It’s a no for me for The Miniaturist
“Cornelia will fetch you a herring”
I haven’t read Jessie Burton’s 2014 novel The Miniaturist so I came into watching it with zero expectations. But even then, I wasn’t expecting that…!
To steal from the Guardian, the plot was “an everyday tale of girl marries man, moves from the sticks to old Amsterdam, discovers he’s gay, husband’s boyfriend stabs the dog, girl gets spooky doll’s house in which the miniature replicas begin changing to reflect real life, hubby is thrown into the sea while lashed to a stone wheel after suicidal courtroom speech denouncing Hanseatic cant, girl sells loaf/cones of sugar, and almost all, um, live happily ever after”.
But much as I love a story from Amsterdam, I found this a real challenge. The 90 minute episodes didn’t help, nor the heavy-handed shifts in tone which were a constant jolt. Maybe I should read the book instead…
