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Dangerous Liaisons improves as it progresses. I was tempted to abandon it, but I persisted and am glad, for--although this epistolary novel of the last days of the ancien regime initially appears to be stylish but superficial--it soon grows in both subtlety and power. Many of the difficulties of the Leggi tutto

That rare feeling, that glow and knowing smile when you finish a book that satisfies you completely. I took my sweet time with this epistolary novel because it was delicious and I did not want it to end. Plus, I could only read a limited amount of letters in one day. The novel takes the form of a fa Leggi tutto

Subtle. This work is a clinical study of libertines, libertinism and vice-like virtue. A reflection served by a sumptuous text and superb language. A lot of subtlety in the text's nuances makes this prose a peak in the profusion of details and intensity. There was a strong feeling in the era, and its a Leggi tutto

An absolutely magnificent novel! To think that it was published in 1782, seven years before the French Revolution. Liberté égalité fraternité! It has been argued that the novel thus caught a doomed aristocracy distracted by decadent and libertine ways that would soon be its undoing. The gift the nov Leggi tutto

Oh the painful brilliance of these letters! Someone recently said to me that it is sad that people have stopped writing old-fashioned letters, being so much more personal and private than the frequently impolite, monosyllabic insults people tend to spit out on Twitter, Facebook and in various commen Leggi tutto

«Η επανάσταση έγινε απο τους φιλήδονους». «-Έχει αναβαθμιστεί η ηθική; -Έχει υποβαθμιστεί η ενεργητικότητα του κακού; -Η μωρολογία έχει αντικαταστήσει το πνεύμα; "Το γαμήσι και η δόξα απο το γαμήσι είναι άραγε πιο ανήθικα απ'τον σημερινό τρόπο με τον οποίο λατρεύουμε και με τον οποίο αναμειγνύουμε το ι Leggi tutto

By the second letter, the film "Cruel Intentions" bloomed in my mind. I never even bothered to learn where that movie was adapted from. Now, I'm quite happy to have come upon this book ( I just love the "Surprise Yourself" stack at my library). I was intimidated at first, but after a few pages, I wa Leggi tutto

Yesterday, as I was finishing this book, I thought I was going to give it four stars. When I finished it, I gave it five. Today, I believe it might be the best book I've read so far this year. It is chiselled in my mind. I keep telling everyone that they must read it. Like Baudelaire said, it is a b Leggi tutto

Definitely the best epistolary book I have ever read and probably one of the best novels displaying the double morale in the eighteenth century Paris. Monsieur de Laclos masters the style, creating two hero-villain characters whom, although monsters without scruples, one can't help to admire. They ar Leggi tutto

Letter 94. Viscomte de Rayner to the Goodreads Community This morning, I thought of M. de Laclos's charming novel for the first time in years, when an interfering busybody saw fit to edit my Quiz question about it. I was forced to spend an hour checking the text, so that I could thoroughly refute her Leggi tutto