Author : Alexandre Dumas
What is it about : The story was set in the days of the Dutch "Tulip-Mania" when tulips of all colors, shapes and sizes, exchanged hands at huge sums of monies and assets, without even leaving the soil they were planted in. In one instance, a farmer bought a much sorted-after tulip with "2 carts of wheat, 4 of rye, 8 fat pigs, 4 oxen, a dozen sheep, 4 tons of butter, 1000 pounds of cheese, some furniture and clothes and a silver beaker...". So a tulip in the color of black velvet took centre stage in this classic of love, greed, mayhem, political intrigue and finally justice served.
Some thoughts after having read the book : The story read like a play where you could imagine the theater curtains rising and falling after each set-piece. The style was light and breezy, the story line was entertaining, each scene was purposefully set; so as such, however much pain, betrayal, hardship and injustice the heroine experienced along the way, you could feel it was gonna be alright at the end. The great author was well-known in the way that he filtered out the dull bits of history and liberally embellished an epic based on the remaining colorful bits of historical facts (or otherwise), thus achieving the effects of pace, entertainment and drama.
Would I recommend this book to you : When I took out the book from the local library, I initially approached this Classic with a little bit of apprehension, thinking that major concentration and a big effort was gonna be required here, assuming it to be another formidable read like "War And Peace" or something. But as it turned out, I was like attending a play or musical (think Les Mes) and I was totally amused and the time spent on reading just flew by. I would put it down to the skills of this great author in the way he structured the plot and the witty dialogues he peppered throughout the book. Highly recommended.
