A review by reasie
The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal
3.0
Written very quickly in 1838 (he started it on November 4th and finished it on Dec 26 - guess this guy was Nano'ing before it was cool!) this novel has a surprisingly modern feel. The main character is completely foolish, but somehow you find him charming, much like the people around him who work so hard to save him from his own silliness.
One thing that struck me was how the book portrayed women as sensible and powerful. Our hero, having dashed off to join Napoleon at Waterloo, having not had the sense to think of such a simple thing as, say, enlisting with his army, is saved by a good lady provision officer, who gives him good advice and a cover story - he had already been arrested once as a possible spy.
The novel has a very French view of morality, where her marriage to someone else is not such an impediment to sleeping with your true love. Also, I loved how clearly the author portrays liberals with conservative views and conservatives with liberal views - painting a political landscape where what one believes is not the same as who you ally with. This felt very real to me.
In fact, this book scratched a very real "court intrigue" itch for me. It felt like real court intrigue, not what passes for such in fantasy novels, and I'd recommend the book to anyone looking for ideas in that vein.
However, the ending! The abruptness of the ending spoiled the book a bit for me and took this down from a four-star review. That's all I'll say.
One thing that struck me was how the book portrayed women as sensible and powerful. Our hero, having dashed off to join Napoleon at Waterloo, having not had the sense to think of such a simple thing as, say, enlisting with his army, is saved by a good lady provision officer, who gives him good advice and a cover story - he had already been arrested once as a possible spy.
The novel has a very French view of morality, where her marriage to someone else is not such an impediment to sleeping with your true love. Also, I loved how clearly the author portrays liberals with conservative views and conservatives with liberal views - painting a political landscape where what one believes is not the same as who you ally with. This felt very real to me.
In fact, this book scratched a very real "court intrigue" itch for me. It felt like real court intrigue, not what passes for such in fantasy novels, and I'd recommend the book to anyone looking for ideas in that vein.
However, the ending! The abruptness of the ending spoiled the book a bit for me and took this down from a four-star review. That's all I'll say.