Eugenie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Very, very realistic! Balzac doesn't romanticise it and for me, the real hero of this book is Katherine Prescott Wormeley who translated it SO beautifully that I fell in love with it!

I just couldn't read this book without a pencil in my hand! It had so many beautiful and poetic things that I HAD TO underline and make notes on the margins and I rarely do that to a book! Also, I couldn't help imagining how beautiful the original version would've been considering it's French--the most poetic language in the world--if the English version was full of poetry!

Don't get carried away by my excessively lavish review! If you're expecting a romantic story, with a happy ending, DO NOT READ EUGENIE GRANDET! It's not a book for romantics! It's a book for those who seek romance in realism.

A lot of people who have already read it might wonder why I call this book "fiercely feminist" because Eugenie is far from feminism and Balzac defines her as the perfect Christian soul who, stays a virgin because she doesn't marry a man she loved and is still devoted to him, and she is honourable and has a noble soul just like an ideal Christian woman should be. To those people, my suggestion is, go and read the letter she writes to Charles and then go through the part where she promises to marry de Bonfons. If you still don't get it,get back to me!

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