aPriL does feral sometimes 's Reviews > The Black Sheep

'The Black Sheep' by Honoré de Balzac is fun and interesting and frustrating all at the same time. Fun because it's a 19th-century soap opera describing the foibles of three generations of a family. Interesting because it has the multidimensional depths of a literary novel. Frustrating because scoundrels are abetted by their victims who help the scoundrels drag their victims down like non-swimmers drowning the swimmers trying to save them.

Characters and personalities drive the story front and foremost. Place comes second in affecting behaviors along with politics and money underlying all motivations, even if some characters bow reluctantly to these social pressures.

Jean-Jacques Rouget inherits his father Dr. Rouget's property in the small French town of Issoudun and all of his considerable pile of money. Dr. Rouget left his daughter, Agathe, with nothing because he believes she is the daughter of another man. She is sent to Paris to live with relatives, the Descoings. Unfortunately for the Descoings who had been doing quite well as grocery store owners, Robespierre ordered the husband guillotined for cornering food supplies, a falsehood. Agathe marries Bridau, a secretary to the Minister of the Interior. Agathe is a well-meaning woman, but simple. She lives with her aunt Madame Descoing after her husband dies from overwork. She has two sons, Philippe and Joseph Bridau. It is these two sons the book is mostly about, along with their circle of friends and enemies. Their adventures lead them from Paris to Issoudun, from the Descoings apartment in a big city to their uncle Jean-Jacques’ establishment in a small provincial town.

Philippe is a cruel selfish monster but very handsome in appearance. Joseph is a kind man but very ugly. Philippe earns accolades and much love as a soldier. Joseph becomes an artist, painting pictures which are admired by fellow painters. Joseph is unloved by his mother, Agathe. She showers Philippe with affection and all of her money. Philippe drains her dry of her fortune since he is a scoundrel, a drunkard, a gambler and a womanizer. Additionally, since he is a Bonapartist, he is on the wrong side politically of France's new government, the Bourbons, who take over from Napoleon after Napoleon is banished from France. Joseph earns his own way, first by taking on small jobs to pay for his education as an artist, and later by selling his paintings. He lives very modestly, while his brother Philippe lives off of his mother and later off of his friends and whatever work his mother Agathe tries to get for him.

So. Tension and agro increases between the brothers, and between the rich childless uncle in Issoudun and the poor Paris nephews hoping to inherit rich uncle Jean-Jacques’ wealth. It gets worse when uncle Jean-Jacques takes home a beautiful child who grows into a beautiful woman as a servant, Flore Brazier, “the fisherwoman”. Flore eventually realizes she has a lot of power over the besotted Jean-Jacques, who is becoming senile on top of being in love with her. Flore schemes to inherit Jean-Jacques' money while secretly, and then not so secretly, joining forces and perhaps, her loins, to another rascal military man living in Issoudun, Maxence Gilet, in 1816.

Life becomes a roller coaster as the characters struggle against each other for the Rouget inheritance and in the political mayhem caused by the succeeding governments of France. As this is a literary novel, the personalities of the characters are also very interesting. And maybe sad.