Rating: 
Summary: MASTERPIECE
Review: This is a great masterpiece of French classics. Knowledge and understanding of Honore De Balzac is a key to understanding the French literature and Frence itself at that time.
Rating:
Summary: Money, Money, Money
Review: This is the first book I've ever read by Balzac, though first published more than 150 years ago, it goes to show how little human nature has changed, the theme here is greed, and some of the characters in this book stop at nothing in their pursuit of money.The title character is Pere Goriot, an ex-pasta merchant with two daughters who are thoroughly spoiled and self centered; he gave all his money to them when they married in the hope that he would live with them and their rich husbands and be cared for in his old age. Instead his daughters refuse to even receive him in their homes, he has become only an object of shame and derision for them and lives on a pittance in a old boarding house, Maison Vauquer, run by the unforgettable Madame Vauquer, a widow of someone. The main character is Eugene de Rastignac, another boarder at la Maison, a honest (at least at the start) young man from the country whose loving family has toiled and saved to be able to send him to law school in Paris, he is brought into the company of the rich and famous, the creme de la creme of Parisian society and begins to think of another path for himself than the one laid out by his family. Almost everyone of the boarders is living for money, some more willing than others to do anything to obtain it. As I was reading this I kept thinking of what a great stage play this would be, this is a true comic tragedy. It was a little difficult to get into a first, it is a translation and a very old book describing times now gone for good, for me it began to flow more easily after 50 or so pages. I think a modern day look too at Pere Goriot would not leave a reader feeling such pity for him because of his daughters' treatment. He became rich by hoarding food and waiting for a famine to make a financial killing off desperate people, then educated his daughters and brought them up to feel themselves to be ladies and superior to other people, I felt like he deserved a lot of what he got, Rastignac is the one I was more interested in.
Rating:
Summary: A well rounded and fulfilling book.
Review: This was the first Balzac book I had ever read because I was told it was his best. I found myself reading it at a fairly quick pace enjoying the bulk of it. Unfortunately the plot goes stale from about pages 30 - 60 but from then on in it is superb. Goriot is a wonderfully written ex pasta merchant who's good intentions are constantly met by depression, mostly thanks to his two daughters Delphine (M. de Nucingen) and Anastasie (M. de Restaud.) They are a pair of spoiled little girls who take their father for granted which eventually brings about his demise. Eugene Rastignac is a countryboy trying to climb into Parisienne society but discovers that it is unfulfilling and empty. Vautrin, a recurring psycopath in Balzac's books, makes an appearance but seems to leave rather suddenly. Overall an excellently written story, although after I read Eugenie Grandet by Balzac I have to admit i preffered that one. None the less, still worth it, better than any of the stuff being printed today. Warning: Every one of Balzac's characters usually has at least two different names, you musrt be fully aware of both of their names at the beginning or you will find yourself grasping and losing the plot.
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