The Miniaturist
by Jessie Burton
3.5 out of 5 stars
SPOILER FREE
It had been a while since I've had a conundrum with rating a book. Usually, I have a good idea of what the rating I would give even before setting down a book. But this book eludes me. It confuses me to no end. Possibly because nothing good every happened to anyone in this book.
The best thing about this book is the way the author describes 1686 Amsterdam. It was like reading a painting. I suspect that she truly was describing a painting since it was the only thing available for reference. It's a painting like this:
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| AMSTERDAM 1686 |
SYNOPSIS
An 18 year old mail-order bride arrives on the doorstep of her new husband's house and is greeted by his sister. Petronella, Nella, Brandt nee Oortman is a country girl from an old family. Recently impoverished, her mother marries her off to Johannes Brandt, a wealthy Amsterdam merchant. This book follows Nella as she adjusts to her new life, in a home that's clearly not her own, and a city that both empowers and devours its citizens.
NELLA'S DOLL HOUSE
Apart from Amsterdam, the description of the doll house is on fleek. Turns out, it's a real doll house owned by a real Petronella Oortman, a widow of a wealthy silk (not sugar) merchant named Johannes Brandt. If I'd have read this, it would have totally spoiled me. The house is on display at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. You should totally check out their website because it lets you download a good quality image that you can play around with if you're all crafty.
Dollhouses is the ultimate form of luxury. In the past, it had become a status symbol. It's also quite an expensive hobby, especially because it's completely useless. You see, furniture/dolls/etc. are sold separately - like all toy companies. Like Nella, you needed to get the actual house and it'd come to you empty. You then need to commission interior pieces. There are no toys r' us where you can browse around and pick out what you want. The author kindly provides us with references that shows how expensive the dollhouse is at the end of the book.
Don't worry. There's a male counterpart. In fact, the boys started this trend with their "cabinets of curiosities", where they keep exotic knick-knacks to appear worldly to their peers. Cabinets and dollhouses were often celebrated and displayed. You can actually throw a party just to show off your dollhouse. In a similar thread, I would like to hold a party to celebrate my e-book commission. To make sure my party is a success, let me buy some sugar cones fresh off the East Indies.
VOC: TRADE AND SUGAR
The Dutch East India Company factored a great deal in fleshing out Amsterdam. Rightly so! The city owed its wealth to the VOC or Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie. Because the book was in Nella's point of view and Nella know next to nothing about trade, we were told about the VOC in the beginning of the book just to make sure that everyone is one the same page.
Personally, I've a lot of experience with VOC because I'm in Island Southeast Asia where VOC was all over the place, occupying ports, killing the Portuguese, building their own ports and office that is predominantly occupied by male traders leaving thousands of ceramic pipe fragments. The redeeming quality of the VOC ships are the ethnological accounts of 16th to 17th century ISEA inhabitants. Apart from that, they are bastards. To be fair, they needed to be bad in order to monopolize the spice trade.
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| VOC Amsterdam Headquarters, Johannes Brandt's favorite place |
Speaking of spice, sugar didn't become a household staple until very late. At the time of Nella, it was still considered a luxury. Knowing that, you'd totally understand why the church sees it as a sin. It was trying to make sure that people don't become addicted to this expensive spice. Actually, all spices are a luxury including pepper. The trade of pepper actually brought the VOC monopoly to its downfall. Maybe this was a better spice to put into the book, instead of sugar. It would have brought the discussion and the conflict into a much larger scale.
CHARACTERS
However, I totally understand the use of sugar, a spice that's relatively low-key. In line with the title, everything about this book is small, like a miniature representation of something real. Amsterdam is beautiful yet small, made even smaller with the mutual social control of its residents. Nella's house is described as big because they are rich. But the feel of the house is small.
The characters are also small. Johannes, Marin, Nella, Cornelia and Toot have all made a decision to make their worlds smaller than it is.
But the smallest character of all is The Miniaturist. We learn things about this mysterious creature. But it wasn't enough to flesh it out. Maybe that's really what the author wanted.
THE STORY
After the first wham, the story continues to wham until the very end. You see, this book is all about knowing other people's secrets. Because Nella isn't the sharpest christian in the bible, I feel disconnected with the people around her. So when I find out the secrets, it makes me feel like I'm invading a private space. Like, I'm as nosy as everybody in Amsterdam. I don't want to be nosy because we all know that we should let sleeping dogs lie. In the end, it leaves me feeling bad about everything.
OVERALL
This is a depressing book. There are attempts to give us hope via Nella and the Miniaturist. It's not enough, not when shit hits the fan and Nella is left to take care of the mess with her new found acceptance.
This story feels like a prologue to an even bigger and more exciting story... that never happens.
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