Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wonder why it's so hard to find a book that is uplifting? No doubt the world is full of depressing facts, and humanity has proven to be disappointing far too often. But there is also beauty and goodness in the world. I would really like to see more writers use their talents to uplift us, not in a Pollyanna sort of way, but in a deeply hopeful kind of way, despite the evil and ugly that we all know exists. Why look for it and point it out, even creating it in a fictional way when it didn't exist before?

So onto the actual book. The author used scant knowledge of the Dutch artist, Vermeer, to create a fictional account of part of his life, and how it may have involved a young woman whom she writes in as a maid. My main reaction as I read the book was feeling that I was being emotionally manipulated for nothing, because it was not a true account. There was some satisfaction in the strength of character of the young woman. The writing was good, not great. The "voice" seemed a little dead or flat to me. I wouldn't have wanted to invest a lot of time, but because it was a quick read it was worthwhile enough.

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