Reviews

International Short Stories: French by Paul Bourget, Ludovic Halévy, Eugène François Vidocq, Alphonse Daudet, Adolphe Chenevière, Alfred de Musset, Alexandre Dumas, Francis Joseph Reynolds, Honoré de Balzac, René Bazin, Catulle Mendès, Henry Murger, Clémence Robert, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Marcel Prévost, Prosper Mérimée, Erckmann-Chatrian, Paul de Kock, Guy de Maupassant, Francois Copée, Émile Zola, Jean Aicard, Alain-René Le Sage

kitsuneheart's review against another edition

2.0

I'm sure 9 out of 10 readers will pick this book up purely because it's a collection of old French stories. If so, good for you. You probably got exactly what you wanted, even if the stories are in English. (I mean, if you only speak French, not English, then probably not good.) But for me...just generally didn't like it.

While the first two volumes of "International Short Stories" tended to include quite a lot of classics, this one...well, I don't know the French classics, but none of these stories really appealed to me, for any reason. I think the closest to a "best" story would be "Zadig the Babylonian," which, itself, just drags on and on. Not so appealing. And most of the rest...well, the French volume of the series sure wins out on sexism. Shesh.

I can't see myself ever recommending this book to anyone, really. There are far better-curated anthologies of classic literature out there. Go find them.

This book is in the public domain. You can find a free audio version at Librivox.org, or a free etext at Gutenberg.org.