Customer Reviews

The Lost Diaries of Frans Hals: A Novel

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I can't believe I let this book sit in my "to be read" pile for two years. I was sucked into the story right away. I don't know anything about painting or the Dutch, but this book is fantastic! Very funny and wonderfully detailed. I am SO intrigued by the author's mixing of fact and fiction. Time to do some sleuthing of my own on the internet...

I purchased this wonderful novel at a local library book sale. What a lucky day that was for me. From the first chapter, I fell under the spell of this marvelous storyteller, Michael Kernan.

He draws us into the story of an impoverished 20th century New York grad student hired to translate and document the validity of a set of diaries found in a barn that were purportedly written by Frans Hals, a contemporary of Vermeer. As he translates the documents the young student becomes captivated by the humor and insight with which Hals tells his story .... ..and honestly so did I.

Kernans writing is so alluring that upon finishing the story, I had an urge to book a flight to Amsterdam to view Hals paintings in person.

If you are an art history buff or just like a well written, engrossing tale......add this book to your list of "Books I Must Read".

This book slowly seduces you into rooting for the diaries, the writer and the translator. Are the diaries by Frans Hals or not? You want them to be...but how could they be -- there is a separation of over 300 years! The author weaves an intricate pattern of present and past lives with the characters of Hals(?) and the translator. I read this in a week and just got SUCKED in. Buy and read if you like books with inserts from the past intermingled with the present.

An excellent premise for a novel. A package is found in a barn on Long Island, addressed to an Art Gallery that has been out of business for over 100 years. Inside are four notebooks, written in Dutch. The front flap attributes ownership to Franz Hals, the famous 17th Century portrait artist - considered one of The Dutch Masters. Is it real or is it a hoax? A present day Gallery is given the job of finding out. Peter Van Overloop, a grad student forever stalled on his dissertation, is given the task of translating them and asked to correlate what he finds with the known history of Holland and of Hals and to tell of anything that might prove it to be false. Everyone is so careful and reference is made to the fake Hitler diaries and how many careers that hoax ruined. No one wants to go out on a limb here. Our story wanders back and forth between Peter, his lack of acedemic interest and lack of employability, his blah relationship with his girlfriend and his tenuous living situation and Haarlem, Holland in the mid 1600s and the life of an underappreciated portrait painter. Hals' work is always in demand but he's very bad with money. Everytime you think he'd get a break, like the great ability to invest in tulips when the world is clamouring for them, just goes bad for Hals (everyone lost money in the crazy tulip speculation of the late 1630s.) The diary is extremely authentic sounding (from my diaristic perspective) and a joy to read. Hals is an engaging diarist in the spirit of Samuel Pepys (Pepys is possibly the world's most famous diarist. He wrote in the 1660s.) and the detail is enough to be interesting, but not so much as to seem contrived. There are some major issues that keep the diary's authenticity in question, and ... And that's where my review stops. I wouldn't want to spoil the plot for any future readers. This turned out to be a very enjoyable book. And I learned a lot about the real Franz Hals along the way.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable, wonderful story. I loved this book. I missed it when it first came out, maybe others did as well. It was a perfect August read but would be equally great on a rainy fall day. I didn't want to put it down, I became as engrossed in Hals life as van Overloop did. I want more from this author

We were amazed with wonder looking at his paintings in Amsterdam during a recent trip. This delightfully intriguing book combines factual historical events and people with a delightful story. Even if your interest in paintings consists of whitewashing the fence, this book will keep you page turning.

I am not a huge fan of historical fiction, but this was a whole lot of fun! Frans Hals was a XVII century Dutch painter, a contemporary of Rembrandt and Vermeer. His alleged diaries are discovered buried in a farm in upstate NY. Peter, a perpetual and therefore somewhat flaky graduate student, fluent in Dutch, is hired to translate them. The book alternates from Hals' crazy life to Peter's crazy life.

I loved Hals, and throughout the book Peter falls for him too and takes a very personal and emotional interest on the authenticity of the diaries. The book can almost be categorized as a "thriller" because there is definitively a sense of mystery and urgency in it.

One thing I did not understand: whenever the focus was on Hals, the writing was superb:

* who would have thought of using the word `escutcheon' in that context?! (Read the book and you will understand!)

* Same thing for `retiring', as in `Corwin being extremely retiring and unable simply to state the problem and get an answer [...]'

* `I am not sure I can bring myself to love a God who limits our intelligence but not our stupidity'.

* `Besides, like most children, they are a hard lot when it comes to aged parents. The cruelty of good sense'.

But when Peter was on, the writing became somewhat amateurish. The language was simplistic, and there was very little depth given to certain aspects of Peter's life. For example, when he escaped to see his brother for the weekend, the entire episode is described in a mere couple of paragraphs. It felt almost like the author had used all his best juices for Hals' parts, and then for Peter's parts there was nothing left.

The ending was slightly abrupt for my taste, but all is well that ends well, so I was left a happy camper. I am very thankful for all the photos of the paintings. It really helped understand Hals.

For the record, this book was published in 1994, way before Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. I haven't read it, but I saw the movie, and got the impression that life in Holland in the XVII century could not have been that steamy. Well, after reading The Lost Diaries of Frans Hals, I think my impression was wrong.

This used book arrived within the promised time, and in very good condition. I bought this as a gift for someone who loves the paintings of Frans Hals, and since the book is out of print, was thrilled to find it available used.