Tulip Fever
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Amazon.co.uk Review
The Amsterdam of the early 17th century has been forever immortalised by the serene, precise domestic realism of the canvases of Vermeer and Rembrandt, and has been studied with meticulous care by Simon Schama in his marvellous book The Embarrassment of Riches. What Schama identified at the heart of the opulent display of conspicuous consumption in Dutch still-life painting was an anxiety about wealth and commodification which ran throughout 17th-century life in the Low Countries, an argument beautifully complemented by Ann Pavord's marvellous book on The Tulip.
Deborah Moggach's novel Tulip Fever gives both Schama and Pavord's studies a compelling fictional twist. Set in 1630s Amsterdam, it begins with a typical Renaissance love triangle: a wealthy, elderly merchant, Cornelis Sandvoort, his beautiful but frustrated young wife Sophia and the painter who enters their life, Jan van Loos. Commissioned to paint the happy couple's portrait, Jan becomes embroiled in a series of emotional and financial speculations which are to change the character's lives forever. Interspersed with 16 beautifully reproduced Dutch paintings, Tulip Fever is a delightfully conceived story which offers a new dimension to what really goes on within the apparently placid domestic interiors of such canvases. --Jerry Brotton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
" Beautifully written, a verbal kaleidoscope that flicks rapidly through vivid sensual experience."
--"The Independent on Sunday"
" Spirited and ingenious...Clever, spry, and sad in equal measure."
--"The Telegraph"
" Moggach reproduces the coded language of 17th-century Dutch art with subtle artfulness. At the same time, she tells a truly thrilling love story."
--"The Financial Times"
" Moggach's writing is as vivid as a splash of Vermeer's lemon yellow."
--"The Times"
" A gorgeous novel: both funny and tragic, full of sharply drawn characters and equally sharp insight into the transforming power of love--which can be as destructive as it is addictive."
--"The Mail"
--"The Independent on Sunday"
" Spirited and ingenious...Clever, spry, and sad in equal measure."
--"The Telegraph"
" Moggach reproduces the coded language of 17th-century Dutch art with subtle artfulness. At the same time, she tells a truly thrilling love story."
--"The Financial Times"
" Moggach's writing is as vivid as a splash of Vermeer's lemon yellow."
--"The Times"
" A gorgeous novel: both funny and tragic, full of sharply drawn characters and equally sharp insight into the transforming power of love--which can be as destructive as it is addictive."
--"The Mail"
"From the Hardcover edition."
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
irritatingly obvious,
By A Customer
This review is from: Tulip Fever (Paperback)
Moggach gives away her ending in a very unsophisticated way. Her build up to the final denoument is annoyingly obvious which makes the text at times almost unreadable. Her writing is languid but not very evocative and her characters - although given a voice each - remain bidimensional and very limited in both emotional scope and intensity. On the whole a disappointing read.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Is that it?,
By A Customer
This review is from: Tulip Fever (Paperback)
As a few of the other reviewers have already said I believed the hype and bought this book. What a disappointment. I have always believed the cardinal sin of reading was skipping bits, but I don't think I'd be here today if I hadn't skimmed over paragraphs in this turgid book. The narrative is plain boring and the "romance" passionless and unbelievable. I actually made it to the final page and the ending just about reached the heights of a Mills and Boon pot-boiler. Does anyone else feel that reviewers are afraid to say what a book is really like when the general consensus is that only gushing praise will do ?
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best novel I've read this year,
By A Customer
This review is from: Tulip Fever (Paperback)
Totally brilliant! This is a perfect book. It's literary, elegant and thought-provoking (you also learn a lot about the period) but is written in a simple, page-turning style that keeps you on the edge of your seat as much as any modern thriller. Centring on a love triangle, the plot has twists and turns that make your heart beat, as it hurtles towards an ending that is simultaneously tragic and farcical. I had thought that Deborah Moggach just wrote trashy Aga Sagas but I think she has finally found a chance to show off her true genius (maybe a few of the other ChickLit novelists should follow!). I can't wait to see what she produces next.The novel also includes quotes and, unusually, beautiful coloured illustrations of paintings of the period, giving you a real sense of atmosphere.
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