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bookbelle5_17's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Review of The Red and the Black
By: Stendhal
Julian is a peasant of great ambition and has educated himself over the years, but in post Napoleonic wars, he is unable to improve himself. Julian gets a lucky break to become a Latin tutor to the mayor’s children and finds himself falling in love with the mayor’s young wife. Julian finds himself rising in status, but in doing so loses his own honor in the process.
This was just an okay story, because the story I realize focused least interesting part of Julian’s life. I did prefer the second volume when Julian goes into the Seminary and finds himself amongst the upper class of France. He resents them but also wants to be one of them. He calls them hypocrites but won’t acknowledge his own hypocrisy. He relationship with both Madame de Renal and Mathilde frustrated me. Madame de Renal loved him but would berate herself and the pair would question the other’s love constantly, of course her being married to the mayor didn’t help matters. While Mathilde and Julian would go back and forth being mean to each other and then being like “I love you”. Mathilde would fear losing her independence, but then he’d manipulate her jealousy making her all the sudden think “I love you! You’re my master”. All the dynamic and intriguing storylines were over shadowed by this melodrama. I admit I did want to know what would happen to these characters and the novel had some amusing moments. I liked some of the other characters such as Mathilde’s father and il Abbe Pirard, but of course they were secondary characters. I do enjoy reading about this time period as well and learning about what was happening through fiction.
casparb's review against another edition
4.0
Pleasantly surprised by this. The pre-Flaubert great French novel, which has fallen out of fashion in the past few decades (at least in the English-speaking world. Can't speak for France). The Red and the Black (or indeed, The Scarlet and Black. How romantic is your translator?) is a very impressive novel, that seems to achieve just as much as the 1200-page Count of Monte Cristo did in about 500. Flaubert and Dumas certainly seem to have been heavily influenced by this novel.
It's fair to say that the structure is a little wonky - but not unforgivably so. Something approaching life there. I was very impressed by the psychological depth Stendhal manages to draw, particularly in the more adulterous conversations - layers and layers remarkable for an early novel. Definitely worth a read if you enjoyed Bovary.
It's fair to say that the structure is a little wonky - but not unforgivably so. Something approaching life there. I was very impressed by the psychological depth Stendhal manages to draw, particularly in the more adulterous conversations - layers and layers remarkable for an early novel. Definitely worth a read if you enjoyed Bovary.
jitka597's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-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
4.25
alexysvalenzuela's review against another edition
5.0
Empecé este libro sin mucha expectativa pero tiene de todo: amor, adulterio, filosofía, triángulos amorosos, historia, drama y tensión. Julián Sorel es un personaje que sin duda ha sido la pauta de muchos otros a lo largo de la historia de la filosofía y el final no es lo que yo pensé que sería, pero cierra la historia como debe ser. Es largo, pero una vez que empiezas, es fácil continuar hasta el final.
jason_pym's review against another edition
3.0
First half I loved, second half I couldn’t make head or tail of.
Book 1 exposes the failings of provincial 19th century France. The amoral Julien tries to leave behind his peasant background by becoming a tutor in the home of a town mayor. He has an affair with the mayor’s wife, partly out of spite for his bourgeois employer, which forces him to change careers and train as a priest. Then we see the hypocrisy of life in the seminary where it’s unwise to stand out from the mob mediocrity of his fellow students.
This all felt like a real portrait of a young man of poor background trying to get ahead in whatever way he could. I could get the dual motivations in his affair (genuine affection and personal advantage). The portrayal of the seminary, the other students and the abbé Pirard is great.
Book 2 shifts to Paris, where I thought there would be a similar take on the hypocrisy and corruption of the aristocracy, but the book lost me.
Julien now works for the family of the Marquis de la Mole as a secretary. There is an on-off love affair with the Marquis daughter, which goes on for chapter after chapter. She finds him a revolting peasant, he finds her a stuck up aristocrat, but the affair is again a way for Julien to take revenge on the upper classes and a possible stepping stone. Though he seemed to occasionally have genuine affection for the mayor’s wife, here it’s less clear. Although I could figure out Julien’s motivations, it didn’t come across for me in the text, and I didn’t understand the daughter at all…
Eventually he wins her over, and by marrying her get the aristocratic title and army commission he’s always desired. But it is all foiled by a letter from the mayor’s wife (from book 1) who tells the Marquis that Julien just uses women to get ahead. Julien takes revenge by shooting the mayor’s wife in a church. After a hundred pages of an impenetrable love affair, the decision and act of murder is covered in two paragraphs, which felt very odd. The mayor’s wife survives, and still – somehow – feels pity for him, and he decides he genuinely did love her. That really didn’t make any sense to me. Julien goes to the guillotine, she claims his severed head (what?).
In the middle there is a chapter where he goes on a secret mission to deliver a letter to a Duc exiled in England – I don’t have enough background as to why Julien was chosen, or what was going on, but it seemed a bit random in the context of the rest of the book (a welcome break though).
So, I think there’s a lot here that I missed because I don’t have the historical and social background to the story. I will likely give it a go again in a few years when I have more of a clue. If you’re looking for entertainment, and coming at the book cold, I wouldn’t recommend it though.
Book 1 exposes the failings of provincial 19th century France. The amoral Julien tries to leave behind his peasant background by becoming a tutor in the home of a town mayor. He has an affair with the mayor’s wife, partly out of spite for his bourgeois employer, which forces him to change careers and train as a priest. Then we see the hypocrisy of life in the seminary where it’s unwise to stand out from the mob mediocrity of his fellow students.
This all felt like a real portrait of a young man of poor background trying to get ahead in whatever way he could. I could get the dual motivations in his affair (genuine affection and personal advantage). The portrayal of the seminary, the other students and the abbé Pirard is great.
Book 2 shifts to Paris, where I thought there would be a similar take on the hypocrisy and corruption of the aristocracy, but the book lost me.
Julien now works for the family of the Marquis de la Mole as a secretary. There is an on-off love affair with the Marquis daughter, which goes on for chapter after chapter. She finds him a revolting peasant, he finds her a stuck up aristocrat, but the affair is again a way for Julien to take revenge on the upper classes and a possible stepping stone. Though he seemed to occasionally have genuine affection for the mayor’s wife, here it’s less clear. Although I could figure out Julien’s motivations, it didn’t come across for me in the text, and I didn’t understand the daughter at all…
Eventually he wins her over, and by marrying her get the aristocratic title and army commission he’s always desired. But it is all foiled by a letter from the mayor’s wife (from book 1) who tells the Marquis that Julien just uses women to get ahead. Julien takes revenge by shooting the mayor’s wife in a church. After a hundred pages of an impenetrable love affair, the decision and act of murder is covered in two paragraphs, which felt very odd. The mayor’s wife survives, and still – somehow – feels pity for him, and he decides he genuinely did love her. That really didn’t make any sense to me. Julien goes to the guillotine, she claims his severed head (what?).
In the middle there is a chapter where he goes on a secret mission to deliver a letter to a Duc exiled in England – I don’t have enough background as to why Julien was chosen, or what was going on, but it seemed a bit random in the context of the rest of the book (a welcome break though).
So, I think there’s a lot here that I missed because I don’t have the historical and social background to the story. I will likely give it a go again in a few years when I have more of a clue. If you’re looking for entertainment, and coming at the book cold, I wouldn’t recommend it though.
renesinas's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
the book is incredibly dragged out, has awful and wordy writing that puts you to sleep and presents a story of unrealistically quick-changing emotions that plainly don' t make any sense and turns seemingly dramatic situations into laughable moments to recite to your friends. would rather die than have to read again, frankly.
wooknight's review against another edition
5.0
A dark warning of the dangers of ambition and dalliances with married women
blynai's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Felt like reading a Stendhal x Napoleon fanfic with two beautiful ladies on the side.