The Miniaturist

What made this book a page turner was definitely the way it was written. We are just as clueless as to the motives of all in the house as Nella is when she arrives and we learn with her. The author doesn't give too much information and lets the story unfold naturally which I didn't realize was so rare until reading this book. I also liked that it doesn't end with us knowing exactly why the characters behaved as they did. Again, I I like that it mirrors life where you never truly know the people closest to you. That being said, this book lost a 5 star review by being too vague about the title character and the motives of the miniaturist.

Amsterdam: Where the pendulum swings from God to a guilder.

This started out well but it turned out to be quite a lackluster. The setting was pretty much ruined by unconvincing characters who had unclear, non-nonsensical agendas. Despite having a few major players we barely find anything more meaningful about them, not just their secrets. Their interactions are maybe too superficial and there are more questions that answers at the end, including how the miniaturist knew what would happened in the future or what had already happened but was never revealed to the public.. I was pretty much drawn it by the blurb which clearly oversells the miniaturist and it will probably lead to many people being disapointed. The themes tackled are intriguing but I wasn't sold on the execution despite the fact that the writing style was quite enjoyable.

Beautiful prose, really fascinating story. I had heard a lot about Jessie Burton's books but I was so surprised about how much I liked this one. Highly reccomend to anyone who likes fabulism and poetic writing styles.