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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
Slow beginning despite the violence but I got into it and Really enjoyed it! Still not a speed read though.
Set in Holland during the 17th Century, ‘The Black Tulip’ tells the story of tulip enthusiast Cornelius van Baerle who is wrongfully imprisoned before he can fulfil the act of cultivating the long-desired black tulip. However, while imprisoned he finds solace and aid in the form of a new love; the jailer’s daughter, Rosa, who helps him achieve his goal.
A very beautiful story, beautifully written. With the exceptions of Gryphus and Boxtel, the characters are wholesome and sweet, making me read quickly to discover their fate. The story is well-paced and has a very satisfactory ending.
A very beautiful story, beautifully written. With the exceptions of Gryphus and Boxtel, the characters are wholesome and sweet, making me read quickly to discover their fate. The story is well-paced and has a very satisfactory ending.
adventurous
medium-paced
Oddly whimsical for Dumas! Still fits rigidly within the genre of the romantic novel. The protagonist is wrongfully accused and locked away in a cell with no company but the bruttish and stupid jailer and his beautiful, rapturously enamored daughter, Rosa. She is eye-rollingly weak, impressionable, illiterate and in a hopeless situation. There is so much fainting and blushing and swooning that it is a marvel that any plot takes place at all. Cornelius is noble of spirit and by birth, and offers to die for his moral convictions on various occasions. And yet he is very apolitical and cares only about (Rosa!) and creating the black tulip.
I think the most interesting thing about this story is the overt symbolism of the tulip as Rosa and Cornelius's love child. So peculiar! Rosa calls it her daughter and she it's mother, it is referred to often as a lady, and the tulip was "conceived" of the two of them in jail. Maybe this is gross but stick with me: Cornelius gives the bulbs wrapped in paper to Rosa through the jail bars, aka he gives her his "seed" and she plants them in a pot in her own bedroom (a very private place, her womb of sorts) where she cares for them for months until their glorious blooming black birth.
Rosa spends her storyline fighting her social position so she can be with the man she loves (and let's be realistic: so she can have more money and escape her father and the life of squalor to which she seems destined). Their delicate, blossoming, child-out-of-wedlock helps her accomplish just that. (And that is a common story! A woman using a birth to secure herself a husband and new social status!) The tulip is what helps her climb above her station, complete her love story and absolve Cornelius. Such an odd little story!! I really regret not reading this before our trip to the Netherlands. We were in Haarlem! Loved Haarlem!
I think the most interesting thing about this story is the overt symbolism of the tulip as Rosa and Cornelius's love child. So peculiar! Rosa calls it her daughter and she it's mother, it is referred to often as a lady, and the tulip was "conceived" of the two of them in jail. Maybe this is gross but stick with me: Cornelius gives the bulbs wrapped in paper to Rosa through the jail bars, aka he gives her his "seed" and she plants them in a pot in her own bedroom (a very private place, her womb of sorts) where she cares for them for months until their glorious blooming black birth.
Rosa spends her storyline fighting her social position so she can be with the man she loves (and let's be realistic: so she can have more money and escape her father and the life of squalor to which she seems destined). Their delicate, blossoming, child-out-of-wedlock helps her accomplish just that. (And that is a common story! A woman using a birth to secure herself a husband and new social status!) The tulip is what helps her climb above her station, complete her love story and absolve Cornelius. Such an odd little story!! I really regret not reading this before our trip to the Netherlands. We were in Haarlem! Loved Haarlem!
Dumas è il re del romanzo storico.
Per le prime 70 pagine di questo breve libro sono appunto dedicate ad un’introduzione geo-storica della situazione in cui si svolgerà il romanzo. Il protagonista, Cornelius, non verrà nominato fino a pagina 69, in cui viene presentato come il nipote delle due - ormai a questo punto del libro decedute - figure politiche su cui è stata basata l’introduzione.
Perché questa premessa?
Perché se non siete amanti del romanzo storico, questo libro, non compratelo! Ma in generale evitate Dumas, la cui signature mark era proprio dare un contesto storico ben descritto e dettagliato.
Mi sono trovata catapultata nell’agosto del 1672, a L’Aia, dove capitavano cose tremende ai due fratelli De Witt.
Mi sono trovata nella casa di Cornelius, con lui, a fare esperimenti su bitorzoluti bulbi orientali di tulipano dai colori celati, ancora da scoprire. Ho amato la bontà di Rosa e l’innocenza di Cornelius, ho odiato Grifus e la sua cattiveria gratuita, provato pena per Isaac Boxtel, accecato e reso malvagio da una sfrenata gelosia.
Dumas ha questo potere sovrannaturale di dar vita a personaggi veri, umani, in meno di trecento pagine.
“Il tulipano nero” non era ciò che mi aspettavo, colpa della fuorviante serie tv per bambini, ma non sarei potuta rimanere più piacevolmente stupita da una storia così semplice, lineare e profondamente coinvolgente.
Per le prime 70 pagine di questo breve libro sono appunto dedicate ad un’introduzione geo-storica della situazione in cui si svolgerà il romanzo. Il protagonista, Cornelius, non verrà nominato fino a pagina 69, in cui viene presentato come il nipote delle due - ormai a questo punto del libro decedute - figure politiche su cui è stata basata l’introduzione.
Perché questa premessa?
Perché se non siete amanti del romanzo storico, questo libro, non compratelo! Ma in generale evitate Dumas, la cui signature mark era proprio dare un contesto storico ben descritto e dettagliato.
Mi sono trovata catapultata nell’agosto del 1672, a L’Aia, dove capitavano cose tremende ai due fratelli De Witt.
Mi sono trovata nella casa di Cornelius, con lui, a fare esperimenti su bitorzoluti bulbi orientali di tulipano dai colori celati, ancora da scoprire. Ho amato la bontà di Rosa e l’innocenza di Cornelius, ho odiato Grifus e la sua cattiveria gratuita, provato pena per Isaac Boxtel, accecato e reso malvagio da una sfrenata gelosia.
Dumas ha questo potere sovrannaturale di dar vita a personaggi veri, umani, in meno di trecento pagine.
“Il tulipano nero” non era ciò che mi aspettavo, colpa della fuorviante serie tv per bambini, ma non sarei potuta rimanere più piacevolmente stupita da una storia così semplice, lineare e profondamente coinvolgente.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Loved this book! It was a simple story, but written so well (almost perfectly). I now want to read more by Alexandre Dumas!
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
First DNF of the year. Made it about 2/3 through and realized I just didn’t care enough to continue. The bit of excitement at the beginning of the story gave way to a very drawn out tale about growing a single tulip. I think this could have been an interesting story, but Cornelius and Rosa are insufferable, boring characters. I would not recommend.