Tag: jessie burton

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
miniaturist

A young woman gets married to a man she’s never met. The household she enters is cold and uninviting. As a strange wedding present, her husband buys the woman a mock up of her household.

Against her wishes but wanting to please her husband, Nella hires a miniaturist to build furniture for the gift. The miniatures she receives are accurate enough to be scary. It seems that the miniaturist knows things about her life that Nella doesn’t.

This is a story about secrets, trust and unexpected magic.

What killed this story for me was the pacing. It dragged agonizingly along.

The bits about the miniaturist were fascinating. I loved the premise of it- a complete stranger seems to know more about your life than you do. How is that possible?

But, I found the rest of the story to be too slow to make up for the fun parts.

Also, I have so many unanswered questions. I felt like Jessie Burton didn’t answer most of the questions she raised in the story.

And, I found the ending to be completely unsatisfying.

I enjoyed learning about 17th century Amsterdam. I liked learning about the societal roles of men, women and the power that religion held over people’s lives.

I also liked Cornelia and Otto- the two servants in Nella’s new home. Any scene with either or both of them was charming.

Recommended for readers who have much more patience than me. The Miniaturist reveals its secrets slowly, if at all.

It sounds like The Miniaturist is going to appear on BBC the day after Christmas. I wonder if it will be better than the book: www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2017-12-13…

Thanks for reading!