Amsterdam, Netherlands

Hello guys! I know that I’ve previously spoken about wanting to explore the world on the blog, as my goals for this year heavily featured wanting to travel and capture memories for years to come. For a few days in April, I celebrated my 25th with my boyfriend in Amsterdam and it was such an experience; after having some issues with the original hotel, we ended up staying in a completely different place and not quite in Amsterdam, but in the overall region so it was easy enough to travel into the center with minimal hassle. As much as I’d read up about the city, I do feel like it’s definitely a busy city to the point that even as a Londoner I was a little overwhelmed! Two things: bikes and strange road layouts. Being from London, I’m used to seeing bicycles but this was to the extreme! Literally thousands of bikes line the streets and because of Holland using left hand drive I was so confused by simply crossing the road at times because of bikes, people, trams and buses being seemingly everywhere. I feel like myself and Piotr managed to pack a lot of activities into 4 days but at the same time, I do wish we had seen more as there’s just so much to see and do in Amsterdam. That being said, I don’t think I’ve taken so many landscape photographs in months; everything about the city just transfers so well into imagery, perfect for good memories!

Arguably the best thing that we did was a Canal tour at sunset; it was such a lovely way to see the city and it was great to hear about the city from a local guide as you learnt not only about Tourist hotspots but also everyday life. We also visited the Rijksmuseum, Tulip Museum, Van Gogh Museum, Red Light District, Sandvoort Gallery (inside Amsterdam Centraal Station), Cheese Museum and the Hash, Marihuana & Museum and Gallery. It doesn’t sound like much, but honestly it felt like a lot alongside various cafés, restaurants and wandering the streets. The Library in the Rijksmuseum literally took my breath away, as did Odelle’s dollhouse, the inspiration for one of my favourite books, The Muse. The museums in general were insanely good. I was disappointed that we couldn’t visit the Anne Frank House as there were no tickets available, but that does feel like a good excuse to revisit the city again as Piotr fell completely in love so I know that we’ll definitely be visiting the city again at some point. We were also there for Kingsday, a celebration of the Kings birthday which results in a massive street party in the centre of Amsterdam with street performers, dancing, drinking, music and more. It was an experience to say the least; the Dutch definitely know how to party hard, whereas I just found it exhausting! The city is so photogenic and there is so much to do that it was completely worth the ridiculous price of food, attractions and travel but if you do visit the city, try and take more money than you’ll think that you will need as it is very expensive, unfortunately. It was a lovely way to spend my birthday and spend time with Piotr; however I’ve definitely caught the travel bug so I can imagine travelling a lot more over the rest of this year, which I’m not sure my bank balance will love, haha. Until my next trip! 

Book Review: The Miniaturist

After reading The Muse by Jessie Burton, I knew that I wanted to read her debut. I wasn’t disappointed, I love the whimsical, yet factual way that she writes. The Miniaturist takes inspiration from one of the many doll’s houses on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Owned by Petronella Oortman, it then corresponds well with the main character of the novel. Nella arrives at her new home, her marital home with only herself and her pet bird, expecting to be greeted by her new husband before seeing only two servants and her new sister-in-law. She’s only just eighteen, but as a reader you have to remind yourself that this is a fairly ordinary situation for a seventeenth century young girl to put in. Her father has died and left her family very poor so as the eldest child, Nella has been expected to marry well to save her siblings. However, her new life seems to be a house full of secrets and not a single person welcomes her, especially not her new husband Johannes. Nella describes how her mother has given her an expectation of what married life will be like, but hers seems to be not at all what she expects, spending every night and many of her days alone and wondering why her husband is rarely at the house.

However, Nella is arguable lucky because she has married into the rich Brandt merchant family so her social standing is relatively high for such a young girl, although that it partly due to the fact that Johannes is at least twenty years older than she is. Johannes commissions a Cabinet (a doll’s house) which is a miniature model of her marital house as a wedding gift and she is given money from Marin, her sister-in-law to furnish the cabinet with which is where the Miniaturist becomes a player in the novel. Nella writes and commissions the Miniaturist for a few items, which she receives; however in the coming months she begins receiving items that she didn’t ask for. Cornelia, the maid and Marin believe the superstitions that miniatures bring bad luck, but Nella believes that they are leading the way, that there is something she must discover from the cryptic clues that she is being given. For such a young girl, Nella has a remarkable amount of strength. She is determined to be a good wife, regardless of what that means or how difficult it is; in time, her household do come to respect her and the decisions that she makes on behalf of them at various points in the novel.

There are many key players in this novel including Nella, Johannes, Cornelia, Marin and finally Otto, the manservant of the house, alongside the Meermans and the Miniaturist. Otto is the one charcter who stands of physically as he is African; there are many descriptions of him being treated differently and Nella is astounded to see him upon her arrival at her marital home. Through the range of characters as readers we witness a variety themes being explored, such as homophobia, sexuality, feminism, racism and sin. Early on, Nella realised that her dreams of having children are unlikely to ever happen and so some of the twists later on in the novel are completely unexpected. The house of secrets slowly unfolds and we are able to witness a range of unexpected events; somehow, over time, Nella does eventually become the official mistress of the house and often takes charge, which showed to the reader just how much she matured as the novel progressed. In fact, it was interested to see how much her character developed from a innocent child to a strong woman in the space of a few hundred pages. Whereas Johannes and Marin seemed to trust Nella more as time went on, almost encouraging her to think and work for herself, to protect their household. 

Overall, I really loved this book; Jessie Burton is a fantastic storyteller and honestly, I was surprised that this is a debut novel as it’s more or less flawlessly devised. However, one issue that I had with this novel is that the ends were not fully tied; too much was left to the readers imagination and on the one hand, that’s enjoyable as it does make you think, but on the other hand it’s also incredibly frustrating as I (and I’m sure many others) wanted full closure after so many tragic events. This novel drew me in very quickly as I loved the writing style and the plot line in general. There were a few discrepancies, however; for example I was fairly confused by where the Miniaturist came into the story, it felt like her character wasn’t really explored or developed enough and so neither was the suggested idea of superstition and witchcraft surrounding her craftsmanship which was a disappointment for me as I found the cabinet to be a key player in the overall plot for the majority of the novel. I suppose, in fairness that this discrepancy also fits with the lack of tying ends; perhaps I was expecting far too much as I enjoyed this novel so much. Even with the few disappointments, it was written beautifully enough that I can happily excuse Burton and encourage anyone reading this review to read this novel as it is a delight. I love the idea that everyone has secrets hidden in plain view.

Book Review: The Muse

 

I seem to be growing a longer book list by the day at the moment, so it was a genuine struggle to decide what to read. I was recommended to read The Muse by Jessie Burton by my mother, who is a Librarian. Some of my favourite ever books have been based on her recommendations so I trust her opinion, but unfortunately I have to admit that the synopsis on the rear of the book wasn't very enticing; after reading the novel I can honestly say that it doesn't do any justice to Burton's imaginative and vivid, poetically rhythmic writing at all. The novel pulled me in incredibly quickly, due to the beautiful writing style. Split between 1960s England and 1930s Spain, using a dual time frame can be a difficult thing to master, but Burton seems to project this style of writing with ease. The main character from 1960s London was incredibly likeable, with her lovely prose and endearing character. As a reader you really got a feel for the racial discrimination that was around at the time, it was nice to see it from a young professional Trinidadian immigrant female, rather than the stereotypical (white) British male. Odelle is a very intelligent character, it's enjoyable to see her manage to break down the class and race barriers that unfortunately existed at that time through her work as a typist for an art gallery. Her intellect also captures her boss, Quick who becomes rapidly fond of her and pushes her to follow her creative strengths.

The characters in the Spanish era were not so easily loveable, the main character Olive came across as a strong willed young girl but also unaware of her own privilege; being indifferent to an offer to study at a prestigious London Art School, instead desperately in love with a Spanish ruffian. She determinedly forces her friends to take credit for her work and deliberately spites her father as she believes he undervalues her as a female artist. Instead of seeing her creativity as her talent, she believes that being in love is the source of her creative achievements. Olive and her family present an interesting set of topics regarding the perception of women in both the creative arts and the world, alongside more niche questions such as why artists create and how inspiration feeds itself upon the artist. 1930s Spain is also on the brink of civil war, which from a readers perspective was an interesting take; there was a slight glorification of war seen through the characters eyes, they never seem to understand the extent of the danger until it is too late. Most of the action is provided in the chapters based in Spain; they're fairly complex and often confusing. Olive's friendships are definitely questionable, as are her relationships with her parents. 

Back in 1960s London, Odelle meets Lawrie at her friends wedding party; having recently inherited a painting after the death of his mother, he takes it to be valued by the Skelton Art Gallery, where Odelle works. Although there is much interest surrounding the painting, Quick is notably flustered and unlike herself upon seeing it. The painting is the key to the dual time frame; it's quite slow going to find out the true connection, but I found that there was more than enough action provided in each storyline to keep the interest in the overall plot well and truly alive. Teresa, a young but sensible person pulls Olive's talent for painting to the forefront of the village, which is mirrored by Quick pushing Odelle to be a published writer; using her influence to get the work published in a magazine. The dual time frame works incredibly well in this novel, because Burton connects the two well, using clues throughout, constantly keeping the reader wondering what the connection truly is and often providing red herrings which result in you being massively misled. All of the characters in both time frames have flaws, acknowledged in various ways. As a reader, the distinguished flaws ensure that the characters are seen as human even if unlikable.

Overall, this novel is one that can only be described as unfathomably well written. The romances found in both the 1930s and the 1960s came across as believable as well as strategic; the plots throughout the novel are not easy to understand and well established to keep the reader guessing by describing some rather catastrophic chains of events in both time frames. The dual time frame really worked for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the journeying back and forth through time and the small snippets of information feeding through at the novel went on. The novel definitely has a strange magnetic charm to it; a tale of love, loss, betrayal and art running through it. The characters are not the most memorable but it is a novel that ties up the loose ends nicely, without a big fuss. Using Odelle as the main narrative writer was very clever, because as a writer herself, a lot of the novel gained momentum through her and her inquisitive nature. This book is a definite recommend for me, as I found it to be both an enjoyable and interesting read, the historical touches were displayed in a creative way that kept me interested, plus the gorgeously written prose is a bonus, as is the beautiful cover art.