This book moves very quickly, and while a lot happens, the plot doesn’t venture too deeply in any one direction: not into the history, not into the setting, not into the characters’ motivations.
I dove into this book because it was about a Dutch widow in 1654 who travels from her very small hometown to Delft and becomes a pottery painter. Obviously, that’s exactly like Regency England and every other historical I’ve read. (Ha. Not.) The book was written in Dutch and then translated into English. I am always curious about novels from other countries that are imported into the US that have romantic elements and focus on women. Midnight Blue did indeed have romantic elements, and did focus on Catrin’s life and experiences. While I was engaged by the story and finished it in one day, and while I am still thinking about it, a lot of my review notes contain caveats and warnings. Every sentence in my notes has a “but….”
Catrin leaves her hometown because of a secret that doesn’t stay secret for long, not to the reader nor to anyone in her very small village. She’s recently widowed, her late husband beat her constantly, and she is ready to move beyond the limited world of her childhood and early marriage. She’s an amateur artist, and after a series of coincidences allows her to find a housekeeper position in the home of a well to do family, she begins spending a few hours a week as a quiet chaperone for the lady of the house’s painting lessons. Her employer is not that talented, but Catrin is – very much so. Her illicit attempt at a painting when her mistress is ill for a day catches the attention of the doctor treating her, and sets off another chain of coincidences.
Chains of coincidence form the bulk of the plot, and Catrin’s story is how she reacts to a coincidence, or how the people around her save her from a terrible fate. The story follows beats of great happiness and contentment, then threat, terror, and sadness, then comfort and peace, then fear and anguish, over and over. The tension goes up and down, up and down, and it often felt exhausting, mostly because I knew whatever happiness Catrin attained at 24% of the book was not sustainable, and sure enough, another event would destroy her world. On one hand, the precariousness of her positions in life seem entirely logical for a woman making her way alone in the world in that setting and that time period. On the other hand, it was exhausting for there to be nonstop yay!/no!/yay!/no! coincidences and happy or unhappy accidents forming the bulk of her development.
Catrin also meets everyone who was anyone at that time, like a Forrest Gump of Dutch art. There’s Vermeer, Rembrandt, a reference to The Goldfinch, a hint of the inspiration behind Girl with a Pearl Earring, and a handful of background characters who did indeed exist. None are particularly vibrant or memorable, and Catrin sort of bounces from encounter to encounter, benefitting from some and narrowly avoiding disaster from others.
The ending of the story I found particularly unsatisfying because it presented a too-easy solution to the romance of sorts that followed Catrin through the entire book. It seemed more like a happy ending based on lust and opportunity than a lasting relationship earned by both parties. The villain of the story is also ludicrously powerful at odd moments, and then too easily vanquished.
I found the history of the setting entirely fascinating, and looked up a pile of words and references as I read, which enriched my mental imaginings of the story and characters. My own Googling gave me more depth to work with than the story did, unfortunately. The book is told, also, in first person present, and that may have contributed to what I interpret as a shallowness of telling. That said, the tense didn’t bother me; often I find first person present very disruptive as a reader, but with this translation, any interruption disappeared after the first sentence.
I found this book to be enjoyable and a very quick read, but also flawed and frustrating. The major moments of Delft history in the 1600s form the influential turning points of the story, and Catrin was much like a pinball, bouncing off historical figures, famous artists, and terrible events in history as she made her way through the story. It was often interesting, sometimes exhausting, historically fascinating, but also unsatisfying in its character development, narrative pace, and resolution. I do like history with my fiction, and I fully comprehend this book is historical fiction and not a romance, but the lack of development of the characters’ inner lives left me wanting more fiction to go with all the history.
While it wasn’t the ideal book for me, I can think of several people I know who love historical fiction and art history who would find Midnight Blue delightful reading. I anticipate I’ll see this book on my local library’s “new reads” table very soon as well. As I said, it might not have been perfect for me, but I suspect I’ll meet a number of people to whom I can happily recommend it.
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Oh my god, I am Dutch and this review is Dutch literature in a nutshell, especially the whole ‘yay! no’ situation. It’s exhausting. The only thing missing from what I can tell are the weird/extremely detailed dipscriptions of sex and/or vagina’s/penii (can we call them that please? It sounds so classy!)
That cover is absolutely gorgeous.
Alas, Latin “penis” is a third-declension i-stem noun (not second-declension o-stem), so I think the plural should be “penes,” not “penii.” Vaginae et penes!
My 14-year-old American/Dutch daughter read this (in Dutch) for a high-school “lit circle” assignment… If it’s being assigned for Dutch high school kids, I’m finding it odd that it’s being ‘sold’ as adult lit in the US… What’s your take on that?
@Deb: That is really interesting. I had no idea, and I’m not sure what to make of that, either.
I can answer this question @Deb: Dutch kids have a certain amount of books (in my time it was 15) they have to read (it has to be Dutch literature, and a certain amount has to be basically not modern literature -think before WWII) for Nederlands (which is basically a subject about Dutch grammar/syntax etc and culture in one). These books are adult literature, so not YA or whatever. They can choose whichever book to read, as long as the teacher deems it literature. For instance I read a medieval text about a girl who has an encounter with the devil (Mariken van Nieumhegen, it’s cool!), a novel about a man and a women exchanging letters (Majoor Frans, I recommend this as a romance actually, if you can find a translation, the novel exists completely out of letters), and a book by Renate Dorrestein about people who shared a house that turned out to be a sort of alternative mental institution. It had sex with dogs and everything.. ah Dutch lit. Good times…
If it’s being assigned for Dutch high school kids, I’m finding it odd that it’s being ‘sold’ as adult lit in the US
I was thinking it’s one of those Europe vs. America things, like movie ratings. In the US, the teeniest hint of sexuality means it’s only safe for adults, while you can kill off an entire planet and still have to fight not to get a G rating. In many European countries it’s the other way around.
Michelle, I remember being quoted a figure of 40 Dutch books and 15 each of English, French and German. But that was decades ago, back when we all walked barefoot to school in the snow, uphill both ways.
Besides, most assigned books in high schools are “adult” books. I wouldn’t think much of a high-school English department that let kids graduate without ever reading anything but Young Adult novels.
@Michelle: this was not for her boekenlijst (zij zit maar in de 3e — dit was geen literatuur)… But thanks for replying. I think it has more to do with the fact that the Dutch are a bit less prudish than Americans. Look at movie rankings… What is “R” in the US is “12+” in the NL. Perhaps, too, with novels…
@Louise, @Deb, and @Michelle ~ My parents attended school in the Netherlands in the forties and fifties. Not only did they ‘walk barefoot to school in the snow, uphill both ways,’ they also attended school on Saturday mornings. At the time (perhaps still?), marks were given with ten being the highest. The best one could do, I was told, was score an eight as ‘Ten was for God, and nine was for the teacher.’
Louise: 40 books! I mean, 40 times reading Dutch literature.. nope, not for me. Now give me forty romance novels/fantasy/sci-fi etc and we’re talking!
Deb: reading for the boekenlijst was bovenbouw indeed. It could be a culture difference I suppose. From my US friends I understand that in Europe people have a somewhat different approach to sexuality, especially with regards to teenagers. I understand in the US it is normal to teach abstinence? Why do they think this works with horny teenagers who are discovering their sexuality I wonder ) Better tell them to only have sex when they are ready, be responsible about it, but most of all enjoy it! (My opinion only!) I must confess I do not get the whole angst around teenagers having sex, but then again I am Dutch, so culture difference
Kareni: (beautiful name btw) No school on Saturday thank god! Grades do indeed go from 1-10. Teachers always joke you’ll get a 1 just for showing up and writing your name correctly. The whole 10s are for God situation I never heard but people are a lot less religious now. You need a minimum of 5,6 to pass an exam btw (yes, decimals are used).
@Kareni oh my goodness. I’m laughing so hard right now. I’m Lithuanian, and my parents used to hear that one too when they were in school.
@G., I’m happy to have provided a laugh. How funny that the comment was known from the Netherlands to Lithuania.
@Michelle, thanks for the details on what is expected in schools today. Clearly things have changed a bit since the fifties!