ewwwww ( )

Eugenie is dominated by her miserly father who shelters her and strips away all the joy of those around him. The relentless pursuit of money at all costs on the part of her father prevents her from pursuing her romantic passions and eventually results in giving up on love and living a life of cold, calculating personal transactions. ( )

An amazing look at the arrogance and evil of greed. Not "I want a good position in a company and will work hard to get it so I can have the best things" greed, but the egotism and absolute focus on the having wealth at any cost. Even one's family. The precision with which Balzac zeroes in on his human subjects and makes them as relevant today as they were when the book was written (1833) is why I love this author.

Full disclosure: I read it in the French folio edition to maintain my language skills and to catch the nuances of Balzac's writing. There was one place, where I took to Wikipedia to make sure I understood a certain plot point. And basically Wikipedia confirmed what I had suspected: that M. Grandet was more interested in building his already massive fortune at the expense of his nephew's future. But more on that further on.

The famille Grandet lives on vast holdings in Saumur, near Tours along the Loire. M. Grandet made his fortune as a cooper and he marries an heiress and they purchase vineyards with their combined wealth. All well and good, and life progresses with the birth of a daughter, Eugenie.

Yet Mme. Grandet is only allowed 6 francs at a time for her household expenses. The house is large and old, and is falling into disrepair because Felix does not wish to spend the money to fix it. They have one servant, Nanon, who has the strength to support her mistress and deal directly with the avarice of Felix in her household duties. And the town is betting on who will take the hand of Eugenie: la famille des Cruchot, or la famille des Grassins, each of whom has an eligible son.

These are also the only two families allowed to visit la famille des Grandet, along with the town's Abbot, and it is while they are celebrating Eugenie's birthday (at low light due to the cost of firewood) that Felix' nephew, Charles, arrives on his uncle's doorstep with a request from Guillaume, M. Grandet's estranged brother. Guillaume requests Felix' help for his son Charles to travel to the Indies to set up his fortune. What is revealed to the reader, and later to Charles himself, is that Guillaume is deeply in debt and has taken his own life in his shame.

Eugenie, living as she does in her isolated family, falls in love with her cousin and as one would expect, pledges are trothed and love is spoken, and Charles gifts her with a prized gold dressing case of his mother's. In return, Eugenie gifts him with her rare gold coins that her father gives her every year for her birthday. And Felix offers to "help" Charles sell his jewels since Felix knows the townsfolk and can get a good price. This was the part where I turned to Wikipedia because of the interest rate, timeframe, etc. While Eugenie helps her beloved with his future, Felix swindles his brother's son out of his family's fortune.

What happens next is brilliant and full of realistic actions and observations of the characters and their motivations. For Felix, it is gold; for Eugenie, it is love and pride in herself and her actions, and for Mme. Grandet, she has lived in fear all her married life and now it overcomes her.

One passage that forms an essence of the book is below (in its original, to gain the nuances and beauty of the language):

Tout pouvoir humain est un composé de patience et de temps. Les gens puissants veulent et veillent. La vie de l'avare est un constant exercice de la puissance humaine mise au service de la personalité. ( )

Maybe even 4.5* for this audiobook edition ( )

Great book! Maybe it is even 4.5 *

Balzac's characters were all well written (even though not all were very nice) & the prose was extremely readable. I found the ending rather sad... ( )