Book Review: The Black Sheep

The Black Sheep by Honoré de Balzac

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I like to pick up Balzac whenever I feel like watching a train wreck, and to this point, he has never disappointed. The Black Sheep is no exception. It is full of some really compelling characters: the charming, charismatically cunning Maxence Gilet; Phillipe Bridau, the selfish, supremely self-involved favorite son who is the apple of his mother's eye; and Flore, the poor crab-girl taken in by a rich doctor, who makes the very unfortunate mistake of falling in love, are only a few of the interesting people here. The book takes a while to get going--about a 100 pages or so--but once it hits, it's a non-stop ride of plots and counter-plots, cringe-worthy naivete, and a game where the reader is constantly wondering which of the villains MOST deserves to be strung up. While the book takes its time setting up the conflict, and the ending is both a bit drawn out and too abrupt (I know, weird, but you'll see what I mean), this is still one of my favorite Balzac works.



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