The Girl With The Golden Eyes

Number: 71
Title: The Girl With The Golden Eyes
Author: Honoré de Balzac
Started: July 12, 2007
Finished: July 12, 2007
Pages: 95
Genre: classic short story

Language: German

Where The Book Came From: From my bookshelf.

First Sentence:

Cover Blurb: [from wikipedia.org - my copy didn't have cover blurb] The story follows the decadent heir Henri de Marsay, who becomes enamored of the titular beauty, Paquita Valdes, and plots to seduce her. Though he succeeds, he becomes disillusioned when he discovers she is also involved with another lover, and plots to murder her. When he arrives to kill her, he discovers she's already dead by the hand of her lover - his half-sister. She declares that Paquita came from a land where women are no more than chattels, able to be bought and used in any way. In the last lines of the story, de Marsay idly tells a friend that the girl has died of consumption.

Reason For Reading: It was originally for a class which I dropped, and for the classics challenge

Comments: Ugh! I read this one today within about 2-3 hours and it was sooo boring! I'm not sure whether it was Balzac's writing or Henry de Marsay whose evil plot against Paquita was just too much. She's a beautiful girl, she is intelligent as far as women had a chance to be intelligent back in the 1800s. So why should I feel with him for being a fool who wants her as his lover but nothing more? It would ruin the bit of reputation she has left aside from being from a country where women don't count much.

Miscellaneous: I would have dropped the book at page 2 if it hadn't been a challenge read!

Rating: D