Book Review - Rafael Sabatini's Scaramouche
Published by: Public Domain Books
Publication Date: 1921
Format: Kindle, 438 Pages
Rating: ★★
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Andre-Louis Moreau "was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." But all in all it's an uncomplicated life. So his godfather Quentin de Kercadiou is rumored by all in his small town of Gavrillac to actually be his real father, he has no complaints as that good man has educated him to be a lawyer and set him up nicely. But Andre-Louis's life is soon to change because of one man, the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr. The people of Brittany are suffering at the hands of the aristocrats and Andre-Louis's good friend Philippe de Vilmorin plans to remonstrate the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr for his latest crime, killing a poor man for poaching. Instead the Marquis tricks Vilmorin into a duel he will lose and lose he does. Vilmorin wasn't killed because of a dead poacher, he was killed because his views and his way with words was a threat to the Marquis's way of life. As Andre-Louis cradles his dead friend he vows to use himself to get Vilmorin's words to the masses. He might not be a revolutionary himself but he owes it to Vilmorin to fulfill that man's purpose on this earth which was cut short. In Rennes and Nantes he works the crowd up into such fury that he must go on the lam or risk the gallows. He falls in with an acting troupe that uses the old tradition of the commedia dell'arte lead by an M. Binet. Within days he's elevated himself to the role of Scaramouche, and not long after he's writing all their scenarios and is half owner in the troupe. That all comes crashing down in Nantes because of the Marquis. The Marquis is not only wooing Quentin de Kercadiou's niece Aline, but he has taken up with Andre-Louis's fiance, M. Binet's daughter Climene. In an attempt to destroy the Marquis he creates a riot at the theater the troupe is performing at and flees into the night, ending up reinventing himself as a fencing master in Paris. Because if there's one thing that is certain, Andre-Louis lands on his feet. What isn't so certain is if he will ever avenge Vilmorin's life. As the atmosphere in Paris reaches the boiling point Andre-Louis and the Marquis de la Trou d'Azyr will face each other for the last time.
There are some books that the pages just fly by. You can't believe it when you reach the end of a chapter so quickly or that you devoured the whole thing in record time. Scaramouche is not one of those books. While it took me a week to read this book it felt like a million years. I kept wondering at my lack of progress. Was this book secretly set in eight point type? I guess I will never know. I will also never know what makes so many people hold this book near and dear. I was expecting some swashbuckling epic and instead I don't even know how to quantify this book. The affectation of a detached narrator culling the best stories out of the life of Andre-Louis is too contrived. You either get pages of dialogue wherein the characters are posturing or you get the narrator droning on. But at least when it's Andre-Louis's voice speaking there is some connection between the reader and the book, when the narrator tries to tackle the start of the French Revolution in their ham-fisted attempt to distill large issues down to manageable insights you are just lost in a morass of verbiage. Though if you read a little between the lines you get this sinking feeling that Sabatini is really for the aristocrats. Yes, the book starts out trying to avenge Vilmorin by bringing down the class system that caused his death but by the end it's kind of, maybe we should have left things as they were. Yes, what happened in the French Revolution was horrific, but I don't think the system that was in place was sustainable. I just felt like Sabatini was talking too much as someone from the future knowing what the revolution became and not staying in the moment with his characters. There was too much foresight even for someone looking back on the life of Andre-Louis. And yet...I might have been able to forgive all these issues had I actually liked Andre-Louis. I didn't. He's not likable. His morals will shift to whatever suits him in the moment. He never has any true hardship. All call him heartless, and I agree. Not just because of how he behaves but because he lacks that breath of life that would make him someone I wanted to read about. And never forget his desire to avenge Vilmorin just comes and goes depending on how he's feeling that day. Why should I devote my time to someone who can't even fully commit to revenge?
I just ran in to your blog. Cool stuff. I like the U.K. My ancestral boners are Angle in Sussex. I like analysis of literature. Especially Henry James, lately. Thanks!
vs said... February 10, 2024 at 2:18 AM
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