I really enjoyed this novel from the
very beginning. The moral ambiguity of each character and the focus
on concealment and manipulation make each individual into a
fascinating character study, and the fact that the story is told
through letters allows each person's differing viewpoints on the same
events to shine through. The correspondence between various members
of a connected group gradually builds up into a complex web of
interdependent relationships, binding the characters' futures
together.
In spite of what feels like an
obligatory moral message at the close of the novel, there is a joy
and humour in the machinations of the central characters, the Vicomte
de Valmont and his ex-lover the Marquise de Merteuil. Their charisma
and the genuine affection in their letters to each other, if to none
of the other characters, makes it impossible to dislike them however
badly they act, and although they are the two pivotal characters, the
more minor characters are also given enough space to feel real in
their own right.
This is a surprisingly unpredictable
novel, full of human complexity and lightened with flashes of humour
and irony. Very much worth reading, and I have a few film adaptations
ready to watch now I've finished it.
Next up: Death of an Avid Reader
by Frances Brody
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