The plot is not exceptional but the main focus is really on examination and development of characters. The authors concept of women seems to inhibit the credible development of their characters compared with the men. (that, or greed is more interesting to depict than cloying virtuousness) This, combined with the transition to focus on women in the latter half could be why it falters toward the end. Still, it has the solid delivery and style of classic French novels.

Perché l’avaro per antonomasia è Scrooge quando esiste il signor Grandet? Balzac non è parco di dettagli concreti: Grandet fa il finto tonto fingendosi un umile vecchietto sordo e balbuziente per concludere gli affari migliori; nonostante la ricchezza accumulata negli anni, costringe moglie e figlia a una vita di rinunce privandole di qualsiasi cosa non sia essenziale, come ad esempio limitando le zollette di zucchero per il caffè

Spoiler

; e alla fine è talmente accecato dal denaro che persino in punto di morte cerca di afferrare il crocifisso d’argento del prete che gli sta dando l’estrema unzione

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Dall’altra parte dello spettro abbiamo invece Eugenia, il cui altruismo potrebbe vacillare di fronte a tante delusioni e tentazioni, e invece trionfa. Siamo a Saumur, una cittadina nell’ovest della Francia, ma di rado usciamo dalla casa, dalle descrizioni minuziose e viscerali degli ambienti chiusi. Non c’è via d’uscita dalla provincia, è tutta pena e miseria, e la fortuna di cui Eugenia si ritrova ereditiera non la salva dalla solitudine.

Grandet covava realmente entro di sé qualcosa, secondo l’espressione usata da sua moglie. Era in lui, come in tutti gli avari, un persistente bisogno di giocare una partita con gli altri uomini, di guadagnar legalmente i loro scudi. Imporsi sugli altri, non è forse compiere un atto di potenza, concedersi perpetuamente il diritto di sprezzare coloro che, troppo deboli, si lasciano in questo basso mondo divorare?

Majoritairement ennuyant avec quelques bons moments

A tragedy in disguise.

This story takes place in the town of Saumur. That is where Eugénie and her normal family live. Her father is a miserly former cooper who hides his fortune from her wife and daughter and forces them to live in an old and frozen house, which he doesn't want to repair because, well, money must be spent and that is exactly what he tries to avoid. Reading this novel made me chuckle several times because let's face it, we have all met a Felix Grandet in real life, at least once. A person who accumulates money simply to see its splendor on the table. He needs to know money is there so he can feel safe. He doesn't have a coat to cope with a freezing afternoon but he sure feels secure while contemplating a pile of money somewhere under his roof. The way those people think it is truly remarkable. They want to make a lot of money, they don't want to spend a dime and before they realize, their lives are over. They merely existed, for they have never lived. Unfortunately, they can't take their wealth to the grave — or wherever we go after we part from this world. If there is such a place. From a practical point of view, only the heirs might be grateful for that kind of life.

Well, I don't know what I was talking about exactly, but it seems like a good time to say that Balzac described places, situations and characters to the last detail, dexterously escaping from tedium, most of the times. His vivid writing allowed me to feel as if I were there, living in an ancient house, sharing moments with poor Eugénie, chatting about how every man who approaches her has an agenda. For that is the other side of this story: people being around other people only to see what profit they might find, since life is a business transaction. Some young men were sent to visit Eugénie as to transmit their marriage proposals, because their families knew about her wealth. Naturally, such thoughtful and hypocrite maneuvers are not something that only appear in the upper class, just as real friendship might be found in every social sphere.
In the end, Eugénie's kindness and noble spirit had to coexist with the avarice of her father, with the materialism of her world. Regardless of the selfish atmosphere in which she had to breathe, she learned that another source of happiness lies in the act of helping others.

This wonderful novel discloses many interesting aspects of our nature. The impact of money on people and their relationships. The superficiality it often helps to attain. The constant search for love in a world of possessions.

Prisoner, tell me
[...]
'I thought I could outdo everybody in the world in wealth and power, and I amassed in my own treasure-house the money due to my king. When sleep overcame me I lay upon the bed that was for my lord, and on waking up I found I was prisoner in my own treasure-house.'
[b:Gitanjali or Song Offerings: Introduced by W. B. Yeats|28418940|Gitanjali or Song Offerings Introduced by W. B. Yeats|Rabindranath Tagore|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1451604207s/28418940.jpg|2066877], [a:Rabindranath Tagore|36913|Rabindranath Tagore|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1453892068p2/36913.jpg]

Aug 18, 2013
* Edited on March 2017
** Also on my blog.

Chilling. I would like to reread this back-to-back with "Pere Goriot."

Moraleggiante

Dopo aver letto "L’albergo rosso", che mi aveva lasciata un po' dubbiosa, ho voluto dare un'altra occasione a Balzac, e devo dire che questo titolo mi ha convinta di più, non tanto per la trama quanto per lo stile.
Monsier Grandet può rivaleggiare con Arpagone di Molière, e Balzac non ha risparmiato critiche sferzanti alla borghesia provinciale così come alla vita mondana di Parigi.
Ho dovuto aumentare la velocità della versione audio, lenta in modo esasperante, anche per i motteggi dell'interprete che si divertiva a scimmiottare voci diverse per ogni personaggio.

Boo, capitalism.