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Old Goriot

By: Honore de Balzac
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
ISBN: 0140449728
ISBN-13: 9780140449723
Released: 25 Feb 2010
RRP: £8.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

An elegantly written parable on greed - By: A. Gordon, 06 Apr 2006
This is the first novel by Balzac that I've read & I can only wonder why it took me so long to read his work. The story deals with greed & fillial ingratitude & the social education of an ambitious student ready to be seduced by the glamour & extravagance of Parisian high society. The student finds out that someone somewhere is paying the price for alll the elegance & luxury that he craves.

Balzac is an extremely clever writer with a very acute understanding of human nature & a genius for swiftly drawing characters that are fully realised & complex. I don't think he is a heavy or a difficult read, he's precise & he doesn't preach. Description of places & people is concise but richly evocative, at the same time the story shoots along dynamicallly, you want to know what will happen in the end. An extremely rewarding read & a near perfect example of the art of the novel.

Pere Goriot, a pleasant surprise - By: , 09 Dec 1999
I have just read this book for a class & it was an interesting story of Eugene & his conflict with himself & society. I was surprised at how palatable it was considering it is a period novel. The themes are universal & the book leaves you questioning the world around you. I strongly recommend that people read this book & to not be intimidated by it.
Read it in French if you can, but make sure you read it - By: , 13 May 1999
A fantastic exposition of the Human character this is a 'must read' for anyone with a love of 19th century literature.

Very long & detailed descriptions of character & setting make it a typical period piece. in fact much of the descriptive is lost in its translation from French, but that is no reason not to enjoy the book.

The story revolves around 'Eugene' a student & his involvement with two worlds, the world of his rather shabby boarding house & the world of Paris Society in the early nineteenth century.

Balzac explores how these worlds are fatallly intermingled, but yet disparate, in the fortunes of Eugene.

Unlike the modern suspense writers one is never quite sure what will happen at the end, the mastery of plot is superb & the end is both tragic & fulfilling.

Read it in French if you can, but make sure you read it