crabbygirl reviewed The Miniaturist: A Novel by Jessie Burton
Review of 'The Miniaturist' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I get the sense that Burton is trying to tell us something here but her message never becomes clear. Her main characters are all underclassed in some way: the former slave, the orphan turned servant, the closeted gay man, the bought wife/beard who is overwhelmed by her new circumstance, even the rich sister has a mark upon her as she is unmarried. Everyone supposedly trapped by the constraints of the social order and/or the church. If this was Burton's point, then some of the characters are more deserving of their fates. Johannes in particular (the gay man) thinks himself untouchable until he finds himself betrayed twice by not even someone he loves (no, he is merely the reflection in a mirror of what love is?? like, if the character was going to be gay and lose everything in being true to himself, a bit more love and a bit less …
I get the sense that Burton is trying to tell us something here but her message never becomes clear. Her main characters are all underclassed in some way: the former slave, the orphan turned servant, the closeted gay man, the bought wife/beard who is overwhelmed by her new circumstance, even the rich sister has a mark upon her as she is unmarried. Everyone supposedly trapped by the constraints of the social order and/or the church. If this was Burton's point, then some of the characters are more deserving of their fates. Johannes in particular (the gay man) thinks himself untouchable until he finds himself betrayed twice by not even someone he loves (no, he is merely the reflection in a mirror of what love is?? like, if the character was going to be gay and lose everything in being true to himself, a bit more love and a bit less sex might have softened the judgement. as it stands, he seems content to rut in every port)
or maybe Burton's intended message was about free-will versus destiny as she creates a magical-realism miniaturist who can either predict or decide the future only to have Nella (our protagonist) destroy her cabinet house and contents in an attempt to wrest control from this magical, never-seen, character. Oh, and weirdly this miniaturist has been interfering with many other households but it's only Nella's relationship with her that matters?
whatever Burton was attempting, she was not successful. The characters act in unexplained ways. The ending doesn't reveal how the miniaturist could see the future or the minute details of furniture in other people's homes. And there is no explanation at how the household of man-less women were going to survive without Johannes' income.
