Customer Reviews

The Climates of Love (Modern Romance Classics)

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Andre Maurois (1885-1967) is best known for the biographies he wrote. "Climats" was published in 1928 in between layers of research on Disraeli and Voltaire, which explains the history in the short novel. The variety of topics Maurois covered is quite surprising. He wrote restlessly, fast, and a lot. "Climats of Love" was dedicated to his second wife, Simone de Caillevet, Marce Proust's niece. In French and other languages the novel is titled simply "Climates." The original title leaves more space for speculations. Climates as in geography, different opinions, one's moodiness or all that in a homogenous mixture... Perhaps Maurois' interest in philosophy enabled him to take a break from real people's lives and write about love, jealousy, hatred, weakness, and all the other things we face in life, the ordinary things. "Climates of Love" is simply two journals, two love letters. The story of Philippe and Isabelle is valid in a quite universal way. What do we contemplate most in our conscious lives? Do we avoid needing people, do we deny jealousy, do we admit mistakes? Nothing can confuse us more than matters of the heart. Maurois chose a very light, melancholic tone for this particular book. Could love be love without poetry in France? Perhaps not. The author left a poem on the lines, "...That no lives for ever, That dead men rise up never, That even the weariest river Winds somewhere sofe to sea." Poetry and philosophy brought together usually make up good stories. "Climats" is a soothing story for most readers, despite its tragic end. The siginificance of this book is carried by the compassion in Maurois' language. It is good to read a short novel like "Climates of Love" every once in a while. It brings the comfort of an old-fashioned romance.

This is the best book ever written about the subject: love. The reader feels identified with several parts (or chapters)of the book. Odile and Isabelle are the two different stages of love in any relationship. The book has to be read!

It took me a few pages to realize that this was a book of substance, and once that began I accelerated through it rapidly! The last section (Isabelle's) is very touching and she is a very tragic, compassionate figure.