stagnes's review against another edition

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4.0

Boo, capitalism.

benedettal's review against another edition

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2.5

Balzac continues to fall short for me, and honestly, due to no fault of his own. Realism/naturalism never was for me, and the way you can spot the tragedy from a mile away just doesn’t endear me to his work. Granted, it’s no grand tragedy at that, which may be the problem. It’s all about class disparity, victorian family dynamics, all revolving around a dutiful young woman who attracts men not only for her qualities, but especially for the money she stands to inherit. By being guarded closely by an overbearing father who’s more so after protecting his money, her happiness is precluded and her future becomes a strictly economic affair. It’s not what I personally find entertaining, so unfortunately this wasn’t super enjoyable, although not altogether uninteresting. 

megglesthemagnet's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

4.75

shucheta's review against another edition

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3.0

The story is quite simple, but enjoyed the slice of life approach. In some places, especially the beginning felt more like a play than a novel.

jbrieu's review against another edition

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4.0

Jamais lu avant. Un récit simple mais sur un temps long. Balzac est vraiment un maître.

miinaa_tabti95's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

hiner112's review against another edition

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4.0

Being a miser can destroy lives and being a good person is no guarantee that you'll have a good life.

terenehidia's review against another edition

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4.0

I am not sure if there is a more terrifying character in fiction than Pere Grandet, The terror comes from the knowledge that people like him exist in the world. Balzac is just a master of telling the story of the human experience, granted in Paris in the 18th century but the timelessness and the real story is how we react to, help, hurt and shape each other personally and socially. Individuals and communities. So interesting, I hope to read everything Balzac wrote.

kris_mccracken's review against another edition

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3.0

Incredibly depressing read. One miserable bugger keeps being a miserable bugger and makes all around him miserable and they all die. Miserably.

marfarzan's review against another edition

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1.0

I read Eugenie Grandet after a long period of non-classics reading and till the end, I just thought either the way people in 18th century thought was too simple or the way we think is too complicated, because the characters happened to seem so predictable too me. The good ones were too stupid and the bad ones were caricatures of villains. In my opinion nothing really important happened during the story and if it wasn't for the reducing number of pages, I would've thought the main story hasn't begun yet. And at the end I just thought why should one even care?
Or maybe simply I am mentally incapable of understanding a masterpiece!