Customer Reviews

Camille: The Lady of the Camellias

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Camille is that rarest of all literary creations: a readable, enjoyable classic. This novel tells a good story about the sometimes tragic and scandalous and sometimes joyous life and fortunes of one Marguerite Gautier, a Parisian courtesan, and her lover Armand. The pace in this book doesn't drag, isn't too long, and rises well to the exact conclusion a reader anticipates. This is a frank, even sexually bold sort of novel for its period, and demonstrates again that the nineteenth-century French were willing to delve into subject areas their English counterparts were not. The avenues the romantic entanglements in Camille take combine with other elements to give this tale a more modern feel than most novels of two centuries ago. It's not great literature (in fact it's barely above a well-written romance novel) but it's definitely not bad reading material, either. Three and a half stars is what I'd plant on this work.

As a learner of Spanish, I listened to the book on tape in Spanish as part of a class assignment. To enhance understanding we were assigned to read along in English from a copy the instructor had reserved in the school library. I loved the story so much and it increased my understanding of the Spanish audio. So, with 8 of us sharing the same copy, I decided to purchase my own copy which I have proudly added to my library. It is well written, the characters are interesting and the plot is terrific. A must read.

I found myself sympathetic to Mr. Hugo-Fils because he was apparently born to such a woman, and I guess he also had an affair with such a woman as well. His point that we ought to love all people and "have a heart" is well taken, and in our generation, while the dominant modern view of morality (relativistic subjectivism) prevents us from even feeling any disdain, violence on TV and in movies has cauterized our natural empathy to the point that we tend to ignore anyone not like us rather than wishing them well or even helping them in their distress. The moral development of the main character (if she is the main character, and the narrator or his co-narrator the male lover of the story are not, which is a bit murkey since we go back and forth between their perspectives a lot) is at first a good thing to see, but devoid of "the permanent things" such as placing an importance upon God and/or why we exist, which might have given her the insight to see that her final decision to go back into the life of prostitution was wrong. The character who relates most of the story, the male lover, is so bent by infatuation that at one point he contemplates killing Camille so that no others may have her. That's true love. This point of view seems unreformed throughout the book with his constant digging at her when he doesn't get what he wants, and what he wants is not only faithfulness but real domination. In the end, it certainly may have been him who did kill her, albeit of natural causes. I found this book dark, disturbing and depressing, and did not see in it the redemptive quality that Verdi gave it in the opera La Traviata.

Set and written in the 1840s, this is the story of Marguerite Gaultier, one of Paris's most celebrated and sought-after courtesans. She is rather extravagant when it comes to her spending, and her men know this, which is why they have to be willing to spend a lot of money in order to cover her debts, which amount to over forty francs. But Armand Duval is neither rich nor reputable. He is an average gentleman who happens to be in love with Marguerite. Marguerite is jaded, expects nothing from men, but somehow gives Armand, who cannot afford her, what she has never given anyone before -- her heart. A big risk, considering that she is dying of consumption. Overcome with grief, Armand shares his story with a man who visited the late Marguerite's auction, a tale of a bold, independent and sensual woman and the intense romance that ensues between them.

First of all, this minor classic was penned by Alexandre Dumas, Jr., and not THE Alexandre Dumas who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. I picked up this book assuming this to be a missing or lesser known work of Dumas, but then I noticed the "Fils" after the name, indicating that this is a successor of Dumas. While I enjoyed the desperate love Armand felt for Marguerite and his hopeless desire to have her all to himself, I didn't like this novel. It is well written and some things, especially Marguerite calling the shots in the relationship, are well before their time, but Camille is nevertheless nothing special. How many stories of men who fall for courtesans are out there? There are quite a few. This brings nothing unique into the plate. Alexandre Dumas, Jr. is not comparable to his father. Not even close. Still, you may give this "minor classic" a whirl, for you may feel differently about it. After all, it has been popular enough to inspire several production companies into making films and plays based on it.

Classics are my favorite books. Their wordy, sometimes roundabout, but nevertheless substance-filled sentences make for satisfying, but not necessarily quick reading. This book, however, was as close to a "quick read" as any classic I have ever read. But the story could have been told in an even shorter novel. The narrator recounted his love again and again and made several actions numerous times. The novel felt empty and impersonal, the actions of the main characters and the "love" they felt for each other, based on superficial whims. If written in modern-day prose, this novel would not have been nearly as notable. Nevertheless, because I have a soft spot for classic literature, I enjoyed this book.

I picked up this book on the assumption that it was written by one of my favorite authors: Alexandre Dumas, the author of the Three Musketeers, Count of Monte Cristo, etc. My copy of this book even lists these books as "other books" by the author. Well, I started reading it, and it was terribly boring and not similar at all to other Dumas books I had read. I found myself profoundly disappointed that Dumas would release a book of such poor quality. I was so displeased with it that I didn't even finish the book. It is nothing more than a normal "romance" novel, which has been deemed a classic simply because it is old.

I then turned to Dumas' The Vicomte de Bragelonne, and lo and behold, it mentions in the introduction that Alexandre Dumas had a son who was also named Alexandre Dumas, who wrote Camille. I'm sorry to say that the son does not even come close to living up to the literary ability of the father, and is in fact a quite poor author. Don't be fooled by the name of Alexandre Dumas on this book: it is far worse than any of the hundreds of novels the real Dumas wrote.

Overall grade: F