A Book Review

I promise this is dollhouse related........ (at least sort of)

Since at this point I'm not expecting to have much to update you on on any of the current projects, as I'm waiting for things that I've ordered to get here before I move on for the most part, I thought I'd take the opportunity to give a little review of a book I read recently. 

The Miniaturist
by Jessie Burton

I was drawn to this, of course, by the title.  I had actually seen it in a couple different places, but kept passing it over for other choices (oh BTW in case you didn't know I am a huger reader... I love books!).  But a couple weeks ago when I was at the bookstore looking for some new books, it was on one of their "highlight" displays so I decided to go ahead and get it.

I have to say that this book didn't turn out to be quite what I was expecting it to be, but not for the worse by any means.  In fact, by the end I had trouble putting it down. But I'm getting ahead of myself......

Set in Amsterdam in the late 17th century, the book follows the story of Nella, a teenager from the country, as she tries to adjust to her new life as the wife of a prominent merchant, but she finds that that life isn't quite what she expected it to be. As a wedding present her new husband gifts her with an unfurnished miniature version of their house, and she begins the process of furnishing and decorating the cabinet house and the miniature pieces she receives, begin to eerily mirror surprising aspects of the real life household she is now a part of.

I have to admit that the first few chapters of the book didn't really grab me, but the promise of all the miniatures kept me reading and boy am I glad it did.  For one, I did really love all the descriptions of the fabulous miniatures that arrived for the the grand cabinet house throughout the book.  At the beginning of the book I really had almost a claustrophobic feeling towards the book and how narrow the bounds of the narrative were, but looking back I think that was intentional.  As the story progresses we, along with Nella, are let into the secrets of her new household and family, and there's a growing sense of anxiety and expectancy, spiraling towards the climax of the story and one more shocking revelation.  Throughout all of the developing drama, is an undercurrent of the almost magical mystery of the miniatures arriving to fill the cabinet house and the mystery of the identity of their creator.

Defintely worth the read for Miniatures lovers, history lovers (there are some great tidbits about life in Amsterdam near the end of the 1600s), and those who like a book full of mystery, surprises and suspense.