The Miniaturist
(The Miniaturist #1)
By Jesse Burton
Published Year : 2014 (by Picador)
Page count: 425 Pages
Medium Used: Paperback
Genre : Suspense, Supernatural, Religion, Church, Court Room Drama, 2024-read.
Rating : 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Verdict : I liked and enjoyed reading this. It is quite suspenseful and gloomy at times. The world building is immaculate. Characters are very well developed. The writing felt a bit unpracticed and amateurish.
Nella is eighteen years old. She just got married and moves to her husband's house in Amsterdam,Netherlands from Assendelft,Netherlands. He lives with his sister, Marin who is a spinster and a very secretive character. What Marin professes to the world and what she practices are quite different/opposite. Like the multiple layers of cloth she wears, truth with her comes in different shades and layers. The household has two servants - Cornelia, who was taken in as an orphan and Otto, who was bought as a servant. They both have been working since they were very young and are privy to all the family's secrets and burrowed skeletons.
Amsterdam,in 1686 - 87, was a place where people were constantly snooping on the affairs of their neighbors and it was odd for people to live in seclusion. There was also an entanglement between church and government such that people are punished for their sins commited against the Church. There was a swift and brutal judgement against those who commit these sins, with little tolerance from court. In such a world, Marin, her brother Johannes and the servants have some deep, dark secrets to keep. They practically live cut off from the world and put on an external show of piety, adherence to church and its teachings.
Nella doesn't know what she was getting into and she slowly unfurls the secrets everyone is trying to keep from her. She is also guided by small, miniature artifacts sent to her from a strange Miniaturist who seems to know all the hidden stuff and also can predict future from the toys she sends over. Initially, she feels shock and dissolution but slowly comes to rely on what the pieces and the miniaturist is trying to convey. Its all eerie and portentous. The predictions make sense when seen in retrospect. The Miniaturist apparently has been sending these types of artifacts to many women in the city and why she is doing it or who she is remain unknown. She is another odd character that can "look into the souls " of people.
I was quite surprised at how adept Nella is in dealing with the strenuous times and ill fated experiences her new family are going through. I felt there must have been more exposure on the person who is the Miniaturist .. like get details on who she is and what she gains from what she does, her intentions and proclivities.
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