The Red and the Black Stendhal ★

[Karin]

This is a classic, but I certainly don’t care for it. There isn’t one likable character, I found the plot and story far less than stellar and, frankly, other than good grammar for the era, couldn’t find one redeeming point in this book other than that, once done, it was finally over. So why, then, bother to read it at all given that I’m long past school? I chose to read it as a group read, and having never read Stendhal before, thought I may as well give it a go. I didn’t read this exact copy, and while I understand that the translator of the library copy I read, Charles Tergie, might not be the best translator of this work around, there is nothing any translator could do to fix the worst parts of this for me.

Naturally, at least one person I know is likely to love this novel or at least like it, and, as always, there is nothing personal about disagreeing on novels such as this. After all, not everyone needs to like a novel’s character to enjoy it. They might like the psychological aspects of it, or appreciate points about it that did nothing for me, and given that this is literature and not something involving human rights or safety and so on and so forth, they are entitled to enjoy it. But, honestly, Julien is so unlikable; at one time brilliant in certain ways and on another so doggone shallow, egotistical and self centred, not to mention rather manipulative at times, with absolutely character growth of any value whatsoever that I just didn’t like him, nor based solely on this novel, could I form any good opinion of the author. Don’t even get me started on the inane character Madame de Rênard or the other women who came into Julien’s life. Based on this novel alone, Stendhal’s understanding of women appears to have been extremely limited and superficial. There wasn’t one woman in the lot I could like.

However, if you frequently love books I hate, try it and see what you think. If you are passionate about nineteenth century French literature you might love it. I’ll stick to authors such as Victor Hugo. For sure, Hugo tended to ramble and lecture, but at least he knew how to create characters we could get behind and root for passionately.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Well, I liked it, though only 4 stars worth. I do read a lot of 19th Century French fiction. Here is the first paragraph of my review, which obviously (given the first sentence) differs from your impression.

This is a real page-turner, but not as satisfying as the other French authors which have become my favorites. This is a story of ambition, and not merely the ambition of Julien Sorel, the main character. It is also the story of the individual ambitions of the clergy and even of the wealthy class. At least that's what I think Stendhal wanted it to be about.

[Karin]

Yes, I do think it was about ambition, but that alone didn't appeal to me, perhaps because I've read plenty of novels about ambition and rarely like what it gets people to do, plus everything I wrote. I could see by the average rating that plenty of readers like it.