Thérèse Desqueyroux by François Mauriac of The French Academy, winner of The Nobel Prize for Literature in 1952 - “The novel is Mauriac's best known work, and was described as "outstanding" in the biography that accompanied his Nobel Literature Prize citation” – it is ranked 708th on The Greatest Books of All Time site, and 35th on The Le Monde’ 100 Books of The Century – you find thousands of reviews of books from those two and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

 

Thérèse Desqueyroux by François Mauriac of The French Academy, winner of The Nobel Prize for Literature in 1952 - “The novel is Mauriac's best known work, and was described as "outstanding" in the biography that accompanied his Nobel Literature Prize citation” – it is ranked 708th on The Greatest Books of All Time site, and 35th on The Le Monde’ 100 Books of The Century – you find thousands of reviews of books from those two and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

 

8 out of 10

 

This acclaimed novel has reminded me of Anatomy of a Fall https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/01/one-of-top-three-films-of-2023-anatomy.html one of the top three films of 2023, in which a woman is accused of killing her husband, and we have a trial to decide the verdict

 

However, this book starts with…the acquittal, Therese is not guilty – I understand that the narrative is based on a real case, in which the wife was not sentenced for murder, instead, she was guilty of forging the prescriptions – and then we see her get ready (we in fact read, do not ‘see’ that, except if we imagine it) to go home

The family united around her to dismiss the accusation, but that was because of pride, for honor and they will put on a show to have the community believe that there was nothing there, Bernard, the husband, will go to church with his spouse and mother (his parent) and the idea would be that this is a ‘happy couple’

 

Double Indemnity https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/double-indemnity-by-james-m-cain-reader.html comes to mind, notwithstanding the fact that in this one, the wife and lover plot to kill the husband, in order to get a double indemnity, a big sum paid by the insurance company, when an unlikely event occurs

Therese had tried to poison Bernard and we get the story in fragments – at least it looked that way for me – and I was wondering if she does this because of a lover, there is a man she talks to, in order to see if her friend, Anne, could be convinced to see sense, since that young woman is enraptured, maybe in love

 

Nevertheless, it was not this reason, and we are not clear about it, at least I am not, Madame Bovary https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/12/madame-bovary-by-gustave-flaubert.html is yet another, much more famous chef d’oeuvre that has the main character involved in an affair, and then it ends in tragedy

For Therese, there may be reason for optimism, she may have wanted to escape her life, married to a man she did not love, although she was not exactly forced into this union, neither had she been enthused about it, there is hesitation: to the end, she thinks that maybe Bernard will say the right thing, and then she stays with him

 

Otherwise, she may negotiate her freedom, in the first instance, after the trial, Bernard is blackmailing his spouse, so that she does not do anything to affect the honor of the family, she is to play the role assigned, but then maybe they will relax their grip, once the villagers would have been convinced to forget the suspicion of attempted murder

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence

Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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