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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good as gold, December 1, 2004
This review is from: Eugï¿1/2nie Grandet (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)
Monsieur Grandet, the father of the titular heroine of Balzac's short novel "Eugenie Grandet," is not just a miser; he is a caricature of a miser, a modern Midas whose first love is gold, as ornately drawn as Dickens's Scrooge, but somehow more believable. He is an elderly vintner living with his wife and daughter Eugenie, his only child, in a provincial French town called Saumur, and even they don't know exactly how much money he has. He is so stingy he has let his house fall into decrepitude and doles out basic necessities like sugar, candles, and firewood as though there were a shortage. He is so sinfully avaricious that even on his deathbed he can only lust for the priest's silver crucifix. He is devious, too--he has a disarmingly strange business manner in which he feigns stammering and deafness to derail his opponent's train of thought. He is, in short, one of the best characters a reader could hope for.
Given the power of Grandet's presence and the extremity of his greed, a reader might expect him to be due for a fall, but Balzac is more interested in demonstrating how Eugenie becomes a noble woman despite, or perhaps because of, her parental influence. The story concerns the fortune of her spoiled but innocent cousin Charles, the son of Grandet's younger brother in Paris, and how she deals with his change in personality after he goes abroad to seek employment after his father's debt-induced suicide and returns having engaged in the cruel enterprise of slave trading. (I was reminded of Ibsen's Peer Gynt, who is hardened by the competitiveness of world commerce into rationalizing his immoral business pursuits.) He forsakes his love for Eugenie by arranging a marriage of convenience to another girl to increase his social status, revealing himself to be as cold and calculating as his uncle, but Eugenie triumphs in the end through her magnanimity.
This is the third Balzac novel I've read, and the third I'd label a masterpiece. Here we have a fascinating study of the interplay between four very strong characters--Old Grandet, his sheltered and naive but soon-to-be-wise daughter, his libertine nephew, and his trusted female servant Nanon, who appears to have the most goodness and common sense of anybody in the story--woven into an elegant tale that has the simplicity and moral lucidity of a fable with the substance of a Shakespearean drama, the work of a playwright at heart who prefers to write in prose. Whether or not it was his intention, Balzac convinces us, with delicious satire instead of tedious didacticism, that there are lessons to be learned from the examples set by flawed as well as virtuous people.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book!, November 30, 2008
This review is from: Eugï¿1/2nie Grandet (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)
This book was actually a quick read, but still full of content. I was very pleased with this being by Balzac novel. I soon read Cousin Bette, which, though long, is also fantastic.
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3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A miserly tale, March 8, 2009
This review is from: Eugï¿1/2nie Grandet (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)
A miserly, selfish tale
A stingy, avaricious, miserly merchant acquires a fortune utilizing cunning and deceit with complete disregard for principle or scruples - like a Republican running for Congress.
His neighbors envious of his wealth and prestige bow and genuflect at his feet, hoping to win his favors while he takes advantage of them at every turn - like conservative voters awaiting the trickle down.
Despite his fortune, his wife, daughter and faithful housekeeper suffer greatly as a result of his pious hypocrisy - like the Christian right.
His dandy nephew, woes his daughter, assures her of his love, takes what little money she has, takes her pride and then breaks her heart - like a Republican administration.
His wife then dies - like a second term.
In the end, justice prevails, the father dies, allowing the meek to inherit his wealth. Only, it turns out they never really needed it - like another tax break for the wealthy.
Bottom line: A great story by a great writer - all politics aside
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