![]() ![]() I will neither be listening to Homewood again nor reading more books by Stendhal. So I did not enjoy the humor, or the wordy writing, or the incredible romances. The French pronunciation was fine but I disliked his added dramatics, even if perhaps he was merely exaggerating what the author intended to be exaggerated. I must repeat my earlier statement found below: if this is a book that is supposed to offer a psychological study of characters, why are my feelings toward Julien, the main character, only lukewarm? The famed actor Bill Homewood narrated the audiobook I listened to. The question is - did I ever really laugh? No. I preferred the more subtle humor at the beginning. This is a book of satire and by the end the author's "message" has been pounded into you. The book is extremely slow, even if it does pick speed as it nears the end only to fall again to turtle velocity at the conclusion. Perhaps that was a translation problem? I am not sure. ![]() ![]() I was bugged to no end by the excessive use of etcetera and etcetera over and over again. The language is old-fashioned, formal, complicated and wordy. The writing becomes more and more absurd the further you progress into the novel. I disliked the intertwining of its two central themes, one being a criticism of French Bourbon society after the fall of Napoleon and the crazy, unbelievable love affairs. ![]()
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