Does Jean really have aspirations? More likely it is his father that does so. A poor bookbinder, he pushes his son through college, fosters an opportunity to enter the government servicebut to little avail. Jean is more interested in his drunken acquaintances and in pursuing an actress. All is finally resolved during the Franco-Prussian War. At one point Jean appears to by a National Guard, but at the end that role becomes obscured. Not one of my favorite books, it is dull at the start, then gradually picks up a bit of steam: not much though.

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