A Bachelor's Establishment : Un M Nage de Garcon (Paperback)

from stillatim

It's Balzac, and it's reasonably short, so you know it's pretty powerful. The only interesting thing I have to say about this is stolen from the introduction to the Penguin edition; the translator points out that in this book, unlike many of Balzac's writing, the historical asides are actually re...

from starbox

A typical- and utterly gripping- Balzac tale of greed and self-sacrifice, fiendish plots and unrewarded virtue. Mme Bridau is a widowed mother of two. Handsome charmer Philippe has her heart, but his younger artist brother Joseph is the ever-unappreciated hero. There is much family history and ma...

from stephenmurphy

Rip-roaring and full of sex. Fab.

from lschiff

Enjoyable read, not one of his best, but an average Balzac is so much better than most.

from Erratic_Charmer

[The Black Sheep] tells the story of two brothers living in Paris at the beginning of the 19th century, at the end of the Napoleonic wars. One, Joseph, is a gifted painter of good heart and upright character. The other, Phillipe, is a one-time soldier and all-around scoundrel. It is Phillipe who ...