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Rating: 
Summary: A Subtle Novel
Review: A blend of politics, human psychology, subtle romance, and (both real and fictionalized) history. The beginning of the novel is interesting but a little dense and readers may get discouraged, especially as the sentences are fairly complex. However it gets much easier and flows much quicker when the story picks up with the introduction of Van Baerle and his neighbor. I encourage you to keep reading if you are interested in its following key points: -- The characters are incredibly believable and have developed personalities that are realistically complex.
-- The depiction of tragedy, justice, despair are noteworthy.
-- The story is rich and flows smoothly.
-- It's an interesting look at the past, especially the politics and the references to the tulip-craze of Europe some hundreds of years ago. Even though it has fictional elements it still feels like you're holding a slice of the past in your hand.
-- I've always hated romances, but the love in this story is carefully drawn with a subtle touch and depicted with realism. Genuinely entertaining.
-- It's depiction of the ways that popular opinion can be swayed and deceived by politics, nationalism, and patriotism is chilling.
-- It simultaneously shows us human nobility and human pettiness. When I first picked up this book I didn't expect much. When I finished it I realized how much the impression it made lasts with me.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: Having read two of Dumas' longer novels, I was anxious to read one of his shorter ones. To keep it shorter, there are fewer characters, and therefore the interaction between them is more frequent and intense. The Black Tulip is also a great glimpse into the world of flowers in Holland. Many have heard of the tulip frenzy. This book gives a glimpse of it and what it drove men to do. Also, there is the forbidden romance between two that should really have no contact at all between themselves. Dumas weaves their tale, and their emotional stress in a very believable manner. This is Dumas' most famous novel, and one of his shortest. At 200 or so pages it is a fast read full of intrigue and twists. If you like drama with historical footnotes interwoven, then you will enjoy this book. EJ
Rating: 
Summary: Everyone has an off day
Review: I find it amazing that the same man who wrote such literary masterpieces as "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Three Musketeers" could also write "The Black Tulip." I can only assume that it was written either very early, or very late in Dumas' career, or that he really needed the money. "The Black Tulip" is the story of revolutionary Holland in the 17th century, and how Cornelius, the Godson of a political leader killed by angry revolutionaries, is wrongfully imprisoned based on the anonymous accusation of his next door neighbor, who covets Cornelius's ability to grow exceptional tulips. The story revolves around Cornelius who is forced to choose between which is more important to him: his love of tulips; or the love of Rosa, a simple peasant girl who befriended him in prison. That's it. Now, I can easily understand how, due to cultural differences, the cultivation of Tulips might have been a more significant part of seventeenth century life than it is today, but even so, its a pretty bland topic. Yeah, if the only other choice you're presented with is the new John Grisham best-seller and you're faced with a two-hour layover in National Airport, this book will definately hold its own -- but I don't think there's enough plot in the book to maintain a even a low-budget Movie-of-the-Week on TBS.
Rating:
Summary: Give us these complete editions
Review: I was introduced to Alexandre Dumas' Black Tulip in the 1950s via the Classics Comics adaptation. A few years later, I read an English translation of the novel, which may or may not have been complete. One current paperback edition says with honesty that they have chosen to reprint an abridged translation. But Penguin gives it to us complete, in the translation of Robin Buss.
Buss restores passages that others have omitted, such as a two-page description of the city of Haarlem in Chapter 31. Although he tries to give us a complete, authentic text, he does introduce modern colloquialisms. One translation says that Boxtel "scolded" Rosa's father. Buss's says that "he told him off." This may be anachronistic, but it does add to the effect and does not compromise the author's intentions. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the original French text at this time.
I usually have to read novels in English, either original or a translation. I seek out complete, unabridged editions. I figure that I want to be the one to decide what to gloss over or read superficially. I don't want the translator to make the decision for me on what to cut out. Vive Robin Buss!
Rating:
Summary: An Exciting and Romantic Tale
Review: In "The Black Tulip", Alexandre Dumas proves again his ability to mix adventure and romance to create an exciting and romantic tale. Although Dumas may have distorted history significantly in this story, the image of late 17th century Holland which he presents is accurate and vivid enough to give the reader a lasting impression of society and culture in this period. The execution of Jann and Cornelius De Witte and the romance between Van Baerle and Rosa are portrayed with such detail that readers are not likely to forget this book. I strongly recommend this tale to any who love adventure, history and romance.
Rating:
Summary: An Exciting and Romantic Tale
Review: In "The Black Tulip", Alexandre Dumas proves again his ability to mix adventure and romance to create an exciting and romantic tale. Although Dumas may have distorted history significantly in this story, the image of late 17th century Holland which he presents is accurate and vivid enough to give the reader a lasting impression of society and culture in this period. The execution of Jann and Cornelius De Witte and the romance between Van Baerle and Rosa are portrayed with such detail that readers are not likely to forget this book. I strongly recommend this tale to any who love adventure, history and romance.
Rating:
Summary: TRUE STORY
Review: SOME PEOPLE MIGHT FIND THIS BOOK "BLAND" BUT SUCH IS TRUE LIFE! THE PEOPLE WRITTEN ABOUT IN THIS BOOK ARE MY GGG-GRANDPARENTS, THE DE WIT'S. EACH GENERATION PASSED DOWN THIS INFORMATION TO THE NEXT SO AS TO KEEP THE BOOK ALIVE. IT'S AN ACCURATE PORTRAYAL OF LIFE IN 17TH CENTURY HOLLAND AND THE DESCRIPTIONS GIVEN ARE SO ACUTELY DESCRIBED YOU CAN IMAGINE LIVING DURING THAT TIME. IT'S FULL OF TURMOIL SORROUNDING THE POLITICAL NATURE OF THE DAY WITH REAL HEROISM. IT'S A GREAT PLEASURE TO SAY I'M A DE WIT DESCENDANT.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: The sentences in the beginning of the book are very long. So long that you might lose track of what it is that you're reading ;). However, if you look past that and keep reading I'm sure that you'll find that it really does get better. The only bone I have to pick is with the love interest Rosa. She is a rather weak female character if you ask me. She's got the whole swooning thing going on, and while I realize that this book was written a century before a Women's Rights Movement, I'm still annoyed that women's characters were either conniving and murderous or swoony and stupid. Otherwise the story is quite good; you're totally rooting for Cornelius and his black tulip!
Rating:
Summary: Flower power
Review: This book is not to be recomended by those who want an exciting swashbuckling tale on a par with Dumas' incomparable musketeer stories. It is to this end that many reviewers and readers of this book leave with an unfriendly opinion of this book. Although it is Dumas' last book, it is in my opinion one of his best. It tells the heartwarming tale of Cornelius van Baerle who lives purely to try and cultivate the rare and wonderous black tulip. However when Cornelius' godfather is asassinated he, without knowing it, enters a dangerous game of cat and mouse with his jealous neighbour (and tulip fancier) Issac Boxtel who has seen Cornelius being given a letter by his godfather. To this end Cornelius is jailed whereupon he falls in love with Rosa, the beautiful daughter of his jailer. Rosa aids Cornelius to cultivate his tulip inside the jail and they eventually succeed only to have it cruely stolen by Boxtel. I wont ruin the ending by telling you what happens, suffice to say I feel that for the first time in his writing career Dumas wrote a "Happy ever after" ending which irritated me to some extent. I do love this book and it earns its place alongside Dumas' great novels, my main reason for loving it so much is its final lines, it is one of the greatest pieces of philosophy I have ever heard, but it is important to read the book to fully understand its meaning, I know it so well that I can reel it off the top of my head thus, " ... he wrote above his door these lines that Grotius had carved on the wall of his prison on the day of his escape: "Sometimes one has suffered enough to have the right never to say: I am too happy"
To me these words have a beautiful resonance that is not only lovely to think of but accurate as well, I feel that anyone who reads this book and fails to be moved, if by nothing else by the bathos of the denoument, then they have ultimately failed to appreciate the true beauty and skill of one of the finest novelists to ever pick up a writing implement. This book is a thing of beauty, perhaps the tulip itself is a simple microcosm of the book, to start off it appears to be nothing special, but in the hands of someone who is aware of its true worth it is as priceless as the world itself.
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