janetlin | Book #6 - Girl With a Pearl Earring

One of the reasons _why_ I'm behind in my Harry Potter is that I picked up several books while in the airport on Sunday, one of which was Girl With a Pearl Earring. I'd seen ads for the movie (intrigued, of course, because it has Colin Firth), but had never got around to watching it, so I figured I'd at least read the book. And I like it. It read very fast, which is always a pleasant surprise. There's no high-flown, contrived drama, no action, no salacious romance (alas). It's very like Vermeer's paintings, in that: simple, perhaps even understated, just a glimpse at life. The main character is a simple girl, a maid in the painter's house. She isn't fanciful, she doesn't daydream, she has a very real understanding of her place in the world and doesn't seek to try for "better," and it's refreshing to read a period piece without the improbably "progressive" heroine that has become so cliche.

Title: Girl With a Pearl Earring
Author: Tracy Chevalier
Pages: 233 (paperback)