The Red and the Black, Volume II

a worthy satire

(3 stars)

free LeonardPeltier

For some time the main character kept me intrigued but after about the middle of volume two, I became tired of his inability to maintain a settled state of his emotions for more than a few hours. There were periods of time where his prospects changed so rapidly that he alternated between murderous hate and romantic passion and between ecstatic triumph one minute to serious thoughts of suicide the next. As the novel progressed past the middle of the second volume, I found myself becoming less sympathetic and more annoyed with character. What did continue to be amusing were his romantic relationships, so that they became more satirical. For me the most admirable value of the novel was that of an excellent satire of the social culture and morals of the period. The plot itself was too drawn out and repetitive in a way that seemed to detract from what I was expecting to be a great artistic undertaking. Since I liked reading Trollope and Wilkie Collins very much, I cannot be prejudiced toward lengthiness. However I would have given this a higher rating, if it had been shortened by 25 per cent or more.

duncalino

(4 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

Book gets 5 stars...most of the readers are fabulous but for the end. This is a masterpiece which had me hypnotized throughout volume one and two.....until the final dramatic conclusion when I had to stop listening because of the reader. How can it be that the final conclusion and wrap up of a 2 volume masterpiece is randomly assigned to a reader without regard to the listener experience? I understand and agree that LibriVox should be open to one and all. We are not all meant to readers at the expense of the listeners. Instead of listening I had to get a book and read the end

one of the best books of all time

(5 stars)

adam

This is a great book. I loved it, will read it again probably and think Stendhal was a genius. Heck, even the great Nietzsche thought very highly of him. Amazing detail, a picture of a book. Worth every minute.

I don’t know what to say . . .

(3.5 stars)

Unknown

To speak much about the story might be a spoiler. Mostly well read, especially by Malone.

(4 stars)

Lady Lymon

the novel is outstanding but please use narrators that can pronounce,French proper names