A review by michaelgreenreads
The Memoirs of Two Young Wives by Honoré de Balzac, Morris Dickstein, Jordan Stump

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 

“How comforting it is to know the life of an absent friend!” 💖 

 

Louise and Renee! This is my first Balzac novel and it is a wonderful, willful novel of letters! The book oscillates between two friends writing elaborate notes to each other with their secret thoughts regarding their love lives. One lives in Paris and one in the province, both trying their best to remain independent despite French society’s pitfalls for women. The two friends have a delightful, combative 19th century energy! It is difficult to fully explain! 

 

What I enjoyed: both Louise and Renee feel like complex characters instead of caricatures of women, they try on different ideas and challenge each other, swapping out the ideas as life gets more intense. It was COMPELLING to read two best friends destabilize each other’s considerations of what a good life is! 👌 

 

What I was less enthralled by: the detailed politics in Spain subplot??? 

 

If you pick this up, get ready for contrasting, philosophical letters in which two friends drag each other for their romantic choices. It also offers a fascinating look into how ~*motherhood*~ was framed as all-or-nothing for women denied their own inheritances in post-Napoleonic France.