Scan barcode
jmbayer's review against another edition
3.0
Another book that I am not sure about where are I stand. The allegory is interesting and fun to dissect, but the rampant misogyny of the era can be hard to slog through.
blairrose22's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
graywacke's review against another edition
funny
medium-paced
4.0
A really influential work - Dante and Chaucer in particular took this in. A youth stumbles upon a magical garden of dancing immortals and falls in love with a "rose". But when he kisses the rose, the immortals react in anger, send him away, and build a fortress around the rose. The youth, now lovesick, strives to find a way back to his rose and appeals to the god of Love.
The work's own mythology is that one author wrote a short incomplete opening, and 40 years later another author expanded and completed it. But we don't have any evidence of this full origin, except within the work itself, which states this and changes tone. It opens light, creative and fun. The second author keeps the tone light, and fun, and can go very explicit, but he expands to the monolgues a long way, touching on various philosophical ideas. It gets slow in places.
An enjoyable light medieval work of French literature.
The work's own mythology is that one author wrote a short incomplete opening, and 40 years later another author expanded and completed it. But we don't have any evidence of this full origin, except within the work itself, which states this and changes tone. It opens light, creative and fun. The second author keeps the tone light, and fun, and can go very explicit, but he expands to the monolgues a long way, touching on various philosophical ideas. It gets slow in places.
An enjoyable light medieval work of French literature.
bruslie's review against another edition
3.0
Only read the Guillaume de Lorris part of it so can't speak for the rest of it, but I found it enjoyable, if maybe a bit distant at times. Definitely gives you an insight into the look of sex, romance and gender roles in the middle ages, but i can't help to feel that the endless allegories feel a bit forced at times.
scarlettletters's review against another edition
3.0
This book was alright. There were several really interesting passages, including a really cool theological argument, but it was really tedious to read. The ending was the most amusing part. Using a staff as a metaphor for a penis.... take some cullions.