#Nobel Prize Challenge François Mauriac
Finish date: 23.05. 2023
Genre: novella
Rating: A++++
Review: The Kiss to the Leper Le Baiser au lépreux (ISBN: 9782253009016)
Bad news: The book was too short…novella just 137 pages. I could have read it as a novel!
Mauriac wields a scalpel to construct his sentences…with “le mot juste”.
Good news: This book is not available in an English translation paperback, but wait…you can read it for free on Gutenberg.org! 137 pages… the perfect book to enjoy for an afternoon with tea and cookies. I downloaded the English version to my Kindle…easy-peasy.
Good news: Character development was off the charts! Jean is ugly but rich, Noémie is beautiful and poor. They are going to marry for dark family reasons.
I was impressed how Mauriac describes a seemingly loveless marriage. But when you finish the book you realise their marriage had become a deep attachment filled with compassion.
Personal: This book is timeless….it feels just like a Jane Austen book. The theme is that mutual attraction is the most important thing of a marriage. One who betrays his or her heart will never own true love. It is much more important than money and social position.
Last thoughts: This book was written in 1922 when Mauriac was at the dawn of his career. He won the Nobel Prize 1952 for Literature. His books are so worth your reading time…
Feedback to Claire’s comment:
That is often the reason I don’t read more books by Nobel Prize winners….they are just too dense to digest! Reading Louise Glück’s poetry at the moment, one poem at a time. Her first poem, I it read it and could not make heads or tails of it. Wrote a review but did not upload it b/c feel perhaps it is just me…I’m not seeing the beauty of her prose. Not giving up yet! This book by Mauriac was wonderful. I even felt it was better than Jane Austin because it takes an open and direct look at subjects that Austin sometimes avoids. Mauriac leaves the bedroom door open just enough for the reader to feel that not every book ends in a “happy ever after” wedding in a Cotswold village church! Thanks for you comment, Claire.
#AbsoluteDelight
#CoupDeCoeur
NancyElin.blog 
This sounds wonderful, I’m glad you found a copy. Intrigued, I’ve not heard of this author, it’s always good to come across a Nobel writer whose work is accessible.
That is often the reason I don’t read more books by Nobel Prize winners….they are just too dense to digest! Reading Louise Glück’s poetry at the moment, one poem at a time. Her first poem, I it read it and could not make heads or tails of it. Wrote a review but did not upload it b/c feel perhaps it is just me…I’m not seeing the beauty of her prose. Not giving up yet! This book by Mauriac was wonderful. I even felt it was better than Jane Austin because it takes an open and direct about subjects that she sometimes avoids. Mauriac leaves the bedroom door open just enough for the reader to feel that not every book ends in a “happy ever after” weddding in a Cotswold village church! Thanks for you comment, Claire.
This sounds good and I think I found the paperback on Amazon but it costs $16.95 which sounds like a lot for a novella. On Amazon the title is A Kiss for the Leper and the translator is Anthony Esolen Am I allowed to put a link to the page? If not, kindly remove it. https://www.amazon.com/Kiss-Leper-Fran%C3%A7ois-Mauriac/dp/1944418563
Thanks so much for you comment…link is perfectly alright! The price is a bit steep for 137 pages…I’d go for the Gutenberg.org version and just download it to Kindle or read HTML doc online. You’ll finish it in a few hours. Great book selection for challenge #ParisInJuly celebrating all that is French or post your review in November for #NovNov23 @cathy467books (twitter link). As I said on your blog…not a big Agatha Christie fan so I applaud your determination to finish her books!