Review: The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
The Miniaturist
by Jessie Burton
When eighteen year old Petronella Ortman arrives on the doorstep of her new home in Amsterdam, she's eager to be a loving wife to her new husband, wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt. To her surprise, the charming lover who courted her has vanished, replaced with a kind but distant man who allows his spinster sister to run the household. Nella is further shocked when her husband gifts her an extraordinary dollhouse, an exact miniature of their home. She engages the services of a miniaturist to furnish the cabinet building, but when the artist sends items Nella didn't request the secrets of the Brandt household are slowly revealed. Unfortunately, Nella isn't the only one who sees what the Brandts desperately seek to hide, and danger awaits them all if she can't decipher the warning sent by the miniaturist.
Something about this novel just didn't work for me, but it took me a while to figure out what it was. The setting is great. The atmosphere is great. Burton works magic with her words to bring the bustling streets and delicate work of the miniaturist to life. I could picture everything perfectly, and I believed in her version of 17th century Amsterdam. So that wasn't the problem.
The miniaturist was a problem. Throughout the book, Nella is fascinated by this mysterious woman who makes tiny dolls and objects that seem to predict the future. Nella becomes convinced that the miniaturist is some sort of gifted prophetess. The plot thread never really pays off. By the end of the book, it seems as if every housewife in Amsterdam is obsessed with the artist, but so little is known about her that their attention seems unjustified. The miniaturist remains elusive, and slips away leaving many questions and few answers. It was unsatisfying.
There's a lot of “oh look what a repressive society Amsterdam was” crammed into the story. We have a closeted homosexual, a strong independent woman unable to fulfill her desires to run a business and travel the world, an interracial relationship kept hidden, more backlash about women distinguishing themselves outside the home, a secret lovechild, and more. It seems hard to believe that so many current social issues could converge in a single 17th century household. At times, all the secrets and drama gives the book the feel of a soap opera. Some quick Googling shows that some of the stranger events, like a ban on gingerbread baked in the shape of men, really did happen, but events had to be moved around freely in time to create the boiling stew of Burton's Amsterdam.
In the end, I found the book to be merely OK. While some of the descriptions of food or Amsterdam life were beautiful, the unrelenting drama mixed with characters either too predictable or too mysterious left me struggling to finish the book. People looking for art-themed historical fiction sent in this time period will be much happier with Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring.
3 out of 5 stars
To read more about The Miniaturist, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: Mayhem by Sarah Pinborough
2013: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
2012: All Clear by Connie Willis
2011: Closing down for end of the year Festivus...
2010: Seriously cool pop-up book!
2009: News: Libraries Gaining Popularity, But Straining Staff
by Jessie Burton
When eighteen year old Petronella Ortman arrives on the doorstep of her new home in Amsterdam, she's eager to be a loving wife to her new husband, wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt. To her surprise, the charming lover who courted her has vanished, replaced with a kind but distant man who allows his spinster sister to run the household. Nella is further shocked when her husband gifts her an extraordinary dollhouse, an exact miniature of their home. She engages the services of a miniaturist to furnish the cabinet building, but when the artist sends items Nella didn't request the secrets of the Brandt household are slowly revealed. Unfortunately, Nella isn't the only one who sees what the Brandts desperately seek to hide, and danger awaits them all if she can't decipher the warning sent by the miniaturist.
Something about this novel just didn't work for me, but it took me a while to figure out what it was. The setting is great. The atmosphere is great. Burton works magic with her words to bring the bustling streets and delicate work of the miniaturist to life. I could picture everything perfectly, and I believed in her version of 17th century Amsterdam. So that wasn't the problem.
The miniaturist was a problem. Throughout the book, Nella is fascinated by this mysterious woman who makes tiny dolls and objects that seem to predict the future. Nella becomes convinced that the miniaturist is some sort of gifted prophetess. The plot thread never really pays off. By the end of the book, it seems as if every housewife in Amsterdam is obsessed with the artist, but so little is known about her that their attention seems unjustified. The miniaturist remains elusive, and slips away leaving many questions and few answers. It was unsatisfying.
There's a lot of “oh look what a repressive society Amsterdam was” crammed into the story. We have a closeted homosexual, a strong independent woman unable to fulfill her desires to run a business and travel the world, an interracial relationship kept hidden, more backlash about women distinguishing themselves outside the home, a secret lovechild, and more. It seems hard to believe that so many current social issues could converge in a single 17th century household. At times, all the secrets and drama gives the book the feel of a soap opera. Some quick Googling shows that some of the stranger events, like a ban on gingerbread baked in the shape of men, really did happen, but events had to be moved around freely in time to create the boiling stew of Burton's Amsterdam.
In the end, I found the book to be merely OK. While some of the descriptions of food or Amsterdam life were beautiful, the unrelenting drama mixed with characters either too predictable or too mysterious left me struggling to finish the book. People looking for art-themed historical fiction sent in this time period will be much happier with Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring.
3 out of 5 stars
To read more about The Miniaturist, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: Mayhem by Sarah Pinborough
2013: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
2012: All Clear by Connie Willis
2011: Closing down for end of the year Festivus...
2010: Seriously cool pop-up book!
2009: News: Libraries Gaining Popularity, But Straining Staff