The Guest of Quesnay [Hardcover]

Booth Tarkington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2007

1908. The book begins: There are old Parisians who will tell you pompously that the boulevards, like the political cafes, have ceased to exist, but this means only that the boulevards no longer gossip of Louis Napoleon, the Return of the Bourbons, or of General Boulanger, for these highways are always too busily stirring with present movements not to be forgetful of their yesterdays. In the shade of the buildings and awnings, the loungers, the lookers-on in Paris, the audience of the boulevard, sit at little tables, sipping coffee from long glasses, drinking absinthe or bright-colored sirops, and gazing over the heads of throngs afoot at others borne along through the sunshine of the street in carriages, in cabs, in glittering automobiles, or high on the tops of omnibuses. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (July 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0548013195
• ISBN-13: 978-0548013199
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fresh Approach, October 26, 2009

By 

Dave_42 "Dave_42" (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Guest of Quesnay (Hardcover)

In reading early Booth Tarkington it was apparent that he had used and reused several themes changing only slightly the viewpoint in which it was told or a minor change to the circumstances in the stories. That is not the case with "The Guest of Quesnay" which was originally serialized in "Everybody's Magazine" between November of 1907 and April of 1908. Tarkington moves the story out of Indiana, and more importantly moves away from the good man up against the bad world theme which had become much too repetitive.

The scene of the action moves to Europe, where Tarkington had based a couple of his shorter novels ("Monsieur Beaucaire", and "His Own People") though this story isn't anything like those. The story is told by an American who is living in France and who dabbles at painting. The story is one which is cleverly crafted, dealing with the narrators, friends, acquaintances, and the famous and/or notorious figures which exist for purposes of the story. While Tarkington probably gives too many hints as to where his story is going and the surprises along the way, as he often did, it is not nearly as transparent a story as many of his others. That, along with it not having the same basic theme makes this one an interesting read and one of his books to read if you are interested in his best works.

Of the novels which he had written up to this point, I would rank this one second only to "The Two Vanrevels", and I would also consider his collection of short fiction based on his political career "In The Arena" to be slightly superior to this work. This would be the last novel for Booth Tarkington for several years, until "The Flirt" which was published in December through February of 1912-1913. In the interim, he published a shorter work titled "Beasley's Christmas Party" and a couple of plays titled "The Man from Home" and "Beauty and the Jacobin".