A few years ago, I read (and totally enjoyed) Père Goirot, one of Honoré de Balzac’s most famous novels in his massive work, La Comédie humaine, which is comprised of 90 novels featuring 2,000 characters who cross between the books. As a lover of classic European literature (my favorite book is Les Misèrables), I was interested in widening my narrow experience with French literature—that of Hugo, Dumas and Leroux—to other well-regarded authors. So, I was pleased to find an unabridged version of de Balzac’s Lost Illusions to add to my TBR pile.
In elementary school, I used to purposely pick long books to read, fancying that they were more challenging and thus contained better stories—plus, I thought I looked like an impressive little kid carrying around huge titles. I have no qualms about tackling long books which are sure to be full of intense descriptions and a large cast of characters to keep track of. But, books that exceed 600 pages can be a bit heady in content and intimidating in length. Even the best of them sometimes require an intermission, as this great tome did for me.
A not-incredibly-thorough historical aside: Lost Illusions is set within first few decades following the French revolution, which, in case you’ve forgotten, was a peasant revolt that led to the very public executions of the heads of the ruling monarchy. Napoleon Bonaparte then declared himself Emperor (debatably not very different than the position of a King, but somehow more acceptable for a brief period of time). He eventually was exiled and then the Bourbons were reinstated under a constitutional monarchy.
This socio-political tension provides an underlying foundation for the happenings of Lost Illusions. One of the aspiring young protagonists, Lucien Chardon, leaves his rural village to chase his dreams of becoming a published poet and restore his royalist family name of de Rubempré so that he can obtain the necessary social standings to marry his lover, the Madame de Bargeton. Unfortunately, soon after diving headfirst into the glittering Parisian society, Lucien loses interest in Madame de Bargeton, falls in love with a young actress and entangles himself in a nasty web of writers and publishers all trying to constantly out-do, out-publish, out-bid each other—to everyone’s detriment and Lucien’s ultimate downward spiral.
In a sharp and extreme contrast to Lucien’s actions as a pre-redemption prodigal son, his sister, Eve, and brother-in-law, David Séchard, model angelic levels of humble fortitude. When disaster continually strikes their family printing house (some of which is due to Lucien’s bad decision making), Eve and David unfathomably take the high road. It’s not impossible to think of people in real life who are the model citizens for “rising above their circumstances” but in this book, this couple seems to be the only people who truly understand grace, mercy, humility and unrestricted kindness.
Lost Illusions is a very appropriate title for a book that is chock full of dashed hopes, dreams and expectations. Joy and excitement experienced by any character is so short-lived and is followed, without exception, by pain and suffering—of the body, mind and the soul. In my opinion, part of the problem was that few characters sought anything but personal advancement, most without a scarce thought to how it would impact their friends, lovers or associates. By the end, many characters receive their just rewards, but not at the levels which I hoped for in terms of personal growth and changes of heart.
I find it hard to recommend Lost Illusions unless you really just want to say you crossed it off your list. De Balzac was a wonderful writer, and the story is rich with detail and interesting social commentary. But, this book is unnecessarily very long and I found myself exhausted by Lucien’s gluttony for punishment. The boy really could not learn his lessons. Perhaps I felt an extended level of discomfort with his trials as I am also a writer who plans to publish collections of poetry, who also occasionally suffers from a discomforting lack of financial stability. Here’s hoping that my forthcoming book (due July 2025!) is received far better than Lucien’s Daisies.
This book may be for you if you also like: Père Goirot or any of the other novels that make up the Human Comedy (de Balzac); Paris and/or rural France; post-revolutionary socio-economic tensions; poets, authors, artists, actors, journalists, influencers; newspapers; novels; publishing houses, agents & printers; lengthy descriptions of fashion; stories of grit, resilience and resourcefulness; breaking cycles of poverty.
This book may be for you if you also like: Père Goirot or any of the other novels that make up the Human Comedy (de Balzac); Paris and/or rural France; post-revolutionary socio-economic tensions; poets, authors, artists, actors, journalists, influencers; newspapers; novels; publishing houses, agents & printers; lengthy descriptions of fashion; stories of grit, resilience and resourcefulness; breaking cycles of poverty.
Buy the book
https://bookshop.org/a/109412/9788027343188
Note: the translation I read is not available via Bookshop. For what it is worth, multiple Reddit users mentioned that the version I’ve linked is still a decent translation. If at all possible, read literature in its original language.
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SDG
L.M.Beatty 