The Glassmaker opens in 1486 in Murano, across the lagoon from Venice. It tells the story of glassmaker Orsola Rosso, up to the present day.
What I liked: Chevalier is a wonderful writer, no doubt about it. She creates a beautiful, vivid picture of Venice and Murano.
What I disliked: Yes, it follows Orsola from 1486 to the present day; one family, one main character. And therein lies the fatal flaw in this potentially beautiful, but disappointing, work. It’s concept is that the timeline skips through the centuries, but the main characters are the same. We become engrossed in the life of Orsola Rosso as she becomes a glassmaker in the 15th century. She struggles to hone her craft in a patriarchal society where only men can be respected artisans. Then the novel skips roughly a century and again we are following Orsola, and the same cast of characters, in a new timeline. Then again, same cast, new era… and so on up to 2020. And no, she’s not a vampire or other immortal, just a ‘character’ transported into different times.
Why oh why did Chevalier — an author whose books I have hitherto loved — persist with this irritating time-jumping concept? It doesn’t work! It feels like she wrote part of an excellent historical novel and then got bored or ran out of ideas and just started retelling the same tale in another time. It completely wiped out my suspension of disbelief. It drags you into silly celebrity-focused tangents (creating a necklace for Napoleon’s Josephine…). It makes you start actively seeking anachronisms. And once my disbelief was pierced, I could no longer accept the premise that Orsola was an incredibly gifted glassmaker. Which was presumably supposed to be the whole point of the story.
OK, I’m not thick. I accept that the point was to create a picture of Murano glassmaking through the ages, and the characters were just a vehicle for this so they could be reused in different times without needing to create new characters. Well, if I had wanted to read a nonfiction book about Murano glassmakers I would have read one. In novels, it’s ALL about the characters. They are not merely vessels. I need to believe in them as real, live, mortal people (even the ones that are unreal, dead, immortal….).
With each new timeline, Orsola became less vivid, more transparent, until she shattered in my hands.
I kept reading because, well, Chevalier is indeed a wonderful writer and her prose are a pleasure to read. And Orsola is an appealing character. And — and this is the main reason — I kept hoping there was a point to all this, and that I would eventually get it. I didn’t.
My advice? If you haven’t already done so, read Chevalier’s Girl With a Pearl Earring instead. Now that’s a timeless classic to lose yourself in.
My thanks to Netgalley for giving me a free copy of this book. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.
Recommended read: The Book of Secrets – Anna Mazzola