acwoodruff 's review for:

4.0

4.75

This was SUCH a masterpiece. This has been the only classic to make me shed tears! It's so juxtaposed in that it is literally laugh-out-loud funny and also one of the most depressing novels I've ever had the pleasure to read. Incredibly complex characters and the writing is truly magnificent.

However, I just CANNOT justify giving 5 stars to a book that didn't even really touch the plot until 200 pages in. I have never EVER struggled through chapters like I did the first 3rd of this book. It is basically just listing French political figures and mapping out old Paris and is sooooooo dull (in my opinion). It took me 4 months to read the first 200 pages and 2 weeks to read the rest.