T;LDR: Seduction, scandal, and revenge play out among the letters of the main cast of characters in this amazing, well-written masterpiece.
Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Another Throw Back Thursday book review, a quote of which is featured in my own novel (out soon!). I first read this after I watched the 1988 movie starring Glenn Close and John Malkovich. I did not expect it to be written entirely in letters back and forth to different characters. But I still hear echoes of Malkovich in the Vicomte de Valmont’s letters – his casting was perfect and I love the format.
But this review is about the book, not the movie (watch it if you haven’t yet). I like this book because the letters give you peeks into the characters that narrative wouldn’t do. What they show and do not show to their friends and loved ones, what they hide from themselves – all of this is revealed in letters. The format of the book, the richness of the characters and the way the story is unveiled is why I give this book 5 stars.
Plot
The Marquise de Merteuil writes to the Vicomte de Valmont, her former lover and equal on the battlefield of conquests, that she wishes him to seduce an innocent daughter of her cousin (Madame du Volanges) because the daughter (Cecile) is promised to marry a man who threw the Marquise over for the lover of Valmont.
Valmont has other quarry, however: Madame de Tourvel, a chaste and pious woman married to a magistrate. He refuses to come back to the city for the game. The Marquis then set ups the game with an innocent music teacher, the Chevalier Danceny, but finds both the Chevalier and Cecile too innocent to make much progress.
When Madame du Volanges warns Madame de Tourvel of the danger Valmont brings into her sphere of influence, Madame de Tourvel flees. In revenge, Valmont takes up the request of the Marquise to seduce Madame du Volanges’ daughter, Cecile.
What happens next is the most unexpected of all. Valmont succeeds in seducing both Cecile and Madame de Tourvel, but he also falls in love. The Marquise is most aggrieved. The game of seduction sours between them to one of betrayal.
The book does not end well for either of the two main players and less well for poor Cecile and Madame de Tourvel.
T;LDR: Eighteenth Century French aristocrats play a dangerous game of seduction. The prize: revenge for the seduction of Cecile de Volanges and destruction for that of Madame de Tourvel. When one falls unexpectedly in love, the game changes to war. Who will survive?
What I Liked
This is yet another of the six books I took to Canada with me (post here). I’ve reread it several times and still get immediately engrossed in the story, even at the start.
I love the format. I never thought I’d like a book written as letters, but I do – I really do. The back and forth between the varied players and their confidantes reveals so much more than dialogue or narrative can. Each character is unique and it shows in the way they express themselves.
I like that the main villains are a pair. They both play the game for different reasons – the Marquise for power and the Vicomte for sport – but it is their desire to destroy love and happiness that unites them.
I also love that the Marquise is a powerful woman, even in the 18th Century, and you see just how she got there by her letters. She has no shame for what she did to take her power, but her arrogance and need to win over Valmonte proves to be her undoing.
I love that Valmonte never really sees what he has until it is too late and yet he gets his revenge. I won’t go into more detail than that, but it is very, very good.
What I didn’t Like
I was not as much of a fan of the strict piousness of Madame de Tourvel – anyone that uptight it looking for release and she found it! But I understand why it’s present in the book.
I also found some of Cecile du Volanges’ letters back and forth to Danceny a bit…repetitive and dull. But she is 15, just out of a convent, and it’s part of her innocent charm. This is one of the top 2 star reviews comments’ as well.
Most people give this book a negative rating for the format. The format is not for everyone and if you didn’t like other books made up of letters or diary entries, why did you expect to like this book? The movie did cut out a lot of the back and forth between the secondary characters, so I get that some people walked into this book not expecting it to include so many peoples’ letters and expected a faster plot than the book provides.
But to ding a book for the format, which is very well known right up front, seems…counter-productive.
One reviewer found Valmont to be weak and pathetic because of his love letters to Madame de Tourvel. I could see why you would say that, except he is playing a part in order to keep Madame de Tourvel on the hook, so why wouldn’t he play the part in his letters as well?
I do see the very valid criticism of the seduction of Cecile, a 15-year-old who seeks advice from the Marquise and is told to submit. But it was written in 1782 when 15-year-olds being married off and women had less rights and values than today, so I will say you need to read this in the context in which it was written.
To Sum Up (too late!)
Overall, if you like a book made entirely up of letters, with wit, drama, revenge, seduction, and innocence lost, you will love this book. If you haven’t watched the movie, I recommend it as well (as an add-on), although the book is richer on character depth and motivations than the movie.
It is one of my favorites, but the format isn’t for everyone, so do keep that in mind.
About the Author
Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos was a French novelist, official and army general, best known for writing the epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses.
A unique case in French literature, he was for a long time considered to be as scandalous a writer as the Marquis de Sade or Nicolas-Edme Rétif. He was a military officer with no illusions about human relations, and an amateur writer; however, his initial plan was to “write a work which departed from the ordinary, which made a noise, and which would remain on earth after his death”; from this point of view he mostly attained his goals, with the fame of his masterwork Les Liaisons dangereuses . It is one of the masterpieces of novelistic literature of the 18th century, which explores the amorous intrigues of the aristocracy. It has inspired a large number of critical and analytic commentaries, plays, and films.
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