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Aug 31, 2011

Kim rated it:

For a novel published in 1885 and set in the Paris of that period, this novel has a remarkably modern feel. It's about sleazy journalism, corrupt politicians, sex, money and power. And through it all is the Bel-Ami of the title - Georges Duroy, who uses his liaisons with rich and / or powerful women to achieve the wealth and social position he craves. Bel-Ami is the nickname given to him by the daughter of a mistress. It means "handsome (or beautiful) friend", but the nickname, like al More...

6 comments like (6 people liked it)

Mar 25, 2009

Manny rated it:

On the surface, the moral of the book is simple: be a complete bastard, treat all the women you meet like dirt and exploit them as much as possible, and you'll be a stunning success. The author stays deadpan thoughout; it's impossible to tell for sure whether he's being ironic, though one strongly suspects he is. Fans of the Flashman series will probably enjoy this too.

Isaiah's comment highlighted for me why the book is so fascinating. Most people don't want to admit to themselves ho More...

15 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 27, 2011

Foster rated it:

Bel-ami, is a novel about money, sex and power. relationships between politics and press, dominated by ferocious self interest prostituted values. This inst a book i would normally pick up and read but i thought to give it a try, and i'm glad i did.

The novel revolves around the activities and adventures of George Duroy, who is an aspiring journalist returning from French-occupied Algeria. He decides to try his luck in Paris, and for some reason, his luck is stellar. He meets one man, w More...

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Dec 20, 2011

Roberta rated it:

Concepito e scritto nell’arco del 1884, nel 1885 Bel-Ami venne pubblicato a puntate sul giornale “Gil Blas” e in volume presso l’editore Harvard. Ambientato in una Parigi ostaggio di una borghesia cinica e corrotta, Bel-Ami racconta l’ascesa di uno di questi “mostri”, che in virtù del suo disincanto e della sua mancanza di scrupoli si assicura la ricchezza e l’avanzamento sociale.

Il romanzo suscitò molte polemiche per via del personaggio Walter, proprietario ebreo del giornale presso i More...

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Feb 08, 2011

Joselito rated it:

If Flaubert has his heroine Madame Bovary, then Guy de Maupassant has his hero, George Duroy, nicknamed "Bel Ami" ( can't understand, however, why in the English translation of the book "Bel Ami" is translated as "Pretty Boy" when it actually means "good friend" and "pretty/beautiful boy" is "beaux garcon"). Both characters, you will either love or hate.

Had George Duroy (he later changed it to "George Du Roy" aft More...

5 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2010

Esther rated it:

Yes, Bel-Ami was a nasty person. But he wasn't the only one. All of the women were *married* - except for Suzanne, the last (who is the one I feel sorry for). The rest all made conscious decisions to do the wrong thing, and it shouldn't have been surprising to them that bad would come of it.

Having just read "Envy" by Epstein, it's hard for me not to note that Bel Ami was a person driven by that emotion. Up to the very end, when he has attained so much, he looks around him More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jul 13, 2010

James rated it:

Maupassant is always easy to read and superbly engaging. I've read a few of his novels in the past, most recently Pierre and Jean, a powerful story about sibling rivalry. That novel, short as it is, managed to capture a very distinct and vivid world, and while Maupassant's characteristic pessimism is there shading the background, it was not overwhelming and it did not mar the story.

With Bel Ami, however, I think the pessimism is a bit too glaring. The story follows the improbable asc More...

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Jul 20, 2010

Lavinia rated it:

The 3-star rating technically means I liked it. Well, actually I didn't exactly enjoy the subject (forget the writing style, I didn't depict anything spectacular, though I read some Maupassant in the past), but the plot in itself must have had something catchy since the book reads in basically no time, once you're into it.

So, there's this guy, Georges Duroy, poor, hungry, not particularly endowed with any skills, wandering the streets of Paris. Once he meets the right people and make More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 07, 2010

Catherine rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 26, 2012

Hareton rated it:

ძალიან მომწონა.
არ მოველოდი, იმიტომ რომ ფრანგული კლასიკის უმეტესობა ახლა უკვე სათქმელდაკარგულია და ენაც მოუხეშავი, გაწელილსიუჟეტიანი.
მაგრამ მოპასანი ისე კარგად აღწერს დიდებისკენ მიმავალ გზას. ფინალი ყველაზე მეტად მომეწონა - დატოვა მანკიერი გმირი დიდების მწვერვალზე.
მწერლის დამოკიდებულებამ მომხიბლა - თითქოს ერთგვარად ამართლებს კიდეც ასეთ გზას, თუკი მის პირად ცხოვრებას, მრწამსსა და მსოფლმხედველობასაც გავითვალისწინებთ. ზოლასავით მსახვრალი არაა, უფრო ლმობიერი და განყენებულია. More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2011

Kim rated it:

What I liked about this book is that the protagonist (if you can truly call him that) does something that most main characters never do: he doesn't change. Granted, he changes on the "outside" by becoming more successful, wealthy and popular. But he never takes that journey inside himself - realizing his flaws, eradicating them, then enjoying a happy ending - that most characters do. When we first meet DuRoy he is a morally repugnant guy. When the story ends he is the same jerk with More...

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Jun 27, 2011

Tim rated it:

Very enjoyable; I can see my self reading some more of his work, in fact I just ordered a collection of his short stories. I'm not sure what the attraction exactly was, it wasn't because I found Georges particularly a nice or admirable character, so it wasn't that. It wasn't the story per se either, being a little thin in the plot department, just not a lot to it, a moral fable of sorts for sure, that is hard to miss, but what I think held me to this book was the clear style, the crisp sentences More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 02, 2011

Gisele Alv rated it:

Una de mis novelas clasicas favoritas! El personaje de George Duroy, es tan mujeriego, que con tal de subir de escala social, hace lo que sea, se aprovechas de las amistades, de sus amantes, es tramposo, escurridizo, hijo de campesinos, nace pobre y al principio es un poco mediocre, pero las ganas de ser alguien en la sociedad parisiense, lo hacen inescrupuloso, al borde de crear conflictos personales, con el fin de sacar el mejor provecho de las situaciones. Senti pena por los personajes femeni More...

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Apr 10, 2011

Ajableu rated it:

I loved Bel-Ami. George Du Roy, nicked named Bel Ami or "Beautiful Friend" or "Pretty Boy" as my translation called him, manages to climb his way to the top of society through artful seduction, lust, and greed. You will fall in love with George, a tall and elegant Playboy who becomes a journalist for a Parisian journal. You will fall in love with the sophisticated women George seduces -- each one smart, charming and deeply in love with George .

I loved Guy de Maupas More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 27, 2011

Christina (A Reader of Fictions) rated it:

Bel Ami tells the story of Georges Duroy, a man with a magnificent mustache and a desire for advancement and women. Throughout the novel, he attempts to obtain these things, using his incredibly seductive mustache. This is not a joke. Oh how I wish it was.

I seriously hated this novel, which I listened to in audiobook form. Almost from the first, I wanted nothing more than to punch this smarmy French bastard in the face. He is an incredibly awful person and has absolutely zero respect More...

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Apr 04, 2011

Marina rated it:

Guy de Maupassant's tale of a womanizer sleeping his way through the aristocracy of Paris to get to the top must have been quite the scandalous read when it was first published. Even by today's standards, Georges Duroy, the book's scoundrel, is a despicable character but the combination of unlikable character, unlikable women and language keep the story at arm's length making it difficult to feel anything for any of the characters. The novel is very factual, chronicaling the events with little e More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2012

Jennifer rated it:

I'm really torn on this book; Although I enjoyed it, I was really disappointed that I didn't "connect" with the characters more. Overall I thought it was fun (and since I didn't connect well, kind of light), ultimately I was expecting a bit more raunch. What can I say? I want the dirty, sexy details :) You do NOT get the dirty details in this book other than "after we'd made love"... yada yada yada.

I thought "Bel Ami" himself was quite clever, but ugh, More...

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Sep 10, 2010

Sonia rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 28, 2007

Kevin rated it:

i read this in school and am rereading it again in the french version. not sure what the translations are like, but Maupassant's French is still so current and this story could be set in today's UWS or in a posh inburb of Chicago or LA. Bel-Ami is a great, horrible character, and Maupassant is able to sustain his short-story telling talent throughout this novel.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 23, 2012

Stefanie rated it:

When Bel-Ami got selected as our next book club read, my heart sank. I'd read Maupassant's short stories at University, and quite enjoyed them - but for some reason, the prospect of translated 19th century french literature didn't sound like a very accessible or enjoyable effort. I was wholly and happily WRONG. Bel-Ami is immediately warm and extremely human in tone, flying off the page so smoothly that I found myself devouring the book in half the time I normally take to read a tome of this len More...

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Jan 19, 2011

Bee rated it:

I started reading this story right after it was announced that Robert Pattinson were to play the protagonist, Georges Duroy, in the filmatisation of the book. Yeah. Since then the movie has been made and is now only waiting for a release date. Had I been reading this book for any other reason I probably would have given up on it a long time ago.

Now this isn't saying that the book is all that bad. It's just not my kind of book. The pace is rather slow and the intrigue a bit repetitive. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 28, 2012

Penny rated it:

In an odd way, this book is an example of how much things can stay the same, even with the passage of vast amounts of time, and on the other hand what has changed.

The story takes place in Paris at the end of World War I. A soldier (the central character)has made it through the war and is now trying to re-establish himself with work and society. He's living a pauper's life until a chance meeting of an old friend.

His friend kindly offers him the assistance he needs to get More...

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Jan 24, 2011

Misskay rated it:

Guy De Maupassant penned his own epitaph: "I have coveted everything and taken pleasure in nothing." Those words truly set the stage for his second written novel, 'Bel Ami'. I really enjoyed reading about Georges Duroy struggles as he slowly climbed his way up to the top as a journalist. You really do start to almost root for Georges, until you remember his conduct is truly disgraceful. Whatever he achieved in his life, it never fully satisfied him. He always wanted more. Even in More...

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Aug 05, 2009

Mazel rated it:

Le monde est une mascarade où le succès va de préférence aux crapules.

La réussite, les honneurs, les femmes et le pouvoir: le monde n'a guère changé.

On rencontre toujours - moins les moustaches - dans les salles de rédaction ou ailleurs, de ces jeunes aventuriers de l'arrivisme et du sexe.

Comme Flaubert, mais en riant, Maupassant disait de son personnage, l'odieux Duroy : " Bel-Ami, c'est moi.

" Et pour le cynisme, la fureur sensuelle, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 15, 2012

Rachael rated it:

"And Duroy, inspired by the silence of the church to indulge in vast conjectures about the world, summed it all up in one lapidary phrase: 'How stupid it all is.'

Bel-Ami is masterfully written, sprinkled with frank, witty humor. I absolutely love Maupassant's writing and this is one of my favorites, despite the fact Duroy is such a horrid character. He's the type of man that you despise—a complete bastard with no respect for anyone but himself. His weakness is his pride, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 01, 2011

Gabriela rated it:

I enjoyed reading this book and while Bel-ami is your world class opportunistic asshole it didn't bother me that he was. In the end it seemed like everyone was being used so Bel-Ami wasn't much different. I presume that for the time this was written, it must have been a scandalous read, even I felt a little scandalized by some of the actions taken by Georges... Specifically how easily he manipulated the women of the aristocracy to get himself to the top no matter the age or marital status...it' More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 28, 2011

Keirstan rated it:

I would never have expected to like a novel featuring a central character as contemptible as George “Pretty-boy” Duroy. However, the authenticity and grandeur of Guy de Maupassant’s Paris in his masterpiece Bel-Ami surpasses the utter smarminess of its antihero. This novel on the corrupt side of human ambition is not only addictive to read, but frighteningly modern as well.

“Bel-ami” (translated to “Pretty-boy” in my edition) is the moniker given to the aspiring journalist George Du More...

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Sep 13, 2011

Andrea (mrsaubergine) rated it:

OK, so the guy on the cover is neither handsome nor particularly young looking, but it goes without saying who I pictured in my head while reading this novella ;)

The subtitle "The History of a Scoundrel" certainly describes this book perfectly. Georges Duroy is a cad of the highest order who has little talent but still manages to claw his way to become the editor of a newspaper. He wins a Legion of Honor medal for being the French foreign minister's PR flunkey, and gains a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 12, 2010

Paula rated it:

Before I continue I should tell you all that I bought ‘Bel~Ami’ on the basis that Robert Pattinson will be playing the part of Georges Duroy in the film, which is currently being filmed, I wanted to find out more about it and I was not disappointed.

Bel ~Ami was written in 1885 and although some part of it is dated, the book does stand the test of time. Georges Duroy is seductive, handsome, determined and treats women like objects without any signs of regret, he knows what he wants a More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 19, 2011

Lapeg rated it:

Echappé des lectures adolescentes, Bel-Ami est à classer à côté des « Illusions perdues » de Balzac, comme peinture délicate du milieu de la presse au 19e s. Sur fond de conquête d'Algérie et de colonialisme européen, Bel-Ami narre le parcours d'un militaire à son retour de campagne. Instruit, il erre en désespérance, jusqu'à ce qu'il croise un compagnon de régiment, carriériste dans la presse. Et voilà, l'ex-militaire d'origine paysanne à l'assaut de la presse et des conquêtes féminines... Le r More...

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