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mediaevalmuse 's review for:
The Miniaturist
by Jessie Burton
I was in the mood for historical fiction, and this book caught my eye. I haven't read a lot of books about 17th century Amsterdam, and the premise was eerie enough to intrigue me. A potentially spooky dollhouse? Sign me up! Unfortunately, this book fell flat for me in a number of ways. Not only did the narrative structure feel off, but I got the feeling that the author didn't quite know what they wanted this book to be. A commentary on the patriarchy? A struggle against religious oppression? A subtle supernatural tale? I wasn't quite sure, so it felt like it was trying to do too much yet nothing at all. For those reasons, this book only gets 3 stars from me.
Writing: Burton's prose is quick and engaging without feeling too rushed. It generally balances showing and telling well, and there are some evocative images that make the world feel rich and inviting. I particularly liked the descriptions of the canals, the smells of the house, and the small details such as dog hair being embedded in the carpet.
However, I do think Burton made some choices that didn't quite resonate with me. For one, she repeats some images or phrases or ideas to the point of irritation; for example, we're reminded multiple times that the servants in Amsterdam are more open and bold than the ones in the country, and we're told over and over again that Nell, our protagonist, longs for physical intimacy and (eventually) a child. While all well and good, I think Burton missed opportunities to show rather than tell in many instances. There was no sense of longing or angst, and I wish I was invited to feel those emotions along with our characters (rather than being informed of them).
Moreover, I felt like the choice to narrate the story in the present tense had the tendency to keep characters at arm's length. While the sentences flowed well and I never felt lost or confused, I also felt like I was struggling to connect with the characters, and I think that might be because of the style.
Plot: The plot of this book follows Nella Oortman, an 18 year old girl from the country as she attempts to adjust to married life in Amsterdam. Nella has married a wealthy merchant named Johannes Brandt, in part to help pay her family's debts. When she arrives at his house in Amsterdam, however, she finds that her husband is distant, and her sister-in-law is intent on keeping control over the house herself. You see, the Brandts are in the middle of negotiating the sale of a warehouse full of sugar, provided by the Meermans (who own a plantation in Surinam). For some unknown reason, Johannes is failing to sell the sugar, putting the family's finances in peril. All this is made more complicated when Johannes buys Nella an expensive, cabinet-sized replica of their house as a wedding gift. Wanting to exert some agency over her own "house," Nella orders a set of miniatures from a local craftsman, but when they show up more detailed and more "prophetic" than anticipated, Nella decides to get to the bottom of it.
Overall, I thought this plot was a little meandering and somewhat off-pace. While some of the individual threads were intriguing, I didn't feel like they came together to form a complete tapestry. Instead, I felt like the novel was trying to juggle too many things, yet all the while, the pace felt slow because there were many scenes in which the suspense was frustratingly obscure or eclipsed by more mundane events or descriptions.
I also didn't quite feel like Burton herself knew what she wanted the book to be about, and as a result, it felt like there were a few shallow attempts at a message. At one point, it seemed like Burton was trying to craft a feminist message about how a woman could be more than a wife and mother, but at another point, it seemed like she was more interested in religious persecution. Turn around again and there was a tepid exploration of race and racism, and later, a message about how society imprisons people (like women and lgbt+ folks) and makes them act in desperate ways.
All these threads could have been tied together more strongly, I think, if more emphasis was put on the cabinet house and the miniatures. As it stands, the mystery of the miniaturist feels like an afterthought until maybe 50% of the way through the book, and with all the eerie coincidences that happen with the minis and Nella's life, I think Burton could have made it much more central. The best aspects of the miniaturist plotline were moments when Nella would notice something odd about her minis and then try to figure out what it meant. If the foreshadowing of the minis had been the main driver of the narrative, I think a lot of the plot would have come together in a much more suspenseful way.
Characters: Nella, our protagonist, is fairly sympathetic in that she is thrust into womanhood and not given much agency, but that sympathy can get a little grating. Part of Nella's arc seemed to involve finding the courage to dictate her own life, and while I enjoyed that aspect, I do wish it had been developed at a more steady pace. As it stands, Nella seems to wander about somewhat aimlessly until maybe halfway or so through the book (maybe later), and then she starts to take matters into her own hands. I wish the narrative had interrogated her own beliefs a bit harder, especially her views on womanhood, agency, and morality.
Johannes, Nella's husband, is somewhat likeable in that he's kind and hardworking, yet he could be careless to the point of frustration. He's also too forgiving of people who betray him, and his arc left me a little disappointed. If his end had meant something - like a point about how society tears down people who are different to preserve its own power - then I might have felt a little more satisfied, but after finishing the book, I just felt empty.
Marin, Johannes's sister, is a bit more interesting in that she wields power without being married, thereby challenging some of Nella's beliefs about womanhood. I wish Burton had explored their dynamic a little more, especially since Marin's arc involved a lot of outward piety yet hidden secrets; I couldn't quite tell if Marin was supposed to be hypocritical or if she was in some way covering for her family, and given her end, I wish Burton had crafted a stronger message.
Cornelia, the maid, was perhaps my favorite as she was fiercely loyal, kindhearted, and unafraid to stand for what she thought was right. I liked that she was willing to go toe to toe with people who disrespected her friend, a black servant named Otto, and that she was hellbent on saving children from orphanages, when she could.
Perhaps the biggest disappointments were the characters of Otto and the Miniaturist. Otto is a black man working as Johannes's servant, and while he is not a slave, Amsterdam is clearly unaccepting of him. Given his importance in the way the plot comes together, I wish Otto had more of a developed character arc, and I would have loved to see more of his perspective, perhaps tying it in to the idea of society being oppressive and how people need to write their own stories.
The Miniaturist, too, was something of a ghostly spectre, and once their identity was revealed, the enthusiasm for their arc kind of dried up. I think I would have enjoyed their character more if we never found out who they were or what their background was, as the almost supernatural elements of the novel were spookier without that knowledge.
TL;DR: The Miniaturist is a novel with an intriguing setting and an exciting premise, offering an eerie dollhouse at the center of an almost gothic tale. But while there are a lot of things that Burton does right (like creating a mystery, injecting the supernatural, etc), I ultimately found that the individual threats of the plot didn't come together in a satisfying way, and the lack of a strong overall message left me wanting.
Writing: Burton's prose is quick and engaging without feeling too rushed. It generally balances showing and telling well, and there are some evocative images that make the world feel rich and inviting. I particularly liked the descriptions of the canals, the smells of the house, and the small details such as dog hair being embedded in the carpet.
However, I do think Burton made some choices that didn't quite resonate with me. For one, she repeats some images or phrases or ideas to the point of irritation; for example, we're reminded multiple times that the servants in Amsterdam are more open and bold than the ones in the country, and we're told over and over again that Nell, our protagonist, longs for physical intimacy and (eventually) a child. While all well and good, I think Burton missed opportunities to show rather than tell in many instances. There was no sense of longing or angst, and I wish I was invited to feel those emotions along with our characters (rather than being informed of them).
Moreover, I felt like the choice to narrate the story in the present tense had the tendency to keep characters at arm's length. While the sentences flowed well and I never felt lost or confused, I also felt like I was struggling to connect with the characters, and I think that might be because of the style.
Plot: The plot of this book follows Nella Oortman, an 18 year old girl from the country as she attempts to adjust to married life in Amsterdam. Nella has married a wealthy merchant named Johannes Brandt, in part to help pay her family's debts. When she arrives at his house in Amsterdam, however, she finds that her husband is distant, and her sister-in-law is intent on keeping control over the house herself. You see, the Brandts are in the middle of negotiating the sale of a warehouse full of sugar, provided by the Meermans (who own a plantation in Surinam). For some unknown reason, Johannes is failing to sell the sugar, putting the family's finances in peril. All this is made more complicated when Johannes buys Nella an expensive, cabinet-sized replica of their house as a wedding gift. Wanting to exert some agency over her own "house," Nella orders a set of miniatures from a local craftsman, but when they show up more detailed and more "prophetic" than anticipated, Nella decides to get to the bottom of it.
Overall, I thought this plot was a little meandering and somewhat off-pace. While some of the individual threads were intriguing, I didn't feel like they came together to form a complete tapestry. Instead, I felt like the novel was trying to juggle too many things, yet all the while, the pace felt slow because there were many scenes in which the suspense was frustratingly obscure or eclipsed by more mundane events or descriptions.
I also didn't quite feel like Burton herself knew what she wanted the book to be about, and as a result, it felt like there were a few shallow attempts at a message. At one point, it seemed like Burton was trying to craft a feminist message about how a woman could be more than a wife and mother, but at another point, it seemed like she was more interested in religious persecution. Turn around again and there was a tepid exploration of race and racism, and later, a message about how society imprisons people (like women and lgbt+ folks) and makes them act in desperate ways.
All these threads could have been tied together more strongly, I think, if more emphasis was put on the cabinet house and the miniatures. As it stands, the mystery of the miniaturist feels like an afterthought until maybe 50% of the way through the book, and with all the eerie coincidences that happen with the minis and Nella's life, I think Burton could have made it much more central. The best aspects of the miniaturist plotline were moments when Nella would notice something odd about her minis and then try to figure out what it meant. If the foreshadowing of the minis had been the main driver of the narrative, I think a lot of the plot would have come together in a much more suspenseful way.
Characters: Nella, our protagonist, is fairly sympathetic in that she is thrust into womanhood and not given much agency, but that sympathy can get a little grating. Part of Nella's arc seemed to involve finding the courage to dictate her own life, and while I enjoyed that aspect, I do wish it had been developed at a more steady pace. As it stands, Nella seems to wander about somewhat aimlessly until maybe halfway or so through the book (maybe later), and then she starts to take matters into her own hands. I wish the narrative had interrogated her own beliefs a bit harder, especially her views on womanhood, agency, and morality.
Johannes, Nella's husband, is somewhat likeable in that he's kind and hardworking, yet he could be careless to the point of frustration. He's also too forgiving of people who betray him, and his arc left me a little disappointed. If his end had meant something - like a point about how society tears down people who are different to preserve its own power - then I might have felt a little more satisfied, but after finishing the book, I just felt empty.
Marin, Johannes's sister, is a bit more interesting in that she wields power without being married, thereby challenging some of Nella's beliefs about womanhood. I wish Burton had explored their dynamic a little more, especially since Marin's arc involved a lot of outward piety yet hidden secrets; I couldn't quite tell if Marin was supposed to be hypocritical or if she was in some way covering for her family, and given her end, I wish Burton had crafted a stronger message.
Cornelia, the maid, was perhaps my favorite as she was fiercely loyal, kindhearted, and unafraid to stand for what she thought was right. I liked that she was willing to go toe to toe with people who disrespected her friend, a black servant named Otto, and that she was hellbent on saving children from orphanages, when she could.
Perhaps the biggest disappointments were the characters of Otto and the Miniaturist. Otto is a black man working as Johannes's servant, and while he is not a slave, Amsterdam is clearly unaccepting of him. Given his importance in the way the plot comes together, I wish Otto had more of a developed character arc, and I would have loved to see more of his perspective, perhaps tying it in to the idea of society being oppressive and how people need to write their own stories.
The Miniaturist, too, was something of a ghostly spectre, and once their identity was revealed, the enthusiasm for their arc kind of dried up. I think I would have enjoyed their character more if we never found out who they were or what their background was, as the almost supernatural elements of the novel were spookier without that knowledge.
TL;DR: The Miniaturist is a novel with an intriguing setting and an exciting premise, offering an eerie dollhouse at the center of an almost gothic tale. But while there are a lot of things that Burton does right (like creating a mystery, injecting the supernatural, etc), I ultimately found that the individual threats of the plot didn't come together in a satisfying way, and the lack of a strong overall message left me wanting.