100reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I’ll need to reread to understand it.
sandra_aec's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
arpharrison's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
al_capwned's review against another edition
3.0
As I get older, I feel more tired by stories about upper class people (of every era).
mokasin's review against another edition
2.0
Просто не верится в поведение героев - как-то все не естественно. Я понимаю, что любовь способна на безумства, но представить такое не могу. Как и не нравятся мне "плаксивые" окончания.
reynier's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Not quite as good as The Red and the Black, but extremely compelling and full of lovable villains and hateable protagonists (complimentary).
endaira91's review against another edition
3.0
Without spoilers, the plot of this book can be summarized as follows:
The three stars of this book go to the following three things:
1) Stendhal's narrative style- this is my first novel by this author, so I was not at all familiar with his delightfully ironic and sarcastic tones.
2) The first third of Fabrizio del Dongo's story. The protagonist's (or "hero", as Stendhal often calls him) secluded upbringing made him a clumsy and ignorant yet well meaning protagonist, of whose adventures I wanted to learn more about.
3) The Waterloo Battle. It is by by far my favorite part of the novel and most of the book afterwards was a bit of a drag.
Why did I dislike it afterwards? See horse drawing above. After the battle, the story just seemed more and more rushed. Conflicts came and went without any proper or well drawn-out resolution, and at times they seemed to go back and forth in the story in a way that was just done to fill more pages in the novel, rather than to progress the plot. The rushed part felt particularly evident during the last five or so pages in the book, where there is a three year time skip after which four or five major plot things happen in succession, finishing with the title drop for the book on the last page . Wonder why the book is called the Charterhouse of Parma? Read until the end to find out! Or, just read until the battle of Waterloo and then read the last page of the book.
If the meaningless foreshadowing is to highlight the theme that prophecies are pointless and that they never come true anyways, then I tip my hat to you Stendhal, and retroactively give you half a star more for your efforts.
The three stars of this book go to the following three things:
1) Stendhal's narrative style- this is my first novel by this author, so I was not at all familiar with his delightfully ironic and sarcastic tones.
2) The first third of Fabrizio del Dongo's story. The protagonist's (or "hero", as Stendhal often calls him) secluded upbringing made him a clumsy and ignorant yet well meaning protagonist, of whose adventures I wanted to learn more about.
3) The Waterloo Battle. It is by by far my favorite part of the novel and most of the book afterwards was a bit of a drag.
Why did I dislike it afterwards? See horse drawing above. After the battle, the story just seemed more and more rushed. Conflicts came and went without any proper or well drawn-out resolution, and at times they seemed to go back and forth in the story in a way that was just done to fill more pages in the novel, rather than to progress the plot. The rushed part felt particularly evident during the last five or so pages in the book, where there is a three year time skip after which four or five major plot things happen in succession, finishing with the title drop for the book on the last page . Wonder why the book is called the Charterhouse of Parma? Read until the end to find out! Or, just read until the battle of Waterloo and then read the last page of the book.
If the meaningless foreshadowing is to highlight the theme that prophecies are pointless and that they never come true anyways, then I tip my hat to you Stendhal, and retroactively give you half a star more for your efforts.
dazed_and_distracted's review against another edition
1.0
One word: overwritten. And what was that ending?!
georgialilyw's review against another edition
2.0
I don't know how fair it is to say I read this book. I didn't understand 70% of it. Maybe one day I'll read the translation and have a clue what one earth was going on.