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A review by dantalion_xi
Les Liasons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Christopher Hampton
5.0
How do we not study this in school?
Les Liasons Dangereuses is many things.
It is a incredibly engrossing epistolary novel (yeah, I would see a contradiction here too).
It is a tale that tries to look like it is frivolous, while being absolutely raw.
It is a satire on the costumes of the aristocracy, as well as a satire on the concept of decency.
And it is fun. In a sense. It is also very painful.
Many scenes stayed with me in the same way some deaths in George Martin's books stick with you.
I was disgusted, and in awe at the same time, for the corrupt morals of the protagonists, for the ease with which they destroyed others' lives.
Such a pure portrayal of the basest human instincts, and of how low we can go if we put our mind to it, deserves to be remembered among the masterpieces of literature.
Funnily enough, Laclos wanted just that.
He thought he would write a novel, for the first time in his life, that would make him immortal.
And he went ahead and did just that.
Perhaps, the writer's greatest achievement, is making the reader feel sympathetic towards the protagonists' misfortunes, notwithstanding all their "mischievous" deeds.
Les Liasons Dangereuses is many things.
It is a incredibly engrossing epistolary novel (yeah, I would see a contradiction here too).
It is a tale that tries to look like it is frivolous, while being absolutely raw.
It is a satire on the costumes of the aristocracy, as well as a satire on the concept of decency.
And it is fun. In a sense. It is also very painful.
Many scenes stayed with me in the same way some deaths in George Martin's books stick with you.
I was disgusted, and in awe at the same time, for the corrupt morals of the protagonists, for the ease with which they destroyed others' lives.
Such a pure portrayal of the basest human instincts, and of how low we can go if we put our mind to it, deserves to be remembered among the masterpieces of literature.
Funnily enough, Laclos wanted just that.
He thought he would write a novel, for the first time in his life, that would make him immortal.
And he went ahead and did just that.
Perhaps, the writer's greatest achievement, is making the reader feel sympathetic towards the protagonists' misfortunes, notwithstanding all their "mischievous" deeds.