Grinding pigments" is not a euphemism for artist-bangin'. It is, quite literally, referring to the detailed descriptions of how paint was made in the days before those fancy metal tubes replaced pig bladders as the paint-storing vessels of choice.

This was the most predictable book I've read in a while, and that includes the two graphic-novel series that are simply retelling stories I know well in a new medium. I knew exactly where the plot was going within the book's first dozen pages. Every subsequent thread was introduced with the subtlety of a sledgehammer and the writerly finesse of a 14-year-old's first attempt at fanfiction.

It was also pretty obvious what stereotype everyone was going to play from his or her very first appearance. There really isn't a multi-dimensional character in this book. I understand that the first-person voice is a limited perspective by its nature, and I would write it off as just that if the peripheral characters were the only flat archetypes, but even the narrator doesn't carry any convincing weight. Griet is the protagonist because she's the main character. And because all of the characters with whom she has scuffles are inexplicably bitchy. Not giving characters any real motivations, not making them behave and interact believably, and generally preferring to tell rather than show all contributed to making this whole book feel sloppy, underdeveloped and rushed. If "Girl with a Pearl Earring" was maybe 200 more pages of really hammering out the story and its players, maybe then it'd be a more satisfying read. At least it's mercifully quick and mostly painless at its current length.

I say "mostly painless" because there are some groan-worthy lines showcased here: While more pages would have maybe benefited the plot, there is nothing -- save for a control-freak editor -- that could have improved the prose itself. I could not get past the clunky writing. It didn't take me long to get violently annoyed by the author's fondness for hitting the reader over the head with the most obvious attempts at subtle foreshadowing by way of forcing too much weight on these flimsy, laughably ominous one-sentence paragraphs. There were numerous other technical things that kept grating on me about the writing and its myriad shortcomings. Among them: Griet saying things like "I always regretted that decision" to indicate that she's looking back on a time that is very clearly written as the present; not one character shows any development throughout the novel; sixteen-year-old Griet, the daughter of a tile painter, somehow knows more about painting and composition than Vermeer, a professional artist who actually managed to garner some fame during his living years.

Even when the book pissed me off (which was often), I will admit that I never found Griet herself to be irritating (maybe because I kept fantasizing about Scarlett Johansson to save my brain from oozing through my ears?) -- but I was irked at how it felt like Chevalier was Mary Sue-ing her way through the character. The way that every man whom Griet encountered in the whole! damn! book! fawned over and flirted with her, the way she was presented as being uneducated but naturally clever just because she sometimes spoke her mind and separated her chopped veggies by color, the way Griet's family was painted as these simple, sheltered little Protestants who knew nothing of the world around them.... there was far too much black-or-white for me to take anything about the book seriously.

I don't care enough to write about this book any more. So. Every other gripe I have notwithstanding, here are three of the book's most glaring failures:

-- Vermeer, for being the central male character, remains an enigma. It's not that he's shrouded in an air of charming mystery but rather that his personality is nothing more than a bunch of suppositions that Griet "just knows" about him.

-- Griet does not ever refer to Vermeer as anything other than "he" or "him". Not. Once. It made her sound like a starstruck teenybopper and it undermined any sense of genuine affection between the painter and his maid.

-- The similes. Oh, dear sweet Baby Jesus, the similes. I now know that I have a limited tolerance for the number of trite comparisons of faces and voices to household objects that I encounter in one novel, all thanks to the time I spent reading this book.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Tracy Chevalier

Plume, 2001

The “Girl with a Pearl Earring” is a painting done by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, around 1665. Not much is known about Vermeer which gives Chevalier creative license to develop what I believe is an interesting story. The painting is currently on exhibition in New York, at the Frick Collection. The exhibition is scheduled to be there until January 19, 2014.

The story told in first person by Griet the protagonist starts in Delft (South Holland), in 1664, when she was sixteen (16). Griet is the daughter of a tile painter who has recently lost his sight. Griet parents hired her out as a maid to the Vermeer family. Griet was expected to help out her family by bringing home the fruits of her labor. In the first few pages of the book there is considerable change in this family. The father has lost his sight, her brother Frans (thirteen (13)) has left home to start an apprenticeship, now Griet is leaving home to work. Her younger sister Agnes is upset because she will be without both siblings. Griet is concerned because her family is Protestant and while the Vermeer’s are Catholic.

When the Vermeers visits Griet’s house to determine her suitability for the job as maid they each looked at her differently. Catharina, Vermeer’s wife was concerned about Griet’s physical ability to perform the job while Vermeer noted how she had laid out the vegetable she was cutting up for a stew separating them by color, in a circular pattern.

The Vermeers have five (5) children with one on the way. Vermeer’s mother-in-law, Maria Thins, also lives in the house. There are a couple of other servants who assisted in running the household, which gave room for more conflicts in the story. Griet’s main job is doing the laundry and cleaning Vermeer’s studio, but, she also helps with the kitchen and taking care of the children. Griet was challenged by many conflicts primarily with Catharina, Cornelia (one of the children), and Tanneke (a long term servant). She also has to fight off Vermeer’s patron, van Ruijven. He is married but has a reputation for chasing young maids.

Griet later took on more responsibility which included purchasing food for the family. She noted that the Vermeer family use Pieter for their butcher. She was to shop for the family daily and purchase the meat for the day. Pieter had a son who showed interest in Griet, which was at first not returned.

Griet showed interest in Vermeer’s painting and asked him questions which he seemed to encourage. He later showed her how he made his colors for his paintings. Griet later became the subject of a portrait which he was commissioned by van Ruijven to paint.

I think the author struggled at times to write as a sixteen (16) year old would think. However, I enjoyed the book.

This book is gorgeously written. I love that Chevalier makes up all these lives to give a back story to just this one painting. Well, that's not true. We actually see the painting of three or four of Vermeer's 35 through Griet's eyes. I know that I had to constantly pull up images of his paintings as I read to actually see what Griet was describing. I must also say that I have never been much of a Vermeer fan, but having read about Vermeer through Griet's eyes, I see his paintings as much more complex and studied than I had before. I hope Chevalier got the process right because it would be a pity if he actually painted some other way.

Vermeer hires Griet as a house girl for his wife and five children. The Vermeer/Thin family are Catholics and women of that standing do not nurse their own children so there are likely to be more and more children. Griet is sorely needed. Vermeer and his wife Catherina come to Griet's home to meet her and the initial meeting comes across more as his hiring her for his own mysterious "pleasure", but when Griet arrives in their home she truly is a house girl. Nothing else.

It takes much time for Vermeer to begin to use Griet to not only clean his painting studio but to eventually run painting errands, mix colors, help him "see" the painting in hiding, and eventually to model for him. Griet is the girl in the pearl earring. An earring, in a previously unpierced ear, belonging to Catherina. Talk about a scandal in the making.

There is more to the story. Griet's family falls on sad and hard times. Griet is wooed and eventually married by a nice young man, but none of that matters. The painting is the thing and Chevalier brings this (and other) paintings to life in a way I have never before experienced. I would compare this book to the Doctor Who episode "Vincent and the Doctor". We care about the art because we are made to care about the artist. Chevalier does a beautiful job of this.

„Fata cu cercel de perlă”
Tracy Chevalier 5/5 ⭐️

Chiar și cea mai neînsemnată viață poate deveni una care v-a răsturna istoria unei întregi familii. Chipul care a devenit muza unuia dintre cei mai talentați pictori olandezi, Johannes Vermeer.
Ea nu a fost decât o slujnică, o adolescentă ajunsă a fi cuprinsă de culorile văzute pe masa stăpânului casei.

Ea nu face decât curat, spălat, ordine și îndeplinește poruncile pe care le aude, mai ca spuse automat, fără pic de căldură. Așa era orânduiala secolelor în care femeile, de rangul eroinei noastre, era masa ceea gri, plebea needucată și lipsită de sens.

Griet, perla acestei istorii este diferită. Ea a crescut în brațele unui tată care i-a arătat frumosul, căldura, așa cum a putut el mai bine, mai ales în condițiile unei sărăcii lucide. Ea vede dincolo de culorile evidente ale norilor, ea este „bolnavă” de calitatea mea preferată: curajul!
Eroina noastra crește împreună cu ascensiunea curiozității sale, ale dorinței de cunoaștere, de înțelegere a lumii dincolo de cuvinte.
Ea lasă lumina să pătrundă în cameră, pur și simplu spălând ferestrele. Poate să pară naiv și preistoric, dar înainte nu se prea spălau ferestrele.

Între maestru și noua lui sursa de inspirație se crează o legătură imediată, tacită, una care stârnește gelozia celorlalte femei din casă. De ce ea și nu soția îi este atât de apropiată, ce poate să știe sau vorbească o analfabetă?!
Relația lor de admirație reciprocă, devine un păcat în ochii unui oraș întreg, nemaivorbind despre familia care tolerează afinitatea lor. Chiar dacă inspirația lor a creat multe picturi frumoase și cunoscute de o lume întreagă, a fost de neconceput să fie acceptată de frustrările acumulate sub același acoperiș.

Pentru cei care caută o lectură în care să descopere nu doar emoții, ci și culori, dialoguri despre lumină, figuri sau picturi care te vor face să te simți incomod, Chevalier este generos cu un tumult debordant.

Eu am găsit o istorie care este executată A la Carte! Cum se maschează urât manipularea, întrucât ea este omniprezentă, orice cititor îi va simți izul neplăcut. Cum este tratat adevărul și prejudecățile seculare, fiecare personaj stă de strajă unuia dintre cele două. Am rămas încântată de maturitatea ei și rațiunea clară, pe care și-a asumat-o în cel mai dificil moment din viața ei. Atunci când nimeni nu i-a luat apărarea, când lumea ei s-a năruit, ea a fost eroul ei de care avea nevoie.

Am citit multe păreri, post lectură, care au fost atât de pestrițe, încât am înțeles un adevăr simplu, ori cartea o să vă cucerească, ori va lasă senzația de uscat în gânduri. Totul depinde de un singur lucru: vă place sau nu pictura. Și nu este nimic colțuros în acest lucru. Arta este un domeniu atât de vast, toți au dreptul să prefere ce iubesc, mai puțin ce este la modă sau de ultim răcnet.

Mai zic încă puțin ce mi-a plăcut. Toate personajele, absolut toate, motivația lor, caractere mârșave sau mai puțin, și faptul că autorul a reușit să identifice gradual plusurile și minusurile fiecărui dintre cei prezenți, foarte atent.
„Fata cu cercel de perlă” este nimic altceva decât o „scuză” perfectă pentru a ne vorbi despre frumos și veșnic, despre dragoste, în toate formele pe care aceasta o poate lua.
Probabil, și tind să afirm cu încredere, această carte este una dintre cele mai Cu Sens și Bune citite de mine în ultima vreme.
Subliniez Mulțumirea mea Cristina, pentru recomandare, iar Librarius pentru livrare și reducere

Beautifully written and read aloud, this is an imagining of the possible life of the girl depicted in Vermeer's lovely painting.

Girl With a Pearl Earring tells a short story using a lot of words. Even though the novel spans more than a decade, not too much of note happens besides Vermeer's painting. The book is more like an historical account of an ordinary life with occasional excitement sprinkled in.
I got a little bored at times. I thought Tracy Chevalier spent too much time describing commonplace objects and scenes (washing clothes, dusting, shopping) and not enough time giving insight on Griet's character and the household drama. However I was never so bored that I considered DNFing this book. The plot was always moving forward, even if it was subtle.

I adored the author's prose. She liked comparing intangible concepts to tangible objects. For example:

n  "I could hear rich carpets in their voices, books and pearls and fur."n

Those similes and metaphors were very well done.

Tracy Chevalier did a wonderful job of centering the story around Vermeer by only ever referring to him with pronouns. Griet would think of Vermeer solely as "he" (or very rarely "my master", but never his name) and it gave the impression that Vermeer was the only man in the world to Griet.

n  "I did not mind the cold so much when he was there. When he stood close to me I could feel the warmth of his body."n

The author never outright stated Griet's feelings for Vermeer in the book, but made them clear through occasional hints:

n  "I did not like to think of him that way, with his wife and children. I preferred to think of him alone in his studio. Or not alone, but only with me."n

There were many aspects of Girl With a Pearl Earring that the reader had to infer from hints. It wasn't an easy read but still a very good one.

Desearía haber escrito yo este libro. Gracias a mi profesora de HdA de segundo de bachillerato por hacerme adorar su asignatura y haberme recomendado este libro. No conocía a la autora, pero adoré la historia y me vi la película poco después. No sabía que los libros se podían vivir a través de todos los sentidos, dejando de lado la obviedad del sentido de la vista, hasta que leí esta joya.

Lo que más he disfrutado de esta novela es que da un sentido a la mirada de la joven que aparece en el cuadro. Me gusta que la autora utilice la ambigüedad de la obra para crear toda la historia, y para darle un sentido. Gracias a esta historia y TSHOEH empecé a adorar la ficción histórica; la novela gana muchísimo gracias a lo bien informada que la autora está acerca de la pintura de aquel tiempo, de cómo se construyen las escenas, se crean las pinturas, el uso de la cámara oscura, etc. Me quedo con esas pinceladas y con una historia que es entretenida y fácil de leer.

Griet es una joven discreta, observadora, inteligente y fuerte. Sabe cuándo es el mejor momento para el silencio, la verdad o un cumplido oportuno y no se deja mangonear ni engañar. Sin embargo, sentía a través de las páginas que había tensión entre ellos dos. Reconozco que me hubiera gustado otro final distinto (aunque lloré con el del libro), pero la sociedad de entonces no era justa. También eran de religiones diferentes, por lo que era prácticamente imposible.

Siempre me he sentido muy curiosa sobre este cuadro y la novela me abrió la mente a miles de posibles historias detrás de este cuadro.

La lectura es muy amena y sencilla. No tiene términos muy complejos de pintura. El retrato de la ciudad es claro, sin caer en demasiadas descripciones.

Love this story, love Vermeer's work. Over 2 years a quiet and obedient maid named Griet goes to live as a servant for Johannes Vermeer and his family. It is hard for Griet not to like this good and obedient protagonist, for she struggles with universal yearnings such as love and an escape from poverty. Her life is a fairly solitary one as she finds herself growing apart from her family while living as an outsider in another's home. The Vermeer family, with the exception of the painter himself, is not fond of the strange Protestant girl; and as Maria Thins, the grandmother, says, "Never so much trouble with a maid before." The real trouble comes, however, when the artist takes a liking to the young girl and allows her to assist him in his work. Griet is granted the privilege that no other family member has -- helping Vermeer in his studio. Not even his wife Catharina is allowed to enter the studio, so this arrangement causes a great deal of tension within the household. Griet begins her work by cleaning still life objects that Vermeer will paint later that day. She also is given the responsibility of grinding the paints and even purchasing the colors from the apothecary. As if these "privileges" were not causing enough disquietude within the family, matters only get worse when Vermeer agrees, at a friend's request, to paint Griet. The moments in which Vermeer paints Griet are the most spellbinding of the book. We feel Griet's nervous emotions as she sits as still as possible under the close eye of the awe-inspiring man she has grown to love. Her inner struggle is augmented by jealous Pieter, the butcher's son, who has made no secret of his intention to marry Griet. The young maid, however, seems devoted only to her master and obeys his every wish. When he tells her to wear his wife's pearl earrings for the painting, Griet agrees even though she knows it could lead to her downfall. (Also really liked the 2003 film starring Colin Firth and Scarlet Johansson.)

Vermeer (1632-1675) left no more than 36 paintings - and the attribution of a couple of those is in doubt - and no drawings. Vermeer was not a totally unsuccessful artist. He became a head of the Guild of St Luke in Delft and his paintings fetched high prices, but he died in debt, and his Catholic wife Catharina Bolnes had to declare herself bankrupt.

what an amazing historical fiction novel! i loved the creative liberties tracy chevalier took when creating a life and story behind the girl with the pearl earring paining.

i’m so lucky to have seen her in real life yesterday in den haag at the mauritshuis! it was beautiful and i loved thinking of the painting as griet from this book!!!

I tagged this "based-on-fact" because all the members of the Vermeer family, plus Vermeer's patron, van Ruijven, and friend, van Leuwenhoek, all existed. Griet, the title "girl with a pearl," did not, at least as far as anyone knows. However, someone posed for that painting, so why not Griet? And by the way, if you're like me and say the names mentally as you're reading them, and you don't know Dutch, this book will be a challenge.

As I said in my status update, this book reminded me of why historical fiction was one of my first loves. I think I read at least half the historical fiction books in my high school library. To be truthful, the plot of this one is something of a soap opera, but I enjoyed reading about everyday life of both rich and poor in the seventeenth century. If you like historical fiction, and especially if you enjoy art, I highly recommend Girl with a Pearl Earring.

توی این داستان چیزی که خیلی موج میزد، «زندگی» بود.... یه ویژگی برجسته که این کتاب داشت این بود که به طرز ساده ای، روون بود... یعنی انگار نشستی روبروی راوی... اون داره برات ماجراهای زندگیش رو تعریف میکنه.... و به قدری صمیمی و پشت هم و ساده روایت میکنه که تو وقتی به خودت میای میبینی غرق در حرفهاش شدی و توی یه زمان خیلی کوتاه کل کتاب رو تموم کردی......... خیلی خودمونی از فقر ، خانواده، سختیها، دوریها، مرگ، عشق، و.... حرف میزد........ باید بگم دلم برای راوی میسوخت... یه غم خاصی بود تو زندگیش و نرسیدنهاش که تا آخر داستان باعث میشد قوی ترین حسی که تو من به وجود میاره اندوه باشه....

سبک نوشتن نویسنده هم دوست داشتنی بود... یه جاهایی بعضی جملاتش رو بارها و بارها میخوندم... یه دفعه حرفهای غریبی رو توی دهان راوی میگذاشت که خیلی با فکر و دل آدم بازی میکرد......

جمعا دوست داشتم کتاب رو... و اندوهش هنوز همراهمه..........

حکایت نرسیدن ها....