Search - Cousin Bette: Part One of Poor Relations

If you liked Pere Goirot or Eugenie Grandet, try Cousin Bette. In the way of many 19th century writers, Balzac sets up his characters as embodiments of Avarice, Gluttony, Lust, and Anger or Filial Loyalty and Wifely Fidelity. Another fault is that the story gets held up by Balzac going off on his usual tangents. Some, like the informative asides about Paris and provinces, are interesting because the reader gets the feeling that Balzac knows what he is talking about. But at other times – like his stereotypes about the Poles and other Slavic peoples – the gentle reader feels like smacking the cocksure Balzac. Readers looking for Dickens with lots of edge but not quite up to Dostoevsky for the next serious 19th century novel they want to read are advised to check out this story of harlotry, revenge, and the hare-brained antics of middle-aged men.