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Liked It3 of 3 members found this review helpful “I am awfully hard on some writers for sticking to a recipe for success, but I keep enjoying Chevalier's books. This one imagines the artist who created the plan for the unicorn tapestries, and he weavers who actually created them. She blends art history with imagined situations - an arrogant...” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It1 of 2 members found this review helpful “BORING. And at times even embarrassing.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“A similar conceit to The Girl with a Pearl Earring, but less of a charcater study and more of a period piece. It worked for me since I'm interested in Medieval France, but I'm not sure it would work for someone who wasn't.”
Sylvie wrote this review yesterday. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I have completed The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. I did not like it as much as I liked The Virgin Blue, but I still found it enjoyable.
Dana Huff wrote this review yesterday. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
It was interesting to learn how tapestries were made. I have never given thought to the months or even years of work involved. On her website, Chevalier has included images of the tapestries that inspired the novel. They are beautiful. I think I have seen a reproduction of at least one of them before.
This novel is different from The Virgin Blue in that it is set entirely in the past — the late Middle Ages (1490-1492). The Virgin Blue is set in two times: the present and 400 years in the past. I will say that I think Chevalier does her research well. She carefully renders her setting so you know you are in the past without letting it overwhelm the plot. That’s not easy to do — I allowed myself to get carried away describing the setting in my own book. It’s hard, because on the one hand, you want to prove that the characters are really in the past, so you show the reader — look, see this detail? On the other, all the reader really needs is a feeling and his/her imagination can do the rest.
I absolutely detested one of the main characters, Nicolas des Innocents. I thought him a lecherous rake who cared nothing for anyone but himself. He was a preening peacock of a man. I couldn’t feel badly for him at all when he suffered disappointments. In fact, I found myself feeling glad and thinking it served him right. Actually, I didn’t like many of the characters. The weaving family in Brussels were probably my favorite characters. I liked Ali�nor, but that was because she was strong and intelligent without being snotty. I think that Claude was snotty, and I honestly didn’t feel sorry for her when she was disappointed either. Regina Marler’s Amazon review makes it sound like the reader might actually root for Nicolas and Claude: “Their passion is impossible for their world — so forbidden, given their class differences, that its only avenue of expression turns out to be those magnificent tapestries.” In truth, I couldn’t see that there was much passion between them — at least not any more than Nicolas showed toward every other female who crossed his path. If it had been requited, Nicolas would have discovered, I think, that he didn’t care any more for Claude than he did the multitude of other women he had sex with. Ultimately, the main characters in this story are the tapestries themselves. I found myself wanting to read on to see how they fared. The weavers worked at a frenzied pace to finish on time. I didn’t feel Jean Le Viste appreciated the work that went into them at all. If anyone did, I think it might have been L�on Le Vieux, who worked with Jean Le Viste on the commission, even though he never outwardly expressed appreciation for them. I don’t know why, but that’s the feeling I get.
I would read another book by Chevalier. Her writing is very good. Very well researched. I don’t know why she doesn’t make her characters more sympathetic. It is a good writer who gives her characters flaws to make them human and accessible. But I think she takes it a little too far. Her characters have too many warts to make me love them. I didn’t feel this way about most of the characters in The Virgin Blue. I’m willing to give Girl with a Pearl Earring a try.
Addendum (7:35 P.M.): I have just realized where I’ve seen the tapestries in this book before. They decorate the Gryffindor Common Room in the Harry Potter movies. I’m kicking myself for not picking that out right away. Oh well.”
“My ultimate Tracy Chevalier favorite.”
Raisil wrote this review 7 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Interesting story. I like these stories of art works that I am familiar with.”
Sarah B wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I
Janneke H wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
n het eerste hoofdstuk vertelt de ambitieuze en vaak ook arrogante schilder en vrouwenversierder Nicolas des Innocents hoe hij bij Jean Le Viste geroepen wordt voor een opdracht. Jean Le Viste wil dat hij een aantal tapijten ontwerpt. Aanvankelijk had hij een veldslag in gedachte, maar hij gaat uiteindelijk akkoord met het voorstel van Nicolas (die hiertoe min of meer voor het blok gezet werd door Le Vistes vrouw, die een meer spirituele voorstelling wenst) om er voorstellingen met jonkvrouwen en eenhoorns van te maken mits het familiewapen van de Le Vistes daarin een prominente rol vervult. Al bij zijn eerste bezoek ontmoet hij Claude, de oudste dochter van Le Viste. Snel ontvlambaar als hij is probeert hij haar te verleiden.
Nadat de ontwerpen (met een voorstelling waarop Claude duidelijk herkenbaar is) goedgekeurd zijn brengt Nicolas ze zelf naar de weverij van Georges de la Chapelle in Brussel om er op toe te zien dat zijn ontwerpen niet wezenlijk veranderen. (het is normaal dat wevers er dingen aan toe voegen zoals bloemen, bomen, dieren en figuren om de achtergrond te vullen). In Brussel kent het gezin de la Chapelle zijn eigen moeilijkheden. Georges is gevallen voor het ontwerp van de jonkvrouwen en de eenhoorn, maar het kost hem ondanks het harde werken de grootste moeite de tapijten op tijd klaar te hebben. Zijn vrouw moet zelfs achter het weeftoestel plaatsnemen, iets wat door het gilde streng verboden is. En dan zijn er de moeilijkheden rondom zijn blinde dochter Aliénor, die beloofd is aan een zakenrelatie die zij verfoeit. Tot grote ongerustheid van haar ouders kan Nicolas tijdens zijn verschillende bezoeken zijn ogen niet van haar afhouden, maar het brengt Aliénor op een idee om het ongewenste huwelijk te voorkomen.
Ondertussen valt het in Parijs niet mee om Claude, die niet afkerig is van Nicolas, in toom te houden. Zozeer zelfs dat haar moeder besluit haar tot haar verloving met een rijke edelman naar een klooster te sturen.
De roman is opgebouwd uit verschillende hoofdstukken waarin telkens één van de personages de ik verteller is. Al deze bijdragen zijn losse draadjes die samen - net als de draden in een tapijt - uiteindelijk het hele boek vormen. Een mooie en knappe compositie, maar toch is de verteltrant en toonzetting bij alle figuren hetzelfde. En dat vind ik jammer, wat variatie had het volgens mij net allemaal wat pittiger gemaakt. Maar hoe dan ook, het geeft wel inzicht in de productie methode en andere wetenswaardigheden van een tapijt, ( bijvoorbeeld dat een wever zijn “handtekening”op het tapijt zet, meestal een dier of een bloem, in dit geval was het een konijntje met een opgeheven pootje). Ook hoe veeleisend het werk is en hoe de sociale verhoudingen in die tijd zijn. En zoals vaker in de boeken van Tracy Chevalier is er bijzondere aandacht voor de rol van vrouwen in die tijd.
Zie ook http://www.tchevalier.com/unicorn/index.html
”
“ Tracy Chevalier is most well known for her book, “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, an imaginary account of what it was like when the artist Johannes Vermeer painted…”Girl with a Pearl Earring” in sixteenth-century Holland. “The Lady and the Unicorn” uses a lot of the same elements as “Girl with a Pearl Earring”. The book is set in fifteenth century France, around the making of the actual tapestries depicting a noblewoman’s seduction of a unicorn.
Ella P wrote this review Saturday, November 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The Lady and the Unicorn” is also an imaginary account by multiple people who were in some way connected to the tapestries- from the weavers to the buyers of the tapestries. The book starts out with the artist who designed the tapestries, Nicolas des Innocents, visiting the noble family, the Le Vistes, who are to buy the tapestries. Nicolas’ first conception of the tapestries are of a woman being seduced by a unicorn, but the plans change as the book goes on and the reader meets new characters who each have a thing or two to say about the tapestries and their designs. One weaver in a shop in Brussels, Phillipe de la Tour, is assigned to work with the arrogant Nicolas des Innocents: “He is a boaster, that Paris artist…I will say this of Nicolas: His Paris ways may bother me, but he is a fine artist” (79-80). While Nicolas may not be so easy to get along with, the tapestry production goes along smoothly enough and each tapestry progresses to have a sense hidden within it. A tapestry with the unicorn looking at itself in a mirror depicts Sight for instance.
This book is yet another piece of enjoyable historical fiction- anyone with an eye for history or art will benfit from reading this interesting, absorbing book.”“So far, so good.”
millemeter wrote this review Thursday, November 12 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This was another book filled with wonderful narrative. Since I have not seen or studied the actual tapestry which this book is based, I didn't feel a close connection to the story (whereas I did with "Girl with a Pearl Earring"). Upon finishing the book, I was quite intrigued and plan to study the tapestry further on my own. Although the story is pure fiction, the way Chevalier writes such stories, it makes you almost believe that's how it all happened. Quite convincing.”
Alene wrote this review Tuesday, October 13 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I enjoyed this well enough because I enjoy art fiction. ”
Kelly D wrote this review Saturday, October 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“It was just okay. After reading "The Pearl Earring," it was pretty easy to see how this was going to turn out. ”
VG Hemingway wrote this review Saturday, October 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
