Reviews

Retreat from Love by Colette

msjoanna's review against another edition

4.0

Continuing on my Colette binge, I picked this one because Harold Bloom includes it in his Western Canon. This was actually my least favorite of the the 5 Colette books that I've read in quick succession (the others were [b:Dialogues de bêtes|1923550|Dialogues de bêtes|Colette|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1190385922s/1923550.jpg|1223363], [b:Cheri & The Last of Cheri|89841|Cheri & The Last of Cheri|Colette|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1317064747s/89841.jpg|1022253], and [b:The Vagabond|89842|The Vagabond|Colette|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1317065540s/89842.jpg|903111]). Fundamentally, I never believed the central love story between Claudine, the narrator, and the absent Renaud. Perhaps I would of liked the story better if I had read the 4 previous Claudine novels. I quite enjoyed reading about Annie, even without the back story that I would have had from the previous novels. Though Annie was describing salacious events from her life, the modern reader will not find the descriptions overly sexy or embarrassing.

Colette is a master of language and manages to capture emotions, natural beauty, and the antics of her dog and cat perfectly. I'll continue to look for more by this author.

prosewhore's review against another edition

2.0

Beautiful prose but the story doesn't interest me.
Might read it over again when my head is in a better place, or perhaps, a few years down the line I could appreciate it more.

worstwitch's review against another edition

5.0

I don't understand why this isn't in the Complete Claudine other than Colette wrote this alone. It's a thoughtful & great completion to the Claudine series. A mature exploration on ageing & seasoned love. So essential !

Maybe the best Claudine, it's between this & Claudine Married for me.