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A review by clayjs
La mare au diable by George Sand
4.0
The Haunted Pool was a strange and satisfying little book, but I must confess, nothing like what I expected. Reading about George Sand's public reputation doesn't really prepare one for such a tame romantic jaunt through provincial France. Sand's narrator more than once laments the state of women's fashion in the agricultural districts: "...She wore an apron of violet silk with the bib, which our villagers have unwisely abandoned, and which gave such elegance and modesty to the breast." It seems out of place for the shameless cigar-smoking lesbian of legend, famous feminist novelist and mistress to the great authors and composers of Europe. Despite some light communist allegory, the novel was decidedly unseditious.
Nonetheless, it was fun. The romance really was quite touching, but more importantly, the appendix, which described in exhaustive detail the three-day wedding ceremony of the region in which the story was set, was fascinating; the section on the cabbage ceremony is worth the read by itself. Also, Sand's prose style is mesmerizing in much the same way as Wilde's, but without the chewy pretense (which I legitimately admire in Wilde). I'll almost certainly read more of her work if I stumble upon it.
Nonetheless, it was fun. The romance really was quite touching, but more importantly, the appendix, which described in exhaustive detail the three-day wedding ceremony of the region in which the story was set, was fascinating; the section on the cabbage ceremony is worth the read by itself. Also, Sand's prose style is mesmerizing in much the same way as Wilde's, but without the chewy pretense (which I legitimately admire in Wilde). I'll almost certainly read more of her work if I stumble upon it.