Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26100 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

Beautiful, but very much 'of its time'
Consuelo does have a wonderful gift with words. She is described in the preface as a wonderful storyteller and the poetic turns of phrase in the novel will make you double back and read it again, or say a line aloud.

The memoir does relate a fascinating life. She moves from place to place, meets amazing people and survives First World War France stealing pigs and forming a tight-knit group of friends. However, I found myself hundreds of times just screaming aloud, "You stupid woman!" I understand the book is of its time, and women had very low place in society, but Antoine treats Consuelo appallingly- even she recognises this. And yet every single time, he summons her and she comes. Her friends tell her "It is your duty as a wife." And it is full of very distressing lines such as "With my wifely duties gone, my woman's heart was useless." Antoine abandons her time and again, has countless affairs and treats her with no greater affection than a lovable pet.

The plot is also unfounded at times because Consuelo spends much of her time merely listing time and place, and only pays lip service to certain important events. What I loved most were the single-scene events she would relate, such as the saving of the roses, her conversations with the captain, which I think she summarises as "we talked about everything." The language is beautifully translated and Consuelo is articulate without being overdetailed. But there were times I wanted much more. I could have grasped much of her life from history books. The personal narration was the most compelling part of the novel.

A beautifully written and touching novel. Difficult to read, as a woman of the 21st century- it does put you off men for some time- but I suppose great novels often are.

Brilliant and heartbreaking
This is a compelling and powerful true story of the love of Consuelo De Saint-Exupery for her husband (romantic 'hero' and author of The Little Prince), but it's not a fairy tale. It will take your breath away at times, it may break your heart.

Consuelo Saint-Exupery finally gets her say!
Written by the wife of a great author Antoine Saint-Exupery, the tale shows the life of a powerful woman and how she has lived up to the expectations of her husband. After the appearance of The Little Prince by Sain-Exupery the wolrd has been misled by the biographical interpretaions of the author. The characters in Antoine's novel have been reviewed time and again, but unfortunatelly, wrongly. The rose has finally shown her real face, and in the Tale of a Rose one can see what Saint-Exupery intended by placing the fox and the rose in one novel. The Tale of the Rose is a diary-based novel retrieved from the notes that Consuelo has written over the years living with Antoine. An amazing love stroy reveals itslef and shows us that Antoine's lover was not the person intended for the rose but his wife. The authencity of the novel can be seen from the fact that Consuelo has not published the book herself but someone else did. She lives up to the expectations of the editors by writting a tale worth as much as her husband's novels. It is a story with which every woman can identify herself and proves that love can fight anything as Consuelo has throughout her life.