The Girl With The Pearl Earring is an enchanting novel. It seems quite unusual in that the story is told in such a simple, linear way. No literary tricks here, no long jumps back to the past, and this time all the better for it. The writing is straightforward, and the author does not attempt to write in the vocabulary of that period. All in a good way. The characters are well drawn and life in seventeenth century Delft is cleverly described. It is not a long book, and I felt it was just the right length. As it had been many years since I saw the movie, I did not remember the ending. This was also pitch perfect. A real treat.
Having read a couple of novels by Anne Tyler, I thought that Book Club might be interested in her latest book The Beginner's Goodbye. It is only a very short piece and like me, the general consensus was that it was fine but not great. It certainly has some warmth but nothing much happens. A little domestic drama about loss that takes our vision of a loved one being still around to an extreme degree. A quiet story about normal people with a fairly implausible happy ending.
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