The Lady of the Camellias (Penguin Classics)

I gave Camille 5 stars because it was so well-written, as the author weaves the characters in and out in such a skillful way. Camille is such an emotional a love story where secrets, had they been revealed earlier, would have mattered in the outcome of the plot. This was a different century where secrets were kept and protocol was followed. Parents were to be obeyed, regardless of the cost. I felt sympathy for the lovers, as they were surely victims of their circumstances and excesses. It is a very good read, even today, to explain how sometimes one can be caught in a paradox that one cannot solve without revealing the truth every step of the way.I really have enjoyed all of Alexandre Dumas' books that I have read and this one by his son.

Translations are key to being able to read the classics. This one is excellent!

Not Dumas’ finest, but worth a quick read if you’re a fan. It’s a page tuner, and is well written.

Reading Camille enhances the experience of La Traviata. I highly recommend this book. It is lovely and so French. Americans do not have, to my thinking, such overt appreciation of love between men and women.

An important document in the representation of sex work, "Camille" is the story of a "kept woman" and the man who falls in love with her. It's really about the blurry boundaries between cynical, commercial sex and true love. The narrator hears the story from Armand, who had fallen in love with Marguerite, the lady of the camellias, a highly paid courtesan who had previously made her living by exchanging her affection for financial support. They try to make a go of it as a true pair of lovers, setting aside her earlier work, but societal expectations and her own financial need thwart their intentions. In addition, there are the usual misunderstandings and jealousies between lovers. She dies and her realizes the error of his ways.If you're looking for a real depiction of the hardships of sex work, you have to dig a little and read between the lines. You find out here and there that Marguerite came from a poor family, that she never got an education, that she has to put up with a lot of unappealing men. While Armand genuinely loves Marguerite, he does essentially offer to pay one of her friends for sexual/erotic/romantic services as a way of hurting her when their relationship is on the rocks.At times, the narrative dragged a little, hence the somewhat low rating. But at the end it picked up again.

I first read this book when I was in middle school, and had no idea what a “mistress” was. It is an entertaining classic.

The basis for La Traviata. Now I want to see the opera.

As a learner of Spanish, I listened to the book on tape in Spanish as part of a class assignment. To enhance understanding we were assigned to read along in English from a copy the instructor had reserved in the school library. I loved the story so much and it increased my understanding of the Spanish audio. So, with 8 of us sharing the same copy, I decided to purchase my own copy which I have proudly added to my library. It is well written, the characters are interesting and the plot is terrific. A must read.

206 pages

The story is known - a courtesan falls in love with a young man and decides to leave her old life for him. Their happiness, however, is thwarted by her reputation - associating with such a woman will destroy the reputation of the young man and his family. His sister won't be allowed to marry the man she loves. The courtesan is left with no choice but to abandon her lover, who has very little brain and behaves as a teenager of the stupidest kind. He is extremely insecure and intimidated by her life and experience, so, expectedly, he thinks the worst of her and takes revenge by humiliating her, up to the point when she gets ill and dies. Then he tells the sad story to a random guy he met and gets on with his life. I feel no sympathy for this character, and I don't think this is a love story because only one person in the book has loved, and that was the courtesan. However, the story is masterfully told. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be able to feel so deeply for the courtesan nor despise so much the man who had broken her heart.So, why 3 stars? Because this e-book edition is sloppy. There are many errors in the text, which one proofreading would have corrected. But I guess that was too much to ask for. I also don't understand why we had to see all those images from different plays and movies right in the middle of a chapter, in the middle of the book? What works well for a printed edition, doesn’t work in an e-book. If the publisher is trying to earn money with the work of an author long dead, and therefore not there to complain, they should at least try to produce a respectable book for the sake of us readers.

Beautiful story

Very well-told tale - great descriptions, great pacing, hits you right in the feels. Dumas junior for the win.

Arrived in good condition on time. Enjoying the book too.