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jimsreadingandstuff 's review for:
Dangerous Liaisons (Centaur Classics) [The 100 greatest novels of all time - #41]
by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
A book published before 1800 is somewhat outside my comfort zone as is its form as an epistolary novel. I often found myself having to return to the start of a letter to remind myself who rote it and to whom. This is a story of two French libertines in the eighteenth century, who filled with ennui fo r the card games and theatre they attend for amusement seek to play a more dangerous game. The one the Vicomte de Valmont, is set up by the other, a devious widow the Marquise de Merteuil, to seduce a young Cecile, a 15 year old fresh out of the convent, who is betrothed to one of the marquise's former lovers. Valmont has another seduction in mind that of a pious woman, whose husband is away. The pair plot their amusements through a series of letters. In the novel we see the letters of many other unknowing players in this diabolical game. The plot is clever but I found the book at over 400 pages too long and the last 10% seemed rushed as so much happened at the end.