How Women Love

by Max Nordau

A more unequally matched couple than the cartwright Molnar and his wife can seldom be seen. When, on Sunday, the pair went to church through the main street of Kisfalu, an insignificant village in the Pesth county, every one looked after them, though every child, nay, every cur in the hamlet, knew them and, during the five years since their marriage, might have become accustomed to the spectacle. But it seemed as though it produced an ever new and surprising effect upon the by no means sensitive inhabitants of Kisfalu, who imposed no constraint upon themselves to conceal the emotions awakened by the sight of the Molnar pair. They never called the husband by any other name than "Csunya Pista," ugly Stephen. And he well merited the epithet. He was one-eyed, had a broken, shapeless nose, and an ugly scar, on which no hair grew, upon his upper lip, so that his moustache looked as if it had been shaven off there; to complete the picture, one of his upper eye-teeth and incisors were missing, and he had the unpleasant habit of putting his tongue into these gaps in his upper row of teeth, which rendered his countenance still more repulsive."

Genres: Classics

414 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1898

About the author

Max Simon Nordau (born Simon Maximilian Südfeld), was a Zionist leader, physician, author, and social critic. He was a co-founder of the World Zionist Organization together with Theodor Herzl, and president or vice president of several Zionist congresses.

As a social critic, he wrote a number of controversial books, including The Conventional Lies of Our Civilisation (1883), Degeneration (1892), and Paradoxes (1896). Although not his most popular or successful work whilst alive, Degeneration is the book most often remembered and cited today.

(wikipedia)

Reviews

[Shauna Rusel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this through Apple iBooks and the book contained somewhat 5 stories so that it wasn't really a drag read. It told a story of how women love their men. It was either pity, rank or title, age or experience. Either way a woman's love can be dedicated or fleeting. An outstanding quote in this book for me was, "...love is the only thing which makes life worth living."

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

men truly do not deserve women TRULY

[Rana Adham · Rating 4 out of 5]

SPOILERS AHEAD!


This is not a review in the usual sense; rather I wrote a brief comment about each of the stories:


Story 1: Justice Or Revenge

Part 1: Women are driven to marriage by feeling indebted to the man. Panna/Pista 3.5/5

Part 2: Pista is murdered and Panna, in pursuit of justice for her husband, tragically follows. It was not love here, also. It was injustice that led to the tragedy. 4/5


Story 2: Prince and Peasant


No love at all; only a person with no direction in life who finds purpose just before his life ends. There is reference of course to how women love rank and wealth and how their attitude changes towards a person once they find out he possesses both. 4/5


Story 3: The Art of Growing Old


The woman who loved one-sidedly....fervently, honestly and secretly: always the older sister and friend. When she showed her affection, the man wholeheartedly wanted to escape from her "old" love...and thus met his doom. 3.5/5.


Story 4: How Women Love


One Way:

Poor, loyal and faithful Pauline. Poor, poor woman. And although she is betrayed and backstabbed, women should strive to be steadfast in their love. Woe to fickle hearts! 5/5.


Another Way:

Same "player" man. He regretted leaving her and lives on her memory, but when they meet, she does not remember a thing. He got it coming. 3/5.


Story 5: A midsummer night's dream

Just like the title suggests: a Dream. 3.5/5.

[Mohammed omran · Rating 3 out of 5]

“She had courteously asked the captain to what she owed the honour of his visit, and when, instead of answering, he pinched her plump cheek and put his arm around her waist, she flew into a passion and pointed to the door with the voice and gesture of an insulted queen. The lieutenant had found her far more ungracious; she did not ask what he desired, but angrily thundered, almost before he crossed the threshold, an order to march which permitted neither remonstrance nor refusal; finally, at the appearance of the first lieutenant, she had passed from the position of defence to that of assault, shrieked at him with a crimson face and flashing eyes to be off at once, if he valued the smooth skin of his cheeks; and when, somewhat bewildered, yet not wholly intimidated, he had ventured, notwithstanding this by no means encouraging reception, to attempt to seize and embrace her, as he was accustomed to do with the colonel's wife's maid, when, making eyes at him in the ante-room, she whispered under her breath: "Let me go, or I'll scream!" she rushed upon him literally like a wild-cat, and, in an instant, so[…]”

[Gurpreet Dhariwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved every bit of it!!

[AbdEl-Rahman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started in a very interesting way, but then it kept changing characters and stories, can't say they weren't interesting, in someway they were, some actually were truth revealing.
Anyway it was a good experience to read German literature.

[Meenal Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing premise, but the author fails to do justice to it. By the end of the novel, I was left confused and just regarded the synopsis as ‘click-bait’. Would’ve loved to get some insight and a more comprehensive argument for the bold claims, which the author miserably fails to deliver. Even the extremely beautiful writing and landscapes painted by the author fail to make up for this.

[Shreeharsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got it free on Apple Books. Might be the last one unread from that collection. Really liked the first 2 and the 4th one. First story reminded me of Sherlock Holmes’ A study in scarlet (the revenge parts). The other 2 stories were not good so 3/5. That makes sense.

[Jerune Cunanan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me

[Fatma · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Spoiler Alert)

their love is either forever, or, and mostly for a short while of pleasure…

[Chandu Rajini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok. But something I was disappointed with the story. In the middle I got bored. Overall the story is average and her love is appreciated.

[Ke$h Gitari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all short story collections, some stories were really good, some were OK, some you could do without.

[Muhammad Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, cativating.