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Girl With A Pearl Earring
Tracy Chevalier. Plume: 2001. ISBN: 0452282152. 233 pages.
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About the Author
A page of detailed biographical information on Girl With a Pearl Earring, including excerpts from
interviews in which Chevalier interprets her own work.
One morning, Chevalier looked at the poster of Girl With a Pearl Earring hanging on her wall and asked herself some
questions about the girl in the painting: “Is she happy? Is she feeling seductive? Is she sad? What’s going on here? I
wonder what Vermeer did or said to her to make her look like that?” And then Chevalier thought, “Well, there’s a story.”
All in the Family
A synopsis of the literary traditions and genres with which Girl With a Pearl Earring is
affiliated and a brief explanation of these connections, giving your book group the opportunity to understand Chevalier’s
novel in a larger literary perspective.
Since Chevalier’s novel takes its name from a painting by Johannes Vermeer, we take a brief look at the life and times of
this famous Dutch painter and at other classic and contemporary works of fiction feature Vermeer’s paintings in interesting
ways.
Character Tree
A list of major characters and their dominant characteristics and values, showing characters’ relationships
to each other.
There aren’t too many characters to keep track of in Chevalier’s novel—-we list the members of the Tiler and Vermeer
households and their sometimes complicated connections to one another.
Streams of Themes
A breakdown of potential major discussion themes in Girl With a Pearl Earring, including ways
these themes are interconnected.
Girl With a Pearl Earring is full of beautifully rendered themes that inspire creative interpretation, and resting
as the foundation under all of them is that grandest theme of all: art vs. life.
Talk Back to the Critics
Excerpts of some major critical reviews of Girl With a Pearl Earring from authoritative
journals, newspapers, and magazines. We encourage your book group to enjoy the opportunity to argue with expert opinion.
Most critics discuss Griet’s authentic narrative voice, with one reviewer claiming that “As the first-person narrator,
Griet has a deceptively simple way of putting things that comes across eventually as the mark of a measured mind, one that
must make its way cautiously through a world so tightly wrapped.”
Doorways to Discussion
A chronologically and thematically organized list of discussion questions, which function to
explore, in a logical and thoughtful manner, the questions and possibilities that Girl With a Pearl Earring evokes.
There’s lots to discuss in Girl With a Pearl Earring, and here are a few examples of the 43 questions featured in
this section: “What happens when Vermeer sees Griet’s hair? How does this moment influence Griet’s subsequent behavior?
Does it influence the way that Vermeer paints Griet?”
Taste Test
A selection of other books on subjects similar to those in Girl With a Pearl Earring to consider for
future book group meetings or for private reading.
If you’d like to read more great historical fiction, other novels about the complexities of family, other coming-of-age
novels, or if you’re now hooked on Vermeer, we’ve included lots of books we think you’ll enjoy!
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