At the Edge of the Orchard --by Tracy Chevalier

Fiction / Historical 

297 pages / 1773 KB

3 Stars

I truly admire the way Chevalier crafted this book, using not only history, but I liked the introduction of the letters. What I truly did not like were most of her characters. I admit I now know more about apple trees than I thought I needed to know.

I finished the book. The ending was somewhat satisfactory and logical, but I was left with almost the same brown taste in my mouth when I finished reading The Godfather by Mario Puzzo. While there were likeable people in this story, I felt too much time was spent on the ones who were not likeable. When I read fiction, I want to escape the woes of the world, not wallow in them. I understand there must be conflict, but I became mired in this swamp. And it is black, indeed.

Girl With a Pearl Earring

Girl with a Pearl Earring —by Tracy Chevalier

Fiction / Historical

240 pages / 506 kb

5 Stars

After all the hype, I wasn't sure I wanted to read it. I've read, and enjoyed at various levels her other books, save one which I just can't get into, so I decided to read this one. I still like The Last Runaway best, but maybe because it was the first of her books I read?

If you want a nitty gritty history of Vermeer, or life in his place and time, this probably isn't for you. I'm not sure how historically accurate this book is, but it's a fun read, and I do believe she has done some homework.

My classification of this book is Brain Candy, and every so often, I enjoy brain candy, especially when fairly well written.

I can understand why the wife would not like Griet. Griet is young, innocent, beautiful, and a servant. The other servant is old, ugly, and no competition or threat. I can understand why the wife would never want to wear the earrings again, and why her husband gave them away when he died (via a will). Why did Vermeer not paint his family? Perhaps as he says in the book, because they could not sit still. Perhaps no one would want to buy them. It is my understanding that many artists ground their own pigments to get them the way they wanted, that it was not usually something entrusted to a lowly servant. I may be wrong on that, but if so, then it was a sign of respect that Griet was allowed to do it. And, again, possibly his family had wanted to, and for whatever reason didn't do it right?

Though these characters are not deep, they are satisfying, especially if read for what it is, a novel. A made-up story. If you want adrenalin, read someone else's books. If you want a satisfying read that isn't racing hither and yon, read Tracy Chevalier.

The Virgin Blue

Fiction / Historical

320 pages / 723 KB

3 Stars

I love this type of story that goes between two protagonists in two different times and cultures. Ms. Chevalier is a marvelous writer, but I almost didn't finish this book. I loved Isabelle du Moulin from a time long gone, and because I had to find out how she ended, I finished the book.

My sympathy for Ella Turner (Tournier) was pretty much lacking, actually, it was totally lacking. I could not find a single thing about her to relate to, other than we are both female. I disliked her. Immensely. I've lived in a foreign country (Germany) where the language and the culture was considerably different than mine, and I loved every minute of it. I found the people to be wonderfully patient and helpful with my struggling through their language, often with the help of a small dictionary always with me. Including the French when we visited Toulouse and the area.

The other thing that really irked me was the excessive use of French (sorry, I no longer have my little dictionary). I don't mind a few words here and there, that I can translate in context, but not sentences, especially when there is no internal dialogue telling me or at least giving me a hint as to what was just said.

Chevalier is a marvelous writer and perhaps this book is really better than I'm giving it credit for. Had Ella been more sympathetic and likable, I probably would have loved the book. As it was, I loved the history, especially since some of my ancestors were Swiss Huguenots, and thought Chevalier did an excellent job weaving that history into the story.

There were some areas that left me puzzled. Like, how did she get the bones across the border? What did she see in Jean Paul that was missing in her husband? What did either man see in her? Both Isabelle and Ella were midwives; why didn't that figure prominently into the story? Why didn't that fact play a major factor in solving the mystery?

I've thoroughly enjoyed the other books by Chevalier I've read, and I hate to give her a low rating on even this one. Do I recommend this one? Only if you are fluent in French and want to be able to say you've read all her books—or if you're really, really bored.

Of Fossils and Friendships

Remarkable Creatures –by Tracy Chevalier

Fiction / Herstorical

320 pages 562KB

5 Stars

This is the fourth of Ms. Chevalier's books I have read, and so far, it is my favorite. I'm not sure why – perhaps I'm getting used to her style? Perhaps I could identify with her characters better? I don't know, but I could hardly put it down at night.

Again, Chevalier has taken real people from herstory, Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, then wove their lives into a delightful tapestry of the English coast on the English Channel, fossils, friendship between unlikely people, and the bucking of convention. Perhaps that's why I like it the best, so far at least, that bucking of convention.

Elizabeth Philpot is a prickly spinster, living with her two spinster sisters, "banished" so to speak, to live on a limited income to the small town of Lyme Regis when their brother marries and sells the family home. The sisters are educated, and Elizabeth discovers once living in Lyme that she has a fondness for, and collects, fossils of fish.

Mary Anning is a teen of Lyme when the Philpots join the small community. She comes from a poor working class family and roams the beaches looking for "curies" – fossils and shells to sell the summer folk who come for the sea air and wish to take home a curiosity or two when they return to their winter habitats.

Mary is uneducated, but has an eye for fossils, and a deep love for them. She is a curious girl, struck by lightning when a baby. Ramrod straight Elizabeth finds her on the beach, and a bond is quickly formed between the two. Elizabeth convinces Mary she at least must learn to read and write at the Sunday School of her church, which Mary does.

The chapters are from the point of view of either the quite correct Elizabeth, or the far more casual, though literate, Mary. It quickly becomes apparent who is speaking, just by the voice. As all good stories must have conflict between friends, there is conflict here—and a most satisfactory resolution. This friendship, at least as depicted by Chevalier, is believable. How their friendship ends, I shall leave you to discover on your own.

I had not considered, until reading this book, the impact of finding and dating such fossils had on the Church and the people's belief/understanding of God and Creation in the early 1800s. It seems the religious had, then as now, often a hard time separating their beliefs from the facts of science.

For those of you who are not familiar with either of these women, they were "uneducated scientists" who did not receive real credit for their finds for quite some time. Mary is credited with important finds she made in the Jurassic marine fossil beds, the first ichthyosaur, the first two plesiosaur skeletons found outside Germany, and many more.

Elizabeth was an amateur paleontologist and artist. Her well categorized fossils were used by such illustrious geologists as William Buckland and Louis Agassiz for their research. Mr. Agassiz gave both women credit in his book on fossil fish, and named one specie after Elizabeth and two after Mary.

The www is full of information about both women; however, the most approachable and most fun read is--Remarkable Creatures.

Unicorns and Millefluers

The Lady and the Unicorn –by Tracy Chevalier

Fiction / Historical

256 pages / 496 KB

5 Stars

Paris and Brussels 1490-1492. If you like historical fiction, and by now it should be pretty obvious that I do, you will truly enjoy this book.

My one quibble is that sometimes I forgot who was talking and had to flip a few pages back to remind myself. I would have liked a personal cue as to who spoke. Perhaps a lisp for one, a tic for another, a stutter—something. Admittedly, they may have been there, and so subtle I didn't read them. I do tend to get totally engrossed in a good story, and I was totally engrossed in this book.

The story of the beautiful tapestries, and how they came to be, is told by several different people. Claude Le Viste, they young and virginal oldest daughter of the nobleman Jean Le Viste, who is not only willing, but wanting, to through away her virginity to the lecherous painter with the silver tongue, Nicholas des Innocentes. Her mother tells her story, Nicholas his, and of course we have those marvelous folk in Brussels who weave the tapestries telling their story.

The Notes and Acknowledgements at the back of the book are to be read. I know many folk skip that part, but here Ms. Chevalier tells us what happened to the people on whom this tale is based. (When reading historical fiction it is always wise to read any Preface, Notes, etc. that one finds at the beginning, ending, or both of the story;-)

The descriptions of the people were wonderful, how they were treated, how they dressed. Especially the differences of the domiciles of the Le Viste family, the weavers in Brussels, and Nicholas's rough apartment.

While the story is about a series of tapestries woven of wool, Ms. Chevalier does a remarkable job of weaving her own tapestries from words, without skipping a stitch. Highly recommend this book for those of you who like Historical Fiction.