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claudiaswisher's review against another edition
4.0
I love how Chevalier artfully mixes fictional characters we can believe in without question, with historical artists. Blake has been one of my favorite poets since I first read "Little Lanb," so I jumped at the chance to read about him. He was everything I needed him to be -- eccentric, talented, passionate, accepting. Maggie and Jem, the fictional characters, continue to morph into 'Innocence' and 'Experience' through the story and Blake gently leads them into discussions of opposites..."the tensions between contraries." Chevalier did her research -- the London of 1792 is beautiful and ugly, exciting and dangerous...more opposites. Probably not my favorite of hers, but a wonderful look at a true trail-blazer.
lissan's review against another edition
3.0
Burning Bright is a book for which I have both good and bad feelings. I loved Chevalier's "The Girl With the Pearl Earring", but was not so fond of "The Lady and the Unicorn", although I liked it more than this one. I find that the writing is very good, very visible and you see clearly everything from the story in front of you. What does not manage to attract me is the story, or the lack of action in the story. Here we meet Jem who comes with his family to London from Dorsetshire. We see the difficulties they have to survive in the new environment and how they slowly adapt. Maggie is a local girl who has grown up in the vicinity and she takes care of showing Jem and his sister how to survive.
There is an involvement of William Blake in the story. I don't know so much about him, so have to read up. He was a British poet, painter and printmaker and was considered slightly mad during his life-time, but is now considered as one of the 100 Greatest Britons (place 38). How times change! In the novel he becomes a friend of Maggie, Jem and his sister, and Chevalier, through him, introduces some philosophical discussions in the novel.
We follow these characters and others around them for about a year. It highlights the time during the French revolution and how it might effect England and a possible war between the two countries. The story seems very realistic in terms of how people lived and the harsh times faced by poor people. This is very well written and visualised. I just waited for something to happen. Maybe, we are all spoiled that there should be a good 'action' story within. I could see this book being more interesting as a non-fiction story of the times.
There is an involvement of William Blake in the story. I don't know so much about him, so have to read up. He was a British poet, painter and printmaker and was considered slightly mad during his life-time, but is now considered as one of the 100 Greatest Britons (place 38). How times change! In the novel he becomes a friend of Maggie, Jem and his sister, and Chevalier, through him, introduces some philosophical discussions in the novel.
We follow these characters and others around them for about a year. It highlights the time during the French revolution and how it might effect England and a possible war between the two countries. The story seems very realistic in terms of how people lived and the harsh times faced by poor people. This is very well written and visualised. I just waited for something to happen. Maybe, we are all spoiled that there should be a good 'action' story within. I could see this book being more interesting as a non-fiction story of the times.
naomistrange's review against another edition
2.0
This book was ok. Yes, just "ok." I have read a few of her other books (Virgin Blue and Girl With a Pearl Earring) and I was much more impressed with those. The writing in Burning Bright was sub-par and the storyline was lame, at best. I could have done without it, but since it was so easy to read I just pushed thru until the end. Should probably be classified as "young adult".
tharina's review against another edition
3.0
If you read this because you are interested in William Blake, you're likely to be a little disappointed. Burning Bright focused far more on the other characters.
lyricallit's review against another edition
4.0
As a fan of Girl With A Pearl Earring and The Lady and the Unicorn , I knew I'd want to explore Chevalier's foray into weaving a historical fiction of the Artist As Writer. I read a review somewhere that mentioned that the story would be just as engaging without Blake, and I must say I agree. Blake is an interesting connection, but he is really more of a background color to this tangled tapestry. I enjoyed the length of this novel; I feel that Chevalier took more time developing characters and drawing the audience into her world, rather than tossing us in altogether. Blake is such a unique and complicated individual that he would either have to overshadow everyone or otherwise receive only passing glances. To credit Chevalier, she goes with the latter, focusing instead on her own characters.
The ending is not necessarily unsurprising, yet it is not a shock, either. It leaves just enough to the imagination to satisfy the reader to do whatever he/she will with it. As a reader, I prefer to have some strong conclusion in a story, be it positive or negative (although I'm a sucker for a "happy ending"). I am not opposed to an unresolved ending, but it is more than just ending with a question mark; there is an art to the open conclusion, and I think Chevalier mastered that.
The ending is not necessarily unsurprising, yet it is not a shock, either. It leaves just enough to the imagination to satisfy the reader to do whatever he/she will with it. As a reader, I prefer to have some strong conclusion in a story, be it positive or negative (although I'm a sucker for a "happy ending"). I am not opposed to an unresolved ending, but it is more than just ending with a question mark; there is an art to the open conclusion, and I think Chevalier mastered that.
stefhyena's review against another edition
5.0
This book won me over. I felt like objecting to the essentialist way (hetero) sexuality of teenagers was portrayed early on as well as what appeared to me to be an idealisation of the circus and of poor working class lives, however the book managed to start there at the "common sense" level and delve deeper on all of those issues.
I hope this is not a spoiler but one of the things I loved was the way it was peppered with fallen women and even a murderess. All the females were outwardly innocent little girls but really managed to survive horrendous things and retain their agency. There's a long drawn out scene where a young girl loses her "virginity" and normally that sort of thing would have me throw a book across a room but it's complex enough in this book and neither glamorised not is she turned into a victim or not completely. I've never been a fan of Blake (the poet) but this book made me reconsider him without fully being a convert to his ideas. It seemed well researched from a historical perspective too but the complexity was the best things. This is not poverty porn about everybody loves each other and all works out in the end, it has really awful hardship and uncertainty and a lot of conflict even among the likeable characters (which not all of them are). What has stayed with me is an image of two pregnant girls giggling together, I thought that was beautiful, balancing the reality (that they were "ruined" according to the standards of the day) and hope grounded in connection.
I also warmed to the romance I initially didn't want to see and felt frustrated at how hard it was for the two to continue it.
Characters are complex, moral ambiguity abounds, there is grit and mustard dust, and illness from pollution and STIs but somehow this book comes through wholesome and humanising. Also I learned something about buttons and chairs that I found interesting!
I hope this is not a spoiler but one of the things I loved was the way it was peppered with fallen women and even a murderess. All the females were outwardly innocent little girls but really managed to survive horrendous things and retain their agency. There's a long drawn out scene where a young girl loses her "virginity" and normally that sort of thing would have me throw a book across a room but it's complex enough in this book and neither glamorised not is she turned into a victim or not completely. I've never been a fan of Blake (the poet) but this book made me reconsider him without fully being a convert to his ideas. It seemed well researched from a historical perspective too but the complexity was the best things. This is not poverty porn about everybody loves each other and all works out in the end, it has really awful hardship and uncertainty and a lot of conflict even among the likeable characters (which not all of them are). What has stayed with me is an image of two pregnant girls giggling together, I thought that was beautiful, balancing the reality (that they were "ruined" according to the standards of the day) and hope grounded in connection.
I also warmed to the romance I initially didn't want to see and felt frustrated at how hard it was for the two to continue it.
Characters are complex, moral ambiguity abounds, there is grit and mustard dust, and illness from pollution and STIs but somehow this book comes through wholesome and humanising. Also I learned something about buttons and chairs that I found interesting!
djrmelvin's review against another edition
3.0
If this had been Chevalier's first novel, it would have been pretty good. But coming after the almost perfect Girl With Pearl Earing, this story seems flat and forced. It's as if the author decided she wanted to do this time period, found a historical figure (William Blake) to write around, and failed to come up with an actual story that involved that character. The sense of time and place is good, but the story about the country family trying to make it in London goes no where. It's a narrative without a purpose.
xdroot's review against another edition
3.0
a bit dull. evocative of the age, but didn't show much of william blake (supposedly the point of the book).