Edward's Reviews > The Human Comedy: Selected Stories

A Masterpiece of the human variety. No twists or turns that we wouldn't find outside of our own mundane existence, yet what truly separates Balzac's world from ours is his innate ability to make this mundane interaction of greed, love and deceit. Someone else here mentioned that it's like a one night stand and I agree. While I initially started reading this I felt disinterested in these people's lives, however as each story progressed and I began to understand the complexities of these peoples lives, of their time. I began to experience sonder, that transcendental understanding that these people are just like I and others are. Difficult to understand and easy to overlook. Some of these stories are better than others, I particularly recommend Gobseck if you are familiar with greed or perhaps La Duchesse de Langeais if the unfairness of love and life is getting you down. Regardless of what connects you with these stories, Balzac finds the strings and pulls them. Good luck and I hope you get as much enjoyment from this as I have.
P.S. - If you can point me to the rest of his Human Comedy Stories in English I'd be grateful.