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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
The first time I came to know about 'The Black Tulip' was when I watched an animated movie of the story, which our local English channel aired, as a child. I found it thrilling and ever since I have wanted to read the novel.
I finally read the novel this year and came to a realisation: the adult me did not find it as thrilling 🙈🥴.
The novel does start out strong when in the initial chapters we see the two brothers Cornelis and Johan De Witt (Grand Pensionary/Prime Minister of Holland) charged with treason and sentenced to exile for plotting with the French king and then subsequently being mobbed, brutally lynched to death and hanged by a mob of rioters on the incitement (as per some historians) of William of Orange. Since this episode is factual history, the foreboding of the doom awaiting the two brothers and the sheer brutality of their end was difficult to read. The momentum is somewhat maintained when the story shifts to Cornelius von Baerle, his aim to grow a rare black tulip and his subsequent arrest and imprisonment on false charges but after that the action becomes a bit dull and I began to lose interest. I did finish listening to the audiobook but I wasn't hooked.
P. S.: Even after reading Cornelius von Baerle's instructions on how to grow tulips, I still don't think I could grow a tulip 🥴.
I finally read the novel this year and came to a realisation: the adult me did not find it as thrilling 🙈🥴.
The novel does start out strong when in the initial chapters we see the two brothers Cornelis and Johan De Witt (Grand Pensionary/Prime Minister of Holland) charged with treason and sentenced to exile for plotting with the French king and then subsequently being mobbed, brutally lynched to death and hanged by a mob of rioters on the incitement (as per some historians) of William of Orange. Since this episode is factual history, the foreboding of the doom awaiting the two brothers and the sheer brutality of their end was difficult to read. The momentum is somewhat maintained when the story shifts to Cornelius von Baerle, his aim to grow a rare black tulip and his subsequent arrest and imprisonment on false charges but after that the action becomes a bit dull and I began to lose interest. I did finish listening to the audiobook but I wasn't hooked.
P. S.: Even after reading Cornelius von Baerle's instructions on how to grow tulips, I still don't think I could grow a tulip 🥴.
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is an enjoyable enough story of love and rivalry in the heady world of tulip-breeders. But why did Dumas choose to set it in 1672, and to open the story by trying to explain the complications of Dutch politics at the time? He clearly realised that his readers in France in 1850 wouldn’t know much about Dutch history and therefore he spends about the first five chapters on it. The book would be much better as pure fiction, without any real historic characters.
emotional
hopeful
medium-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:
Complicated
Delightfully short and absurd story of tulipmania in seventeenth century Holland.
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
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