Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #81939 in Books
• Published on: 1996-05-03
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 149 pages

Customer Reviews

ABSOLUTELY REVOLUTIONARY LIFE HASN'T BEEN THE SAME EVERSINCE
La Symphonie Pastorale is a beautiful story of a blind and innocent girl who fell in love with her mentor. She finally opens her eyes to see the pain and suffering she has caused. Unforgettable!!!

Two tales in one volume reflecting dilemmas of love
These two tales together in one volume are a real joy to read. Each is short and sweet with no waste of words. They recount the many dilemmas of being caught up in different kinds of love either forbidden as in La Symphonie Pastoral or fantasised in Isabelle. The first is the tale of a country Priest set in the French part of Switzerland. It tells how he takes into his care an orphaned blind girl, and teaches her about the wonders of God's world through nature and music. The Priest moves between his charitable deeds, love for his wife and family and the beautiful blind girl Gertrude. Time is a very important element within this narrative and something that made the book even more thought provoking. The story ends on a moving tragic note, and it keeps the reader attentive to the final page, as we see the priest's story unfold through his journal. I enjoyed the descriptions of the countryside, which are sparse but beautiful. Isabelle relates another thwarted and inaccessible love, as a young man dreams and visualises love for a woman represented by a photograph he sees at a Chateau where he is researching for a thesis. The family at the Chateau and their relationship to the girl in the photograph are gradually revealed, and the mystery is resolved to the surprise of the young man. Once again this is a first person narrative that reflects the strength of the writing. I highly recommend these novellas as delicately told portraits of affairs of the heart and consequences of falling in love and it's many complications. Both the stories are concerned with the psychology of their narrator. They acknowledge humanity and it's frailties, the fragile tendencies and waywardness of the heart, mind and spirituality of the main protagonists. The reader is able to relate to those involved and become caught up in their emotions. I very much like this when reading a book. However, my favourite of the two is La Symphonie Pastoral because of the depth of the story and its interesting if somewhat complex structure. It is the kind of novella I will always remember and requires re-reading to absorb its many facets and subtleties.