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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
honestly, the reason this gets a 4 and not a 3, is the writing and use of historical events to drive the plot. both were really phenomenal, especially the writing. Dumas is definitely one of my favourite writer writers.
in regards to the characters and their love story, to be honest, couldn't care less. like a good chunk of classics, the love just felt super stupid, for a lack of a better word. oh they look soo pretty, i am in love, blergh gross.
my other annoyance is the lack of diverse characters (with Dumas being a person of colour), the use of white to describe people (again gross), and the use of the word orient (which can be seen as a productive of the time)
in regards to the characters and their love story, to be honest, couldn't care less. like a good chunk of classics, the love just felt super stupid, for a lack of a better word. oh they look soo pretty, i am in love, blergh gross.
my other annoyance is the lack of diverse characters (with Dumas being a person of colour), the use of white to describe people (again gross), and the use of the word orient (which can be seen as a productive of the time)
Ugh. I did not enjoy this at all. I wanted to try a shorter Dumas book before I attempted The Count of Monte Cristo, or the Three Musketeers. This just seemed so dull and superficial. I know lots of people love this, but it just wasn't for me.
dark
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dumas: breaking the forth wall before it became cool. I like how he speaks directly to the reader lightheartedly at times.
“There are some catastrophes that a poor writer's pen cannot describe and which he is obliged to leave to the imagination of his readers with a bald statement of the facts.”
I listened to this on audio. The narrator does such a good job capturing the intended emotion of each characters' woes.
It did start out a little slow. I'm not sure why; I just could not get into the original Cornelius' plight. I was much more intrigued by Van Baerle's tulip-growing. Is that weird? I thought the love story was great. I think Rosa was a strong female character with thoughts of her own. I didn't feel like she was just thrown into the story to add drama. Her love for Cornelius is inspiring.
A lot of modern books I've read recently stay away from third person omniscient for some reason and I found it refreshing to read that particular style in this book. It made it more fun.
“There are some catastrophes that a poor writer's pen cannot describe and which he is obliged to leave to the imagination of his readers with a bald statement of the facts.”
I listened to this on audio. The narrator does such a good job capturing the intended emotion of each characters' woes.
It did start out a little slow. I'm not sure why; I just could not get into the original Cornelius' plight. I was much more intrigued by Van Baerle's tulip-growing. Is that weird? I thought the love story was great. I think Rosa was a strong female character with thoughts of her own. I didn't feel like she was just thrown into the story to add drama. Her love for Cornelius is inspiring.
A lot of modern books I've read recently stay away from third person omniscient for some reason and I found it refreshing to read that particular style in this book. It made it more fun.
4,5*
The premise of this is very similar to its elder, fatter-by-1.000-pages brother The Count of Monte Cristo: A young man, about to achieve his life's dreams, is accused of high treason (which he is, if we're perfectly honest, not entirely innocent, albeit ignorant of) by a personal enemy and thrown into prison, with no prospect of ever getting out. But while The Count of Monte Cristo is a lot more sprawling and follows many different plotlines of revenge, love, money and adventure, The Black Tulip keeps strictly to the three themes it introduces in the first few chapters of exposition - politics (although only very tangentially), romance, and, most prominently but at the same time closely entangled with the other two, the race to grow the prized black tulip. The result is perhaps a little bit less grand, but also much more streamlined; the plot moves at an incredibly fast yet fluid pace, the characters are well-crafted, and the plot twists are seamless. Just to be clear, I enjoyed it exactly as much as The Count of Monte Cristo, but the latter is still my favourite book of all time - nobody said ratings have to make any sense!
The premise of this is very similar to its elder, fatter-by-1.000-pages brother The Count of Monte Cristo: A young man, about to achieve his life's dreams, is accused of high treason (which he is, if we're perfectly honest, not entirely innocent, albeit ignorant of) by a personal enemy and thrown into prison, with no prospect of ever getting out. But while The Count of Monte Cristo is a lot more sprawling and follows many different plotlines of revenge, love, money and adventure, The Black Tulip keeps strictly to the three themes it introduces in the first few chapters of exposition - politics (although only very tangentially), romance, and, most prominently but at the same time closely entangled with the other two, the race to grow the prized black tulip. The result is perhaps a little bit less grand, but also much more streamlined; the plot moves at an incredibly fast yet fluid pace, the characters are well-crafted, and the plot twists are seamless. Just to be clear, I enjoyed it exactly as much as The Count of Monte Cristo, but the latter is still my favourite book of all time - nobody said ratings have to make any sense!
A conclusão realmente fez-me mudar as 3 ou 3,5 estrelas para 4. Não estava nada a suportar aquele Isaac Boxtel e o Gryphus, nossa senhora, que homem tão dado à conspiração. A Rosa e o Cornélius são demasiado amor, gostei deles. A escrita de Dumas deu-me dores de cabeça da primeira vez que tentei ler (ou se calhar não estava no «mood» para tal), tive de o pousar e passar outros à frente. Entretanto, com as tão esperadas férias, este foi o primeiro a estreá-las. Finalmente pude prestar atenção à escrita do senhor Dumas e, então, consegui apreciá-la bastante; é bem agradável, gostei bastante, mesmo. Já para não falar da forma como as personagens falam, que é só uma das formas que adoro ler e ficar a imaginá-las a dialogar naquela época. Por que é que estou para aqui a divagar? Não sei, é o meu jeito de explicar (ou tentar) os pontos que gostei.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Dumas is just always such a delightful time! Also, I really enjoyed the opening with all the politics of Holland in the 1670s.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
The murders in Chapter 4 are fairly disturbing and a bit more graphic than I expected.
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No