s y b i l’s Reviews > The Red and the Black > Status Update

I knack my brain to explain the comedic genius that goes into this book. Even through Julien's follies of high society manner and his youthful confusion between limerance and the idea of love we may giggle, there is no doubt that readers themselves have encountered similar mishaps and ruminations that have brought them to the brink of considering death or feeling as if they are a hollow corpse. Excellent balance!

Is working up your imagination about someone the consequence of being in love, or does it give the illusion of love? Being that so many used the term rose tinted glasses, what exactly is love, especially in the sense we only have one word of it. Creating picturesque and idyllic situations, is it the mind creating love, or is it the incense of love that fuels these imaginings? Romantic, erotic, affectionate, etc...

Stendhal's realism is shining here at this point. Its a window into a window. I have read previously reviews on here before venturing into this book that many find it slow, or boring. Well, Stendhal is making you sit with these powdered wigs and stockings in their drawing rooms, half bored to death as Julien is. I think that is the point. I suppose thats why when a sudden twist occurs, you drink it up.