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3 out of 5
by
Manny
from
Cambridge, C3, The United Kingdom | Dec 1, 2008
Letter 94. Viscomte de Rayner to the Goodreads Community
This morning, I thought of M. de Laclos's charming novel for the first time in years, when an interfering busybody saw fit to edit my Quiz question about it. I was forced to spend an hour checking the text, so that I could thoroughly refute her misconceptions about Cécile's role in the story, and I trust I shall hear no more from the vile creature. But, none the less, I am grateful to her, since she reminded me that I should read it in the original French. I fail to understand how I can have postponed this pleasant task so long.
Even in translation, Les Liaisons Dangereuses is marvellously entertaining, and not a little erotic. I well understand why that saucy minx Marie-Antoinette kept a copy by her bed! And it still speaks to all of us who enjoy meddling in the amorous affairs of others. I vividly recall watching Mr. Frears's fine moving picture version together with my friend, la Comtesse de B____. How we laughed, recalling our own machinations as we guided M. J____ through his fumbling relationship with Mlle. A____! Little did the two lovers know that their every tryst was promptly relayed, in written form, to an audience who, I believe, in some cases even were known to make wagers on the success or otherwise of M. J____'s strategems. A further piquancy was added by the fact that most of his ideas came directly from the Comtesse.
But I must not lose myself in past memories. It is already gone nine, and I have yet to write to my several mistresses, before I take my daily ride around the borders of my estate. I will need to advance my usual schedule a little, since I have a duel to fight in the early afternoon. Should I live (the contrary would be an unpleasant surprise; he is an abominably poor swordsman), I hope to continue this correspondence tomorrow.
Château de Cambridge
11 March, 20__
20 people found this review helpful
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5 out of 5
by
Tessa
from
Philippines | Sep 16, 2007
I'm amazed, these two principal characters that are the very incarnations of malice have incredibly salient and correct anecdotes about love and the beauty of sex considering they use it to humiliate others. While the woman (Merteuil) is an expert in deciphering and deconstructing human emotions and its repercussions, Valmont is a virtuoso of reading human reactions even in the slightest form of subtle and heavily-attempted hidden gestures; which enables him to translate it to the emotions of his hapless victims thereby making him a virtual mind reader that aids him to know what should be his next move. As incrementally subtle and as enormously persuasive he is in the arts of rhetorics and inconspiciously obsequious seductions, he invariably wins their confidence until he met his match in Madame de Tourvel who possesses all the qualities he lacks (virtue) but is most sought after of, for which he will use it to keep her conscious of how depraved her submissions to Valmont are but will still leave her unchecked that she still wouldn't be able to stop herself.
Apart from this, Choderlos' work is a reflection of how abusive and oppressive the French aristocracy was, with notable real life examples as Marquis de Sade and the Earl of Rochester. This also gave us a look of how the French monarchy was gradually declining in popularity until such reasons, with the latter as the catalyst, helped in fuelling the revolution.
Read it. And anyone else who would who love to see the insights of love and relationships, politics and pragmatism would be very interested to know how we could understand that even the slightest mistakes we so avoid in accomplishing our tasks will only add to the beauty of completing them. Knowing that in life, two factors that are of striking contrast will only enhance the candor and realistic nature of actions, whether in human nature or in words of love, when one professes it to someone personally that incoherency of words will only add to its coherence.
Thank you for your time. Salamat po!
8 people found this review helpful
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5 out of 5
by
Leenacia
from
Latham, NY | Jan 5, 2008
I wonder, if I had read this book when I was 21 instead of 31, would I have saved myself a good deal of grief concerning relationships? This book masterfully exposes every kind of grief there is. But, I think that like the innocent characters in the book, I wouldn't have understood it at the time.
When attempting to navigate love, one always messes up somewhere. Some of us stomp around like... a yeti, lol. While others are deft and cruel. Toss both these sorts of people together into a restrictive society, and voila! Dangerous Liaisons.
Frankly, this books does what "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" sets out to do, but with plenty of (oh so true) warnings that make you want to run screaming from such games.
Perhaps that's why I liked it so much.
The author, Choderlos de Laclos has actually written an essay about the state of women's education. I'd love to read it, but can't find it anywhere. From what I understand, he was pretty harsh on how society kept women in ignorance. Rock on de Laclos.
5 people found this review helpful
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4 out of 5
by
Rana
from
The United States | Jan 15, 2009
Told through letters, Les Liaisons chronicles the erotic adventures of the evil Madame Merteuil and her former lover the Vicomte de Valmont. This sadistic duo teams up to manipulate, corrupt, and drag the reputations of countless individuals into obloquy. The sad part is they succeed in everything they set out to do. If there is any vindication, it comes at too high a cost. There are no heroes or winners in this novel, only victims. Though written in the 18th century, this epistolary novel still has the power to shock, disturb, and titillate. People today may recognize dangerous truths contained in its pages or pitfalls that they might have encountered in their callow days. I was not particularly fond of this novel, being as it was a catalogue of the escapades of a pair of perverse, lascivious, cruel individuals, however I am glad that I read it, and I do not rule out re-reading it again. As a slamming indictment against the decadence of the French aristocracy and against the loss of long-cherished values among the women of today, this book is worth studying.
2 people found this review helpful
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5 out of 5
by
Mikey
from
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL | Mar 24, 2007
Aside from the fact that Les Liaisons Dangereuses has a tight, efficient plot and well-constructed characters, what's most impressive about it is how well it works as an actual epistolary novel. Instead of Clarissa writing for 18 hours a day, what we have hear are short (1-2 pages, sometimes less) letters, of the length that people might actually write to one another, and multiple correspondences, in order to keep the story fresh and told from multiple perspectives. In addition, the letters become part of the story itself; letters turn up as pieces of evidence against certain characters, etc. This is the novel that inspired the films Dangerous Liaisons, Valmont, and Cruel Intentions, and it's very bit as saucy and nasty as those movies. Indeed, the dialog (in letter form) is among the most clever you'll ever find in a novel. This is one of my all-time favorites.
2 people found this review helpful