Louise de Valliere (1847)

A good continuation of the story but maybe could have used a little more editing along the way

Librivox ( )

Well, I am confirmed in my dislike of Louise! But the scene is well set for the final part of the story - "The Man in the Iron Mask" and the action started picking up towards the end. ( )

Having now read the first two volumes of this long novel, I think it would be fair to say that there are problems with it. Is it a musketeers novel which bogs down in court intrigue, or a novel of court intrigue with the muskeers grafted on? Is there a plot?

To be fair, what there is of Dogtagnan et al is interesting but most of the stuff about the court is vapid and devoid of intelligence. For all I know, Dumas may pull both strands together in the final volume but frankly it could all be dealt with much more briefly. I think he’s written at such length because he’s being paid by the word. Then there are those long summary-like paragraphs that begin some chapters. Is this Maquet’s original text that Dumas hasn’t had time to expand?

There are also problems with theme. Twenty Years After may have lost the plot, but at least it was thematically whole. Here, however, we have a continuing interest in social status and money but it’s not presented with the same artistry. ( )

A slight improvement over the silly melodrama that was Ten Years After but still filled with a fair bit of unnecessary fluff. I can now see why these books may have appealed to 19th century readers: Dumas goes to great pains to perpetuate what we now know as "the soap opera". The D'Artagnan Romances are a soap opera. It has all of the right elements: characters in love/conflict/alliance; a plot that is drawn out in small doses over a huge swath of time; some repetition of information to refresh the reader's memories; and the whole heart-ache angst bit. I am not a big fan of soap operas so that is probably why I am struggling a bit with this one. Characters who pose and posture and don't really seem to get down to the business at hand without monologuing try my patience. The good news is that Louise de la Valliere did have some good bits that now have me looking forward to reading the last book in the series, The Man in the Iron Mask. I just wish the journey to this point had not involved some 3,600 pages of text. Dumas was as prolific a serial writer as Dickens, if that can be imagined! He must have been paid by the word, just like Dickens' was. ;-)

Now, onwards to The Man in the Iron Mask. ( )

Well it took me months, but I finished it. Does that mean I’m out of love with Dumas and the d’Artagnan romances? No, but I won’t hesitate to call Louise a slog. I read a biography snippet on Dumas that said his success bred an extravagant lifestyle that he had to write furiously to maintain. That causes me to view Louise as a bit of writer’s block. A lot is described and worried over, but not much actually happens as if Dumas was just filling in time until inspiration struck, which thankfully, it did. Not until very near the end though and the stuff in between is just straight-up boring. As a set up, it’s needlessly long, but necessary (I’m sure) to understand the how and why of the next installment which is The Man in the Iron Mask.

Every time any of the “four” (as they are called by others in the book) got together it made me smile. Especially to read of little expressions, looks or signals they would use to silently communicate as well as if they’d spoken aloud. Take this - “D’Artagnan answered Athos’s look by an imperceptible movement of the eyelid;” Oh there’s something afoot for sure. Or the part where Porthos tells his host (M. Fouquet) that he has broken his chair and that if he doesn’t get up immediately, he will fall to the floor. I can’t help but love those little bits that Dumas sprinkles in like hiding candy on Easter morning.

Because the focus of this book isn’t really the “four”, but basically three, the whole tone changed. Partially that’s why it was a slog. Raoul, Louis and Louise are very young and act accordingly. Though King of France, Louis admits, late in the book, that he’s really just a child (after d’Artagnan makes him a speech about the place of men of honor in his service...a great speech, btw, d’Artagnan has become quite the orator). All through the book he acts like one and so do the other two. Raoul is just a love-struck ostrich with his head in the sand, afraid of confrontation. Louise is a little girl hiding behind her mother’s skirts to avoid responsibility. In a way, it reads like a typical romantic comedy, full of misunderstandings and missed opportunities, but it’s not overt because of the language and the fact that there are a lot of tortured scenes and detail. That and the few other plot threads weaving in and out keep it from being a focused tale. I’m glad I read it though and will give myself a bit of a break before embarking on the final bit of the saga. ( )