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The Devil's Laughter
Jean Paul Marin was the hot-blooded son of a wealthy Sicilian shipowner. He seethed with republican principles in a land ruled by a decadent nobility. Finding his mistress in bed with the Comte de Gravereau crystallized his hatred and revolt when he was only twenty.
They did their best to humble him. He was beaten until his face was so disfigured that even the prostitutes pitied him. He was thrown into prison, but that sharpened his wits and strengthened his body. When he finally escaped, the French Revolution was about to explode and he was ready to play his part.
Lawyer, lover, newspaperman, brilliant speaker, member of the States-General--Jean's story is as flamboyant as the upheaval which nourished and consumed his talents--the French Revolution.
They did their best to humble him. He was beaten until his face was so disfigured that even the prostitutes pitied him. He was thrown into prison, but that sharpened his wits and strengthened his body. When he finally escaped, the French Revolution was about to explode and he was ready to play his part.
Lawyer, lover, newspaperman, brilliant speaker, member of the States-General--Jean's story is as flamboyant as the upheaval which nourished and consumed his talents--the French Revolution.
375 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
7 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
About the author
Frank Yerby
124 books115 followersBorn in Augusta, Georgia to Rufus Garvin Yerby, an African American, and Wilhelmina Smythe, who was caucasian. He graduated from Haines Normal Institute in Augusta and graduated from Paine College in 1937. Thereafter, Yerby enrolled in Fisk University where he received his Master's degree in 1938. In 1939, Yerby entered the University of Chicago to work toward his doctorate but later left the university. Yerby taught briefly at Florida A&M University and at Southern University in Baton Rouge.
Frank Yerby rose to fame as a writer of popular fiction tinged with a distinctive southern flavor. In 1946 he became the first African-American to publish a best-seller with The Foxes of Harrow. That same year he also became the first African-American to have a book purchased for screen adaptation by a Hollywood studio, when 20th Century Fox optioned Foxes. Ultimately the book became a 1947 Oscar-nominated film starring Rex Harrison and Maureen O'Hara. Yerby was originally noted for writing romance novels set in the Antebellum South. In mid-century he embarked on a series of best-selling novels ranging from the Athens of Pericles to Europe in the Dark Ages. Yerby took considerable pains in research, and often footnoted his historical novels. In all he wrote 33 novels.
Frank Yerby rose to fame as a writer of popular fiction tinged with a distinctive southern flavor. In 1946 he became the first African-American to publish a best-seller with The Foxes of Harrow. That same year he also became the first African-American to have a book purchased for screen adaptation by a Hollywood studio, when 20th Century Fox optioned Foxes. Ultimately the book became a 1947 Oscar-nominated film starring Rex Harrison and Maureen O'Hara. Yerby was originally noted for writing romance novels set in the Antebellum South. In mid-century he embarked on a series of best-selling novels ranging from the Athens of Pericles to Europe in the Dark Ages. Yerby took considerable pains in research, and often footnoted his historical novels. In all he wrote 33 novels.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 14, 2021
I love Rafael Sabatini's Scaramouche, and this book... is not Scaramouche. The Devil's Laughter is an absolutely batshit noir libertarian red scare 1950s "homage" to Scaramouche, and God, it's not very good.
It's entertaining enough at first. Our hero, Jean-Paul Marin (no relation to Jean-Paul Marat) has the ladies falling over him; he has one femme fatale love interest with "tawny hair" and "angular cheekbones" who I imagine to look exactly like Veronica Lake; there's also a bad guy aristo who is like the dollar store knockoff of Scaramouche's the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr, plus an over-the-top romance subplot with the bad guy aristo's sister. There's a lot of nutty soap opera plotting for the first 60% of the book, when it's set in the 1780s, and then we come to 1789, and the Bastille falls and it's all INSTANT TERROR! Evil aristocrats are replaced by more evil revolutionaries and sans-culottes. Femme fatales continue to plot as murderous "canaille" riot in the streets and kill horses and burn carriages and denounce capitalists and have orgies in churches. (Marin is a very interesting revolutionary as he loves to complain about the "canaille" even more than aristocrats.)
There's zero subtlety or nuance to any of this, and this novel is extremely typical of French Rev novels written during the Cold War (i.e. the movie Black Book or anything written by Marjorie Coryn). The hero is a "constitutional royalist"-- and even gets married by a nonjuring priest in front of the king and queen!-- but somehow he becomes best friends with republican revolutionaries Danton and Desmoulins, which is incredibly improbable. He also beats up dudes at the National Assembly and destroys furniture but somehow... nothing happens to him? He's not arrested for years and years-- he never even gets a slap on the wrist, because everyone is just so scared and/or in awe of him, because he's just so manly and cool. He finally gets arrested in 1794, and breaks out of prison and goes off to attack the very unmanly and uncool Robespierre (who is also described looking like a toad), because Our Hero is the manliest! And the coolest! Also, he sure likes to laugh, hence the title. My, what a guy, that Jean-Paul!
Anyway I feel like I lost a lot of brain cells reading this. I have more excerpts here if anyone dares to see. This was a profoundly stupid book, and I feel I probably should just have reread Scaramouche again.
Not recommended.
It's entertaining enough at first. Our hero, Jean-Paul Marin (no relation to Jean-Paul Marat) has the ladies falling over him; he has one femme fatale love interest with "tawny hair" and "angular cheekbones" who I imagine to look exactly like Veronica Lake; there's also a bad guy aristo who is like the dollar store knockoff of Scaramouche's the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr, plus an over-the-top romance subplot with the bad guy aristo's sister. There's a lot of nutty soap opera plotting for the first 60% of the book, when it's set in the 1780s, and then we come to 1789, and the Bastille falls and it's all INSTANT TERROR! Evil aristocrats are replaced by more evil revolutionaries and sans-culottes. Femme fatales continue to plot as murderous "canaille" riot in the streets and kill horses and burn carriages and denounce capitalists and have orgies in churches. (Marin is a very interesting revolutionary as he loves to complain about the "canaille" even more than aristocrats.)
There's zero subtlety or nuance to any of this, and this novel is extremely typical of French Rev novels written during the Cold War (i.e. the movie Black Book or anything written by Marjorie Coryn). The hero is a "constitutional royalist"-- and even gets married by a nonjuring priest in front of the king and queen!-- but somehow he becomes best friends with republican revolutionaries Danton and Desmoulins, which is incredibly improbable. He also beats up dudes at the National Assembly and destroys furniture but somehow... nothing happens to him? He's not arrested for years and years-- he never even gets a slap on the wrist, because everyone is just so scared and/or in awe of him, because he's just so manly and cool. He finally gets arrested in 1794, and breaks out of prison and goes off to attack the very unmanly and uncool Robespierre (who is also described looking like a toad), because Our Hero is the manliest! And the coolest! Also, he sure likes to laugh, hence the title. My, what a guy, that Jean-Paul!
Anyway I feel like I lost a lot of brain cells reading this. I have more excerpts here if anyone dares to see. This was a profoundly stupid book, and I feel I probably should just have reread Scaramouche again.
Not recommended.
August 23, 2013
It was interesting to make a journey through history to the beginning of the French Revolution.
I liked the plot, though not so much the characters. Jean was a kind of guy living in semi-darkness, but wanted to make believe he was in the light.
Nevertheless, he is ultimately sincere. He recognizes he supported the revolution for the most of revolting motives: envy, rather than the consideration of the poor, as he and his partners intended others to believe.
But after thinking it over, I thought that a novel set in this particular period wouldn't be well represented if the main character was one without that flaw in his spirit. There would be no way to honestly describe that period, marked by mass executions of "enemies of the revolution," if there were no supporters who say they are doing "this or that" in politics for the benefit of the poor.
Still, maybe what makes Jean a sort of hero is that he gathers the courage — after seeing the suffering of his family and friends — to check his beliefs and take action to stop the nasty killing.
The writer described well the kind of people ruling France in that time, and the way he did made the novel enjoyable.
The Devil's Laughter reminded me of the novel "Cossacks In Paris" by Jeffrey Perren, because Cossacks continues in the Napoleonic period just after the French Revolution.
There are very sharp contrast between the heroes, though. In Devil's Laughter, Jean represents the hangover of the French Revolution. In Cossacks, Breutier represents the hope of the future. Breutier has learned the lesson of tyranny and the value of freedom, while Jean is exhausted and just wants to finish the mess he helped to create. Breutier just wants to pursue his dream of a life of working at what he most loves.
In all, both novels make a good pair.
I liked the plot, though not so much the characters. Jean was a kind of guy living in semi-darkness, but wanted to make believe he was in the light.
Nevertheless, he is ultimately sincere. He recognizes he supported the revolution for the most of revolting motives: envy, rather than the consideration of the poor, as he and his partners intended others to believe.
But after thinking it over, I thought that a novel set in this particular period wouldn't be well represented if the main character was one without that flaw in his spirit. There would be no way to honestly describe that period, marked by mass executions of "enemies of the revolution," if there were no supporters who say they are doing "this or that" in politics for the benefit of the poor.
Still, maybe what makes Jean a sort of hero is that he gathers the courage — after seeing the suffering of his family and friends — to check his beliefs and take action to stop the nasty killing.
The writer described well the kind of people ruling France in that time, and the way he did made the novel enjoyable.
The Devil's Laughter reminded me of the novel "Cossacks In Paris" by Jeffrey Perren, because Cossacks continues in the Napoleonic period just after the French Revolution.
There are very sharp contrast between the heroes, though. In Devil's Laughter, Jean represents the hangover of the French Revolution. In Cossacks, Breutier represents the hope of the future. Breutier has learned the lesson of tyranny and the value of freedom, while Jean is exhausted and just wants to finish the mess he helped to create. Breutier just wants to pursue his dream of a life of working at what he most loves.
In all, both novels make a good pair.
December 21, 2012
french revolution, overthrow of nobility only to be replaced by idiots
June 21, 2016
Una novela ambientada en la Revolución Francesa, con un protagonista que se hace querer por sus actos y sus grandes razonamientos, y en el que me he visto increíblemente reflejada. Este libro me ha enseñado más sobre esta época de la Historia que toda la ESO o el primer año de bachillerato.
September 19, 2024
I loved this book in high school; it was the first piece of literature that ignited my interest in the French Revolution. Meticulously researched, perhaps a little melodramatic, but I loved it.
FFO: Liberte, egalite, fraternite, guillotines
FFO: Liberte, egalite, fraternite, guillotines
November 19, 2024
Jean-Paul Marin has the ladies swooning over him over him, and he enjoys being with them.
Set in the time of The French revolution there are some horrible descriptions of death and debauchery
It is a melodramatic story and also Jean is depicted as such a manly man that all the women love him and the men are intimidated. He is always the hero.
Good in places with descriptions of the revolution and a bit silly in others.
I enjoyed reading it when I was younger but it just doesn't read the same now.
Glad I re-read it though.
Set in the time of The French revolution there are some horrible descriptions of death and debauchery
It is a melodramatic story and also Jean is depicted as such a manly man that all the women love him and the men are intimidated. He is always the hero.
Good in places with descriptions of the revolution and a bit silly in others.
I enjoyed reading it when I was younger but it just doesn't read the same now.
Glad I re-read it though.
July 21, 2020
I read this when I was a young woman and liked it enough to drag it around with me for decades without ever giving it a re-read. I remember liking the protagonist and that's about it. Four stars because I'm feeling generous. Let's see how the years have treated it.
Okay, dropping a star, although it's not Frank's fault that he's a dude who was born before women made it clear that a hero who swashbuckles reluctant women into submission by kissing them until they melt and sigh.
Or passages like 'Oh Jean, Jean, you great fool! How long it took you to learn what to do! You came to me with arguments, reasons, excuses; O my love, I am a woman and a woman doesn't want to be reasoned with, cannot be convinced intellectually, because she knows what one thinks is never important but what one feels, what one feels!'
And 'Jean, don't you know that there is only one place a man can successfully reason with a woman?'
'And where is that?' Jean asked her.
'In bed, thou fool!'
In my younger years I was all-in for that perspective, but now not so much.
That being said, Jean is a fine hero, full of passion and pissiness and eloquence. It's a great historical novel about the French Revolution and its awfulness, and a disturbing look at some potential crappy outcomes after the oppressed have had enough and overthrow their oppressors.
I kind of enjoyed it, but I doubt I'll want to read it again. So after all these years of being in a box in the basement or just collecting dust on the bookshelf, it's finally going into the donate pile, and I genuinely hope it gets enjoyed by its next owner.
Okay, dropping a star, although it's not Frank's fault that he's a dude who was born before women made it clear that a hero who swashbuckles reluctant women into submission by kissing them until they melt and sigh.
Or passages like 'Oh Jean, Jean, you great fool! How long it took you to learn what to do! You came to me with arguments, reasons, excuses; O my love, I am a woman and a woman doesn't want to be reasoned with, cannot be convinced intellectually, because she knows what one thinks is never important but what one feels, what one feels!'
And 'Jean, don't you know that there is only one place a man can successfully reason with a woman?'
'And where is that?' Jean asked her.
'In bed, thou fool!'
In my younger years I was all-in for that perspective, but now not so much.
That being said, Jean is a fine hero, full of passion and pissiness and eloquence. It's a great historical novel about the French Revolution and its awfulness, and a disturbing look at some potential crappy outcomes after the oppressed have had enough and overthrow their oppressors.
I kind of enjoyed it, but I doubt I'll want to read it again. So after all these years of being in a box in the basement or just collecting dust on the bookshelf, it's finally going into the donate pile, and I genuinely hope it gets enjoyed by its next owner.
April 26, 2023
This is a romantic novel with the French Revolution weaving throughout. I am always disheartened by man’s inhumanity to man, but don’t let that put you off. Frank Yerby does not dwell long on the suffering on others. I did learn more about the French Revolution. Good read.
June 25, 2020
Un libro interesante. Muy interesante y entretenido
Read
January 21, 2022SANDS OF TIME
March 16, 2022
Another good one by Yerby. Set in the French Revolution. A lot of blood is spilled but a lot of love is made!
January 5, 2023
Not the type of book/genre I divulge in but the story itself deserves five stars just for being captivating from start till end
November 28, 2025
Frank Yerby rarely disappoints! This book was just awesome; I could not put it down.
June 29, 2013
This is a marvelous book, and very informative about the French Revolution. I wore out two paperback editions before I finally found a hardback copy.
The prose is often lyrical. And Frank Yerby proves beyond all doubt that men are capable of writing passionately romantic books--and without the need of graphic passages.
Jean Paul Marin starts off as a passionately hot-headed young rebel of the educated middle class, determined to destroy the social order and bring down the noble class which is misgoverning his beloved France into poverty. He falls in love with the sister of the Comte de Gravereau (who,incidently, has both debauched Jean's mistress and is preparing to marry Jean's sister to bolster his rapidly declining finances.) It it for this, rather than any real crime, that Jean is thrown into prison, where he becomes more firmly convinced that society needs to be changed.
After escaping prison, he returns home to find both his sister and his lover married, and he sets aside all thoughts of romance and devotes himself to the cause of revolution--using more legal means, as he becomes his village's formal representative for the Estates General called by the king.
Jean moves to Paris, meets a young blind beggar named Fleurette, and involves himself in the changing of history. After the fall of the Bastille, he watches with deepening horror the anarchy that is unleashed, leading inexorably to the full Terror.
How Jean copes with the turbulence, both with the society around him and in his personal life, is a fascinating read. I have long thought that this book would make an excellent mini-series. (Not a movie; there are far too many important details) If you like historical fiction, this is a must-read.
The prose is often lyrical. And Frank Yerby proves beyond all doubt that men are capable of writing passionately romantic books--and without the need of graphic passages.
Jean Paul Marin starts off as a passionately hot-headed young rebel of the educated middle class, determined to destroy the social order and bring down the noble class which is misgoverning his beloved France into poverty. He falls in love with the sister of the Comte de Gravereau (who,incidently, has both debauched Jean's mistress and is preparing to marry Jean's sister to bolster his rapidly declining finances.) It it for this, rather than any real crime, that Jean is thrown into prison, where he becomes more firmly convinced that society needs to be changed.
After escaping prison, he returns home to find both his sister and his lover married, and he sets aside all thoughts of romance and devotes himself to the cause of revolution--using more legal means, as he becomes his village's formal representative for the Estates General called by the king.
Jean moves to Paris, meets a young blind beggar named Fleurette, and involves himself in the changing of history. After the fall of the Bastille, he watches with deepening horror the anarchy that is unleashed, leading inexorably to the full Terror.
How Jean copes with the turbulence, both with the society around him and in his personal life, is a fascinating read. I have long thought that this book would make an excellent mini-series. (Not a movie; there are far too many important details) If you like historical fiction, this is a must-read.
Read
November 12, 2008iojñj.ñll
December 21, 2010
One of my favorite books. I have read it a lot.
June 15, 2012
Great historical adventure + romance. Extense and with somewhat skippable style at times, but crammed with interesting scenes and little padding between them.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews