Customer Reviews

Bel Ami

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This Oxford World Classic version of Maupassant's masterpiece, "Bel Ami", is a complete package of historic and social context, story and glossary. The story itself has been well-reviewed by Amazon readers, so I will only briefly observe here a few salient features of the book that stood out for me.

A handsome but amoral young man (Georges Duroy) who has been endowed with an extraordinary load of pheromones, comes to Paris after military service to make his fortune. While not well educated or especially gifted with intellect, he is able to game the corrupt society of the time (circa 1884) using his looks and unfailing attraction for women of all ages and stations. His career rise comes through his ruthless manipulation of successive women, who are mostly very willingly used by Duroy, to attain professional and social standing and money. As this is a very pessimistic assessment of the French Third Republic by author Maupassant, the scoundrel not only wins in the end, but his nakedly open methods to gaining success are admired by the society that he is conquering.

This well-translated classic story is accompanied in the Oxford publication by a wonderfully complete introduction by Robert Lethridge, who provides an insightful commentary on the writer as well as explaining the social and political context for "Bel Ami." Lethridge has also compiled the helpful end notes/glossary that explain specific references in the novel.

Overall, this is a brilliant piece of writing by Maupassant, well-presented by Oxford Books. It is more than a little uncomfortable to read at times as the main character is such an unredeemable rotten egg, but the story has such power, that it's very hard to put down.

Ok I am guilty because I purchased the book because I read Robert Pattinson plays Georges Duroy in the film Bel Ami and am anxiously waiting for it. I really did enjoy reading the book and could not put it down and plan on reading the book again.

This book is really,really good. I am so happy that I purchased it. It holds your attention through to the end. I originally purchased this book because, being a Robert Pattinson fan, I knew he was making this movie and knew it would be out in the next year or so. Usually books are so much more detailed than the movies that are made from them so I wanted to read it before I saw the movie. This will be a great movie for Robert Pattinson, so many of us women are madly in love with him and Georges is a character who really attracts the women. I just hope Robert will never use women in real life the way Georges does in the book. It is a very exciting story. I recommend that anyone who likes the Victorian Era, and stories about people who want to get to the top. read this book. "It's great!!!"

Read it to discover why it is a classic. As relevant today as when it was written.

The rise and rise of a sexual opportunist in 1880's Paris. What makes the story so contemporary is that the anti-hero is both contemptible and fascinating, so while acting deplorable you are rooting for him all the way (Tony Soprano, anyone?). Also astonishing is how explicit it is in the sexual behaviour of its protagonists, perhaps not so remarkable for the French, but you would never read of such goings on with such frankness in the contemporary English novel of this period. The first half rambles a bit but is better focused in the second half and improves as it goes along. A relatively unsung masterpiece.

Even I haven't finish reading the book, I can tell is very good written, with a very good translations. Good entertaiment.