A review by reggiewoods
The Red and the Black by Stendhal

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Stendhal’s novel was supposedly the first to narrate a character’s thoughts and motivations, as opposed to sticking with action and dialogue, earning the moniker “father of the psychological novel.” Mostly what this insight reveals is that the main character, Julien Sorel, is kind of an awful person. The son of a carpenter, Julien is inspired by Napoleon to climb the ranks of society, but he does his climbing through the church and seducing titled women. Unlike the earlier masterpiece Les Liasions Dangereuses, Julien is neither charming nor cunning, simply good looking and lucky. Ultimately, this book introduced a lot of interesting things into the literary world, but all of which have been outdone by other works in my opinion. I didn’t like Julien, and the other characters lacked much depth for true investment, and it was more melodramatic than I care for. Stick instead with Vanity Fair, unless your just really into this type story.