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sleeping_while_awake 's review for:
The Charterhouse of Parma
by Stendhal
It felt like this book went on and on forever! I preferred The Red and the Black more to Charterhouse of Parma.
Initially, the story starts with a lot of promise. It seems like it is going to be an entertaining romp with a clueless young hero. The scenes at the Battle of Waterloo were great - a very different comedic perspective than most novels.
However, instead of focusing solely on Fabrizio, it moves to his aunt Gina and Count Mosca, and their desire to climb the social ladder. The middle meanders. The plot is very loose.
The ending redeems the story somewhat, but it is all too much soap-opera and dramatic to really have serious underpinnings. Certainly important historical events are mentioned, but there are so many other classic novels that do it so much better!
There is a decent story overall, yet I think execution was weak. The court intrigues were actually rather simple, but the manner in which they were explained were convoluted.
If the story was a bit more lowbrow and ridiculous, it would have been much better. What should have been fun turned out boring at times.
My translation seemed a bit awkward with its phrasing, and I got the sense it was attempting to make the writing more high-brow than it really was written. Possibly this affected my reaction to the novel.
Charterhouse of Parma is fun, but I can't say it's a light read considering its length.
Initially, the story starts with a lot of promise. It seems like it is going to be an entertaining romp with a clueless young hero. The scenes at the Battle of Waterloo were great - a very different comedic perspective than most novels.
However, instead of focusing solely on Fabrizio, it moves to his aunt Gina and Count Mosca, and their desire to climb the social ladder. The middle meanders. The plot is very loose.
The ending redeems the story somewhat, but it is all too much soap-opera and dramatic to really have serious underpinnings. Certainly important historical events are mentioned, but there are so many other classic novels that do it so much better!
There is a decent story overall, yet I think execution was weak. The court intrigues were actually rather simple, but the manner in which they were explained were convoluted.
If the story was a bit more lowbrow and ridiculous, it would have been much better. What should have been fun turned out boring at times.
My translation seemed a bit awkward with its phrasing, and I got the sense it was attempting to make the writing more high-brow than it really was written. Possibly this affected my reaction to the novel.
Charterhouse of Parma is fun, but I can't say it's a light read considering its length.