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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Romantic intrigue done right, seduction, manipulation, fleshed out characters and a fitting atmosphere. A recipe for disaster that Laclos paints so well.
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the whole plot of this book could be summarised in one sentence. horrible people doing horrible things to each-other.
the book is written in epilstorary form and it revolves around 2 former lovers and their intellectual rivalry of power and lust. they take pride in their games, in seducing others and ruining them for their own fun. both characters are incredibly complex while also being equals in a way - their dynamic solely relies on their combined interest and adventures of doing horrible things to others. valmont is charming, attractive, deceitful and dangerous. he has built quite the reputation of being a player essentially and his newest obsession is madame de tourvel, a married woman to a member of the french parliament. marquise de merteuil, on the other hand, a manipulative and charming widow, who uses her status and influence as a means to gain her way. she's seeking revenge against a former lover of hers, who left her for a younger woman. in this revenge, the plans on ruining the young girl, who's set to be his fiancée. and while valmont doesn't want to take part in the revenge plan at first, too focused on his current obsession, he ends up joining after the mother of the young girl, a trusted friend of madame de tourvel, tells her to stay away from him, thus bringing his game of seduction to a momentary halt.
as the novel progresses, we get to see just how truly devious these characters are and how scandalous and horrible are the things that they do to people for their own pleasure. while merteuil plays the game to gain the upper hand and have that control, valmont is the kind that enjoys the chase and every second of it. their victims fit into the same profile always - innocent, naive, pure and trusting. however, they eventually turn on each-other and their deadly game spirals out of control - collapsing everything in its making and having grave repercussions for those involved.
i've never read anything quite like it - the writing was good and the characters were very distinct. it was also interesting from a psychological aspect to get to know these characters, their motivations behind their actions, the way they played their games and the effects they had on their victims. what i didn't like was how long it was - obviously this is a slow paced novel, but it was a bit tiresome to get through sometimes. in the end though, in classic ending fashion, karma turns the perpetrators into victims of their own schemes.
what a book honestly, very much ahead of its time! i could go on and on about it honestly, but i fear this review is already very long.
anyways, here's some of my highlighted quotes:
"Mankind is never perfect, in good or in evil. Scoundrels have their good points just as men of honour have their failings. This truth seems all the more important to believe since it leads to the need to be indulgent towards those who are evil as well as those who are good; it stops the latter from becoming arrogant and the former from losing heart."
"These words in pencil may perhaps get rubbed out but the feelings engraved in my heart never will!"
"Thus armed, I was keen to try my hand: not content with preventing people from reading my thoughts, I delighted in showing off different aspects of myself: having mastered my gestures, I directed my attention to my words and controlled both of them according to the situation or even as my whims dictated. From that time onward, I was in complete command of my thoughts and I revealed only the ones it was useful for me to show."
"You are the only one of my flames that ever for a second made me lose my self-control."
"do you prefer to be this dictator who pronounces sentence without granting a hearing, do you have the heart to be unjust? Command and I shall still obey.
But I need to hear this sentence, this command, from your own lips."
"And as you plunge my soul into the depths of despair, perhaps one last glance from you may comfort me and give me the strength to survive."
"love’s arrows, like Achilles’ spear, carry with them the antidote for the wounds they cause."
"love is an independent spirit; being cautious may help us to avoid it but can never enable us to overcome it; once it’s born, it can only die of natural causes or complete hopelessness."
"this charm we find in other people is all in the mind; it’s only love which makes the loved one appear so wonderful."
the book is written in epilstorary form and it revolves around 2 former lovers and their intellectual rivalry of power and lust. they take pride in their games, in seducing others and ruining them for their own fun. both characters are incredibly complex while also being equals in a way - their dynamic solely relies on their combined interest and adventures of doing horrible things to others. valmont is charming, attractive, deceitful and dangerous. he has built quite the reputation of being a player essentially and his newest obsession is madame de tourvel, a married woman to a member of the french parliament. marquise de merteuil, on the other hand, a manipulative and charming widow, who uses her status and influence as a means to gain her way. she's seeking revenge against a former lover of hers, who left her for a younger woman. in this revenge, the plans on ruining the young girl, who's set to be his fiancée. and while valmont doesn't want to take part in the revenge plan at first, too focused on his current obsession, he ends up joining after the mother of the young girl, a trusted friend of madame de tourvel, tells her to stay away from him, thus bringing his game of seduction to a momentary halt.
as the novel progresses, we get to see just how truly devious these characters are and how scandalous and horrible are the things that they do to people for their own pleasure. while merteuil plays the game to gain the upper hand and have that control, valmont is the kind that enjoys the chase and every second of it. their victims fit into the same profile always - innocent, naive, pure and trusting. however, they eventually turn on each-other and their deadly game spirals out of control - collapsing everything in its making and having grave repercussions for those involved.
i've never read anything quite like it - the writing was good and the characters were very distinct. it was also interesting from a psychological aspect to get to know these characters, their motivations behind their actions, the way they played their games and the effects they had on their victims. what i didn't like was how long it was - obviously this is a slow paced novel, but it was a bit tiresome to get through sometimes. in the end though, in classic ending fashion, karma turns the perpetrators into victims of their own schemes.
what a book honestly, very much ahead of its time! i could go on and on about it honestly, but i fear this review is already very long.
anyways, here's some of my highlighted quotes:
"Mankind is never perfect, in good or in evil. Scoundrels have their good points just as men of honour have their failings. This truth seems all the more important to believe since it leads to the need to be indulgent towards those who are evil as well as those who are good; it stops the latter from becoming arrogant and the former from losing heart."
"These words in pencil may perhaps get rubbed out but the feelings engraved in my heart never will!"
"Thus armed, I was keen to try my hand: not content with preventing people from reading my thoughts, I delighted in showing off different aspects of myself: having mastered my gestures, I directed my attention to my words and controlled both of them according to the situation or even as my whims dictated. From that time onward, I was in complete command of my thoughts and I revealed only the ones it was useful for me to show."
"You are the only one of my flames that ever for a second made me lose my self-control."
"do you prefer to be this dictator who pronounces sentence without granting a hearing, do you have the heart to be unjust? Command and I shall still obey.
But I need to hear this sentence, this command, from your own lips."
"And as you plunge my soul into the depths of despair, perhaps one last glance from you may comfort me and give me the strength to survive."
"love’s arrows, like Achilles’ spear, carry with them the antidote for the wounds they cause."
"love is an independent spirit; being cautious may help us to avoid it but can never enable us to overcome it; once it’s born, it can only die of natural causes or complete hopelessness."
"this charm we find in other people is all in the mind; it’s only love which makes the loved one appear so wonderful."
"I regret that I have not the talents of a thief. Should these not, in fact, enter into the education of a man who is mixed up in intrigues? Would it not be agreeable to filch the letter or the portrait of a rival, or to pick from the pockets of a prude the wherewithal to unmask her? But our parents have no thought for anything...."
Having long been a fervent partisan of Ernest Dowson's best poems, especially the sublime "Cynara," I was not surprised to find Dowson's translation of this French classic to be a delight, stylistically: so many grammatically complex long sentences...so deliciously rococo! I was also impressed by the relative depth and sensitivity of Laclos's characterization of the Marquise de Merteuil, particularly in Letter 81, wherein her backstory is presented; I found this all the more remarkable given that Merteuil is a woman character written by an 18th-century male author. And while the novel's plot is admittedly at first slow to pick up steam, I was gratified to find it speeds up amply by the end.
I have to say, however, that I'm annoyed by the way courtships seem to have been conducted in the 18th century (the way they're portrayed in this novel, anyway). The script seems to be that someone declares their "love" for someone else, is politely rebuffed, and then goes on to self-righteously harangue their rebuffer for their "pitilessness," "hardheartedness," etc., until they finally guilt them into making a concession...and this strategy of faux-moral browbeating apparently worked for some people? How?? I think I would've run for the hills.
Anyway, here are a couple other quotes that tickled me:
"That is so like men! All equally rascally in their designs, the weakness they display in the execution they christen probity."
"The woman who consents to talk of love soon finishes by feeling it, or at least by behaving as if she did."
"It is not that I doubt your skill, but it is the good swimmers who get drowned."
"What merit lies therein that is really your own?...[W]it, in truth: but jargon would supply its place at need."
This was a hard book for me to finish. Starting out it had a lot of strikes in it's favor already--it's epistolary in style, which is my least favorite style of novel ever; it's about horrible people doing horrible things to each other, which isn't necessarily a deal breaker but is a thing I need to be in a specific mood for; it's got a couple movie adaptations out, both of which I've seen, which can make it difficult for me to settle into a book, particularly if I enjoyed the movie adaptation; and finally, on a physical note, the book was literally falling apart in my hands as I read. I did manage to finish, but my overall impression of the book was mostly neutral. I didn't like it, but I also didn't hate it.
The book is definitely well-written, which is probably what made the epistolary style tolerable for me. The characters are clearly defined, and I never found myself thinking "Who?" when someone's name was mentioned. It's also a book written in the 1700s, though, and a lot of standard rules of characterization and development don't seem to have been in general practice at this point. Laclos' characters do have definitive arcs, but they're all just a little bit too archetypal, in my opinion. Granted, this could be because since the novel was first published, these character types have become archetypes even though they weren't originally, and generally, I tend to allow for looser characterization in general in classic literature.
I think the thing I found most disappointing about the book was that the Marquise de Merteuil's story line ended with her being socially and physically punished. Clearly French society at the time the book was published wouldn't have accepted it if she'd gotten away Scot-free, but there was something very moralizing and pat about her ending.
The book is definitely well-written, which is probably what made the epistolary style tolerable for me. The characters are clearly defined, and I never found myself thinking "Who?" when someone's name was mentioned. It's also a book written in the 1700s, though, and a lot of standard rules of characterization and development don't seem to have been in general practice at this point. Laclos' characters do have definitive arcs, but they're all just a little bit too archetypal, in my opinion. Granted, this could be because since the novel was first published, these character types have become archetypes even though they weren't originally, and generally, I tend to allow for looser characterization in general in classic literature.
I think the thing I found most disappointing about the book was that the Marquise de Merteuil's story line ended with her being socially and physically punished. Clearly French society at the time the book was published wouldn't have accepted it if she'd gotten away Scot-free, but there was something very moralizing and pat about her ending.
The Marquise de Merteuil is one of my absolute favorite literary creations of all time.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Gaslighting