The Charterhouse of Parma in Never too Late to Read Classics

Feb 14, 2022 Chrissie rated it did not like it

Shelves: france, classics, hf, audible-uk, returned, adventure, austria, 2022-read, italy, switzerland

This didn't fit me at all. I will explain why. You then must determine if your likes and dislikes match up with mine.

I am not judging Stendhal’s book. Who am I to make such a judgment?! My rating merely reflects my personal appreciation of it. My one star rating indicates only that I personally do not like it.

The story circles around court romances and intrigues. The setting is predominantly Italy after Waterloo. At the start, the central figure goes off to fight under Napoleon. We travel with h This didn't fit me at all. I will explain why. You then must determine if your likes and dislikes match up with mine.

I am not judging Stendhal’s book. Who am I to make such a judgment?! My rating merely reflects my personal appreciation of it. My one star rating indicates only that I personally do not like it.

The story circles around court romances and intrigues. The setting is predominantly Italy after Waterloo. At the start, the central figure goes off to fight under Napoleon. We travel with him to France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria, but the Italian area around Parma is home. It is not the common folk that we rub shoulders with but instead princes and dukes and duchesses, counts and countesses, marquis, archbishops and others of high standing that we associate with. There are brigands to be outwitted. What is delivered are tales of adventure and romance and intrigue. Conflagrations, poisonings, obductions, imprisonments and escapes fill the tale. Swooning romances too. The tale is plot oriented. Both the prose and the unfurling of the plot are way too soap-operatic for my taste. Take what I am saying seriously. The story is so overdone. One may laugh at its ridiculousness, sneer in distain or yawn of pure boredom.

I did follow the tale to the end. The only good point I can think of is that it doesn’t end with a super cute happy ending. You could reasonably say that Stendhal draws a realistic picture of Italian court life. I assume Stendhal was intending us to view that which is drawn with irony.

Eduardo Ballerini narrates the audiobook. His narration magnifies the soap-operatic tone of the tale. One might reason that it is a good narration because it has the same tone and style as the prose. The writing was hard enough for me to swallow. I didn’t enjoy further melodrama and exaggeration even if this does reflect the tone of the writing. Nope, I didn’t like the narration at all. Ballerini speaks the Italian words rapidly. This makes it harder to hear the names. This isn’t a serious problem though because most characters are known by their title.

Neither the narration nor the tale is to my liking. I have given both one star. If you enjoy novels of romance and melodramatic court intrigues, this book may be just your cup of tea. I am not going to try another Stendhal. I’ve had enough.

You should be happy. I copied down a whole bunch of lines to show you how ridiculous they were. I am sparing you them.

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*The Red and the Black 1 star
*The Charterhouse of Parma 1 star ...more

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Jul 03, 2012 GONZA rated it really liked it · review of another edition

La storia di Fabrizio è lunga e, in finale, non delle più allegre, anche se questo si intravede anche abbastanza dall'inizio.
Particolare la sovrapposizione di stili secondo me diversi nel romanzo: la vena umoristica, il risvolto a feuilletton e le fughe alla Dumas, almeno io ho avuto la sensazione che questo fosse una specie di libro che mischiava differenti stili, o probabilmente sono solo io che ho fatto una gran confusione...
Personaggio importante quanto fabrizio è la Sanseverina ed il suo ...more

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Mar 03, 2008 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, french-literature

The Charterhouse of Parma chronicles the adventures of the young Italian nobleman Fabrice del Dongo from his birth in 1798 to his death. Fabrice spends his early years in his family’s castle on Lake Como, while most of the rest of the novel is set in a fictionalized Parma (both locations are in modern-day Italy).

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