The Duchesse of Langeais |
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Author:
Honore de Balzac
By BiblioBazaar
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: $10.99
Our Price: $10.88
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Product Description
In a Spanish city on an island in the Mediterranean, there stands a convent of the Order of Barefoot Carmelites, where the rule instituted by St. Theresa is still preserved with all the first rigor of the reformation brought about by that illustrious woman...
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Not the Best of Balzac, 2008-08-20
I was inspired to return to Balzac after seeing a recently made movie based on this book. The classical story structure is superb: the opening grabs you in more ways than one -- you feel like travelling to the Spanish island, you are drawn to the characters and to their history. As usual, Balzac is great at bringing to life historic Paris and a is great story-teller overall. He is very intimate with his reader. But mid-way through, this story falters and gets repetitive. I found the duchess's long monotones and dialogues with her lover deadly dull. Maybe something was lost in translation.
The pace picks up again towards the end of the story. But the general's transformation from a devoted lover to a coldhearted man is not convincing. It happens too abruptly after one or maybe two warnings from a friend.
Furthermore, one never really feels any sypmpathy for these two star-crossed lovers. Despite their grand rhetoric, they lack passion and chemistry. In the end, one wonders if either of them ever loved or even truly desired the other.
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781426407604
ISBN: 1426407602
Label: BiblioBazaar
Manufacturer: BiblioBazaar
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 146
Publication Date: 2006-07-12
Publisher: BiblioBazaar
Release Date: 2006-07-12
Studio: BiblioBazaar |
