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Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 2.0 / 5.0
Not a good book I have never read any Tracy Chevalier before, and after this book I never want to. I thought it was badly written and the story was boring. As for William Blake, to be honest including him was pointless, just trying to cash in on a formula. The Blake character could have been just any neighbour. To be fair it wasn't hard to read, and 18th century London was well portrayed, but if it hadn't been for Book Club, I wouldn't have bothered finishing it.
Lame I was so looking forward to this book I carried it back to Buenos Aires savouring its safe position in my suitcase (books in English are hard to come by unless Ludlum, Follet et al).
I was so disappointed. I kept waiting for some semblance of a story to get started but nothing happens. Lame is the only word to apply and having studied William Blake, I really expected more than the passing mentions she accords him. His position in the story is far from central and the historical background is not... more info
Tracy tries too hard? This novel should be renamed Tracy Chevalier: What I've Learned About Eighteenth Century London and the Dorset Piddles.
In each of her previous novels, Chevalier evokes the relevant period so effortlessly that you feel as if you're there too. In contrast, Burning Bright is stuffed some way past bursting point with what I felt was heavy-handed and self-conscious period detail. In particular, the scene where Maggie and Jem follow the Blakes across London appears to have been written so that she can show... more info
Neither burning nor bright Girl With A Pearl Earring gave an insight into Vermeer's life, working methods and the period in which he lived. Burning Bright, on the other hand, imparts very little about Blake, other than to recite excerpts from some of his works. The main story line revolves around Jem and Maggie, who wander around the streets of London a lot. Does one really get a feel for 'a city jittery over the increasingly bloody French Revolution' ? Grimy streets - yes, political atmosphere - no (except for one mob outside... more info
