Where to begin with this rambling incoherent characterless drift of a book. There is no detailing of William Blake only inserted bits of poetry, there is much editorializing to us, the readers, about the dreary background of London and its unfortunate girls of ill-repute.

I read the 300+ pages because it was the book club read but had to wonder at the lack of resolution, the undeveloped stick characters and the endless drone of uninteresting history.

Nothing happens in this lengthy bore of what should have been a novella or a short story at best.

I had this tremendous sense of relief when the whole agonizing end of book carriage ride was behind me and two of the characters could sit and moan on a stile about the country, having moaned their way through London previously.

1/5

I love Tracy Chevalier. I can't even imagine the time and effort it takes to research the area's and people of history that she writes about. Historical fiction is my favorite genre and Chevaliers books always take us right inside another time and place, feeling the emotions, hearing the sounds and smelling the air.

Burning Bright is set in the early 1790's of London, where Thomas Kellaway and has recently moved his family to try to outrun the memories of the recent loss of one of their sons. This family is from the Piddle Valley- Thomas and son Jem are chair makers while his wife Anne and daughter Maisie are very skilled Dorset button makers. Enter real-life character Philip Astley of Astley's Circus, who helps set the Kellaways up with a room as well as customers, eventually hiring Thomas and Jem as carpenters for the circus. Jem meets Maggie, a neighbor girl, and the two quickly become fast friends while also befriending the printer and his wife who live next door. This eccentric printer is thought to have loyalty for the French during this time of the French Revolution. He turns out to be none other than the now famous poet and engraver, William Blake. While Mr. Blake and Mr. Astley are the true to life characters of the book, the story is really a coming of age story centered around the fictional characters of Jem, Maggie and Maisie with the sights and sounds of 1700's Lambeth Place as the backdrop. Interspersed with Blake's poetry, this is a fantastic read.

Disappointing. I felt that she should have picked either Philip Astley or William Blake as her focus - attempting them both diluted the impact somewhat. She could, for example, have really dealt with the Dissenters issue in more depth had she just written about William Blake. I think there would have been more dramatic tension that way and a far more entertaining novel. As it was, despite the flowing prose, I found this an effort to read. Nowhere near as good as "Girl with a Pearl Earring", in my opinion. More's the pity.

I have long enjoyed Tracy Chevalier's historical novels, particularly "Girl With a Pearl Earring," which imagines the daily home life and creative process of 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, as viewed from the vantage point of a teenage, Protestant maid. This more recent book,"Burning Bright," is set in 18th century Lambeth, a suburb of London, and imagines the public life and creative mind of painter and poet William Blake, seen through the eyes of two adolescents. While both books are entertaining and show good evidence of the author's grasp of the context in which each of these artists found himself, the former novel stands out above "Burning Bright" in terms of its character development and the richness of the setting.

While Chevalier's symbolism tends to be heavy-handed in both books, she does have a gift for evoking the sense of place and time in which her novels are located, and she offers fairly well-rounded (though not dynamic) characters whose relationships are complicated and unpredictable. She has a knack for revealing something about the now-famous artists in her novels by surrounding them with rich characters and interesting locations. Vermeer's growing family includes a roiling gaggle of children, a spoiled and demanding wife, and a business-woman for a mother-in-law; these people, not to mention Vermeer's men friends, help the reader to gain a sense of Vermeer by looking at those with whom he surrounds himself in his most private moments. We see Blake by coming to know his rather taciturn wife, Catherine; the two young people who follow him even to his mother's funeral across town; the neighbors who are suspicious of him for being so insular and odd; and Lambeth's pro-monarchy association, whose members try to bully Blake into supporting their cause; these characters help the author depict the political and social side of Blake's life, giving us less insight into his private world. In any case, Chevalier's Vermeer and Blake both benefit from the swirl of life going on all around them.

What makes "Burning Bright" less compelling a read than the novel about Vermeer is the distance she keeps from Blake. In her earlier novel, she brings her heroine, Griet, the Protestant maid, directly into the Vermeer household, where we can see him in action as an artist and as a husband and father; we do not get this view of Blake. Instead, Blake is spied on by an Jem and Maggie, who imagine him to be strange and curious and who come to know him during the course of the novel as strange, creative, and caring. While Chevalier attempts to narrate Blake's creative process, the reader never gets enough continuity from the various scenes that show him, in one moment, having conversations with his dead brother, Robert, and, in another moment, etching a copper plate for eventual use in the printing press. While we get a sense of what makes Vermeer tick, we never gain that knowledge about Blake. This could be less Chevalier's failing than it is the reality that Blake was truly enigmatic and odd, set apart in his ways from the mainstream of British art and writing even as he wrote and drew, etched and painted his way into history (and anthologies and museums!).

If I am to be bluntly honest, I must admit that it is, perhaps, my own knowledge of Blake, more than it is Chevalier's writing, that makes me view the novel as weak. Having written more than enough of my own about Blake and his work, I probably know too much to enjoy Chevalier's development of Blake's character and creative process. In my mind, he is not quite the same man that she depicts on the novel's pages. I suppose I'll have to write my own novel in order to understand the Blake I think I know!

جایی میانه‌های کتاب ویلیام بلیک می‌پرسد: اگر يک سوي رودخانه پاکي باشد و در سوي ديگرش تجربه، ميان اين دو چيست؟
قرن هجدهمه و در هیاهوی عصر صنعتی شدن، لندن واقعا چهره ترسناکی داره. تریسی شوالیه که قبلا با رمان موفق "دختری با گوشواره مروارید" سراغ ورمر، نقاش معروف هلندی، رفته بود اینبار تلاش کرده در این فضا و بین دود و دم و فساد لندن شاعر مشهور انگلیسی را به مخاطب معرفی کنه اما به نظرم نتوانسته حتی نیمی از موفقیت قبلیش را به دست بیاره! تاریخی دانستن این رمان فقط یک شوخیه و همه ماجرا و شخصیت‌ها در تخیل نویسنده شناورند. البته می‌دانم این سبک شوالیه است، این نویسنده هرگز نخواسته تاریخ را روایت کند بلکه بیشتر تمایل داره راه خودش را بره و تاریخ را دنبال خودش بکشاند و از ترکیب واقعیت و خیال لذت خلق کند. اما وقتی تعادل در این مسیر حفظ نشه، نتیجه‌اش چیزی شبیه نور شعله‌ور خواهد بود. ویلیام بلیک در داستا�� فقط جنبه‌ای تزئینی پیدا می‌کند و از گفت و گوهاش با دو نوجوان اصلی ماجرا هم چیز دندانگیر و ماندگاری دست مخاطب را نمی‌گیره و به علاوه خود این داستان خیالی هم چنگی به دل نمیزنه. البته فکر می‌کنم در این زمینه ماهیت عجیب و غریب "شعر" هم بی‌تقصیر نباشه! شما می‌تونید از یک نقاش حین کار فیلم و عکس بگیرید و یا با قلمی جادویی روند کاری‌اش را شرح بدهید اما یک شاعر و اثر هنری‌اش به این راحتی توصیف‌شدنی نیست!

n  «The Imagination is not a State: it is the Human Existence itself»n(1) (William Blake, Milton. A Poem in Two Books)

Londra. Lambeth, marzo 1792. Thomas Kellaway, valente costruttore di sedie, insieme alla moglie Anne e due dei suoi figli, Jem e Masie, dopo aver lasciato il piccolo villaggio Piddletrenthide nel Dorset, giunge nel quartiere di Lambeth, a Londra. Thomas è convinto di essere stato invitato dal padrone dell’Astley’s Amphitheatre, Philip Astley (1742-1814), a lavorare per lui come carpentiere nel circo...
Astley troverà loro un alloggio al 12 di Hercules Building, presso l’acida signorina Pelham. Presto, i due ragazzi avranno il piacere di conoscere i loro singolari vicini di casa, William Blake e sua moglie Kate, che con il loro torchio tipografico occupano l’intero alloggio al 13 di Hercules Building.
Nel 2001 Tracy Chevalier visita una grande mostra di opere di William Blake (1757–1827, poeta, pittore e incisore britannico), allestita alla Tate Gallery di Londra.
La scrittrice ne rimane impressionata ed affascinata e decide di ambientare un suo nuovo romanzo a Londra nel 1792, traendo ispirazione dai due volumi di poesie di Blake, Songs of Innocence e Songs of Experience. Alla fine deciderà di concentrarsi su Songs of Experience: «to me the acquiring of experience contains more of a story than being in a state of innocence. The story of Adam and Eve is interesting because they tasted the apple, after all; otherwise there is no story.» (2)
E così, Jem e Maisie faranno amicizia con l’esuberante Maggie e, tutti e tre, affascinati dall’esempio e dagli insegnamenti, alle volte oscuri, del poeta, intraprenderanno un percorso di crescita e di superamento dell’Innocenza.
La Chevalier, sullo sfondo di una Londra di fine secolo caotica e turbolenta, racconterà con pensosa delicatezza della realtà domestica dei giovani protagonisti ed esplorerà i loro stati di innocenza e di esperienza, proprio come Blake lo aveva fatto nelle sue poesie.
Coinvolgente!

(1) «L'immaginazione non è uno stato mentale: è l'esistenza umana stessa.» William Blake (1757 – 1827), Milton. A Poem in Two Books (1804-1810)
(2) «per me l'acquisizione dell'esperienza contiene più storia dell'essere in uno stato di innocenza. La storia di Adamo ed Eva è interessante perché, dopo tutto, hanno assaggiato la mela; altrimenti non c'è storia.».

This one just wasn’t quite for me. I wanted to know what happened to the Kellaway Family & others, but the non-objective plot didn’t engage me. I wanted to be more into the decentralized story-telling, I liked getting to see nearly every character’s perspective every once in a while. Perhaps if some part of their character motivations/drivers were related.

Reading the acknowledgements THOroughly confused me. I did not at all get that the side character was the main focus and intent of the book.

Chevalier wonderfully captures life in London in the late 18th century in this story of a family's move from the Dorsetshire countryside to the city and their son's interaction with William Blake. Much of the plot is devoted to the growing friendship between London newcomer Jem, and city-kid Maggie. Maggie's terrible "secret" about cut-throat lane isn't much of a surprise by the time she tells Jem the truth about it. And the relationship between the two of them and William Blake (Jem's next door neighbor) feels only half-developed, almost as if the author couldn't decide which story she most wanted to tell -- Blake's or her two fictional characters. As a result, the plot wanders a bit. Even so, it was interesting to finally see Blake's "Tyger, tiger, burning bright" poem in the context in which he wrote it -- in support of the French Revolution -- and how the public shunned him for it. Unlike the author's "Girl With a Pearl Earring" and its exploration of the artist Vermeer, we never really get much of a window into Blake's mind in this novel, but perhaps that's because Blake was so reclusive in real life.

Tracy, Tracy, Tracy. You took me on a journey again. From Lambeth Terrace & Lambeth Green across Westminster Bridge to Soho and back again. Inside the Horse & Groom, Crown & Cushion, Canterbury Arms and Red Lion the rowdy London scene unfurled. Then suddenly you dragged me down Cut Throat Lane running fast as frightful memories past. With you I listened anew to William Blake. Oh, did his words ring true? Finally walking through the vale, holding hands with Maggie, Maisie, Jem and Rosey too.

Burning Bright. Another delightful and insightful work by Tracy Chevalier.

Shall I try to rank order the books I read by Ms. Chevalier?
Although I recommend each unique book of the author, I shall enjoy ranking her books.
To learn the rationale for my ratings, I suggest that you read all of my reviews
of the books by Tracy Chevalier.
In rank order. Number 1 is best. Number 1 is top of the scale.
1. The Girl with the Pearl Earring
2. Burning Bright
3. The Virgin Blue
4. Falling Angels

The utter lack of resolution, both in terms of character growth and in terms of historical detail, was extremely disappointing. I can't say I expected anything better from the snailian pace; nor was I ready to forgive the author's annoying tendency to build one character to an emotional pitch of trauma, then leave off before that character can react and talk about another one who is even then idling languidly. Like many of you, I was unimpressed with the way William Blake remained only a minor character throughout, his views only an idle curiosity, and the childrens' influence on his work being--except for the practical matter of the mob--almost wholly absent. I reached the last page (actually, the last track on the CD) with the exultant relief that the book wasn't going to get any better, I was never going to find out what would happen to any of the main characters, and I could finally begin reading something else!

Dnf. 65% through and it seemed to wander through the streets of nowhere.

I've really enjoyed several of Chevalier's novels - especially The Girl with the Pearl Earring and Remarkable Creatures - but for some reason, and despite its wealth of historical detail, this one never really came to life for me. I plodded along with it for weeks, always waiting for it gain momentum, and it never did. I would rate it somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars; at best, I had a tepid sort of liking for it.

It promises revolution - the French Revolution is taking place in the background - but never quite delivers. The poet William Blake is a character in it, but ultimately a rather shadowy one. His Songs of Innocence and Experience are woven into the text - particularly Tiger, Tiger and London, which are repeated on several occasions - and obviously the young characters of Jem (the innocent country boy from Dorset) and Maggie (the more worldly, streetwise Londoner) are also meant to represent innocence/experience. But for all of its sometimes vivid scenes of London life, not much seems to happen. I enjoyed the scenes involving Philip and John Astley- and their equestrian circus acts - but despite the latter's scoundrel behaviour, these real-life Londoners mostly just provide a bit of colour. The novel felt like a series of snapshots - scene, scene, scene - that have to stand in for an actual plot. It's pleasant enough, especially if you are fascinated by this time period in history, but it never really goes anywhere . . . other than back to Dorset, I guess.

"I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
A mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe." (From London, Songs of Experience, William Blake)