Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy ChevalierMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Girl With a Pearl Earring may initially have attracted the reader who seeks an understanding of a 17th-century painter's lifestyle. But this novel offers so much more...intimate interactions between class levels, conflicts of values, all impacting personal journeys of the inspired and those more intent on 'fitting in'. Johannes Vermeer, the Dutch painter in Delft, lives in his own world of painting portraits, lit with light and soul, even though his large family attests to occasional, more worldly distractions. Griet, the housemaid in this family, becomes his muse. She feels challenged to survive in, to straddle the two worlds...the real and the surreal. Finally, Griet understands that the magic moments of soul connections can only survive the moment. A charming, sensitive portrait of old Dutch worlds.
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torn from her family
by circumstance
working from
cellar to attic
being a housemaid
for some
a muse
for one
but movement
from low to high
vibrations
always comes
at a price
with few guarantees
and maybe comes with
some personal loss
some sacrifice
Page 214: "He is an exceptional man" van Leeuwenhoek continued. "His eyes are worth a room full of gold. But sometimes he sees the world only as he wants it to be, not as it is. He does not understand the consequences for others of his point of view. He thinks only of himself and his work, not you. You must take care then -' He stopped. My master's footsteps were on the stairs.
"Take care to do what, sir?" I whispered.
"Take care to remain yourself."
I lifted my chin to him. "To remain a maid, sir?"
"That is not what I mean. The women in his paintings - he traps them in his world. You can get lost there".
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