Girl with a pearl earring

By Tracy Chevalier
pages : 233


I found this book while browsing the fiction section in my local library. This novel had been made in a movie in 2003. I remembered I watched this movie a few year ago but I did not recalled the story of it.
This novel took place in Holland in the 1660s. It began with a narration of a girl's feeling. A girl named Griet. She was forced by circumstance to work as a maid for a famous painter. Her life became complicated when she was infatuated with the painter and agreed to be painted. Back then, to be asked to pose as an object of a painter was an honor but it became a suspicion when the object was someone that was a focus of jealousy of the painter's wife. Griet's life was hard as a maid and it was unbearable after she agreed to be painted. But her life was not always gray. A son of a butcher fell in love with her and wanted her as his wife. She knew her life would be better when she said yes to his proposal however she wanted to wait. She wanted to wait for the painter's feeling. And it did not come to her.
This novel also included the life story of Griet's family. Her father was blinded by a work accident and could not work anymore. Her sister was a victim of a disease and died before seeing her again and her brother who hated his job and wanted to run away.
The story was complicated as it involved many characters and yet this novel was very easy to understand and read. It was about Griet's life from the moment she was about to work as a maid until she became a married woman. It was also about her feeling for her master which she had to keep to herself.
It was not easy to describe this book. There were many hidden clues in it, one of it was the feeling of the painter towards Griet. I was not sure if the painter was interested in Griet. At the last chapter, Griet was called to the painter's house to collect a pair of earring she wore for the painting. The painter wanted Griet to have it. I do not understand why, it can be that the earrings are the message from the dead painter that he once loved her or it can be a repay for her service to him.
Nevertheless, the end of the story was to be determined by the reader and it could go either way.