A Gentle, Lovely Tale

books:


	• Girl in Hyacinth Blue Susan Vreeland Penguin (Non-Classics), 2000 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 193 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Beautifully Written

While this book was written beautifully; her research evident in all the stories, I didn't care for it. I was expecting another "Girl With A Pearl Earring." Even though it was brilliant the way all the stories led from one to the next, I would have preferred one long story. Vreeland is an excellent writer, I don't have complaints in that department, nor in any departmnt; it just wasn't my cup of tea. What it did do, however, is make me more curious about Vermeer's work. I plan to look up his paintings and enjoy his beautiful talent.

A Gentle, Lovely Tale

Have you ever picked up an old, old article and wondered about the story behind it? Have you looked at beautiful art and wondered about that? Girl in Hyacinth Blue is a novel which traces the fictional provenance of a painting by Vermeer backwards from it's current owner to the time the artist was inspired to paint it.

The style reminds me of a group of storytellers sitting around a table, each picking up where the other leaves off, and each telling a very different, sometimes very dramatic rendering of an object's journey through time. Yet all are tied together by a fascination and a reverance for the skill of the artist and the subject of his work.

A young girl sees,"The face of the girl in the painting almost glowed, her blue eyes, cheeks, the corners of her mouth all bright and glossy, the light coming right at her across the space between them. She seemed more real than the people in the room."

And so this precious painting comes into their home for a short intelude before their lives are ended and the spoils go to the victor. Much, much earlier, the carefully wrapped painting is discovered in a boat along with a newborn child during a flood. "Sell the painting. Feed the child," are the words written on the back of an art document.

And so we are drawn back to the very moment of inspiration. This is a gentle, lovely tale of how a thing of beauty can affect the lives of many.

by Judith Helburn
for StorycircleBookReviews
www.storycirclebookreviews.org
reviewing books by, for, and about women

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Sweet and Poignant

Is it a Vermeer or isn't it?

That is the thread that holds these eight short stories together.

Susan Vreeland takes us on a journey back in time that starts with the current owner of a beautiful painting thought to be one of the lost paintings of the Dutch artist Vermeer.

As we approach each sub-story we travel back a little further in time to each previous owner of the painting and how owning it has affected their lives. Set mostly in Holland and The Netherlands the Dutch names for places can be a bit difficult to pronounce but do not detract from the overall power of this small book.

Each individual story line is easy to follow. My only question would be what ultimately happens to the current owner of the painting (who is afraid to show it to the world since his father obtained it through his position with the German police during WW II).

I highly recommend this book.

Marion Marchetto

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Short and sweet

Girl in Hyacinth Blue is a series of vignettes chronicling the reverse history of a fictional Vermeer painting of the same name. Vreeland's colorful portraits of Dutch life, from the wealthy to the poorest peasants, spanning several hundred years, are fascinating. I wouldn't have minded delving further into each of the tales, and the only other thing that could have improved the book was if the painting, which plays a silent, starring role in each of the stories, really existed.

GiHB was enjoyable, but was a small disappointment after Vreeland's breathtaking Luncheon of the Boating Party.

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I loved this book

This was the latest selection of the book club I belong to. I have to say it's my favorite book so far (we've been together for 4 years). It has depth, sincerity and is beautifully written.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

This luminous story begins in the present day, when a professor invites a colleague to his home to see a painting that he has kept secret for decades. The professor swears it is a Vermeer--but why has he hidden this important work for so long? The reasons unfold in a series of events that trace the ownership of the painting back to World War II and Amsterdam, and still further back to the moment of the work's inspiration. As the painting moves through each owner's hands, what was long hidden quietly surfaces, illuminating poignant moments in multiple lives. Vreeland's characters remind us, through their love of this mysterious painting, how beauty transforms and why we reach for it, what lasts and what in our lives is singular and unforgettable.

Named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, the Christian Science Monitor, and the San Francisco Chronicle
Nominated for the Book Sense Book of the Year

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