I recently read my first book (novella, I suppose) by Honoré* *de Balzac, The Girl With the Golden Eyes, more or less accidentally. I was at the library, and realized I need something small to carry along for a bunch of bus rides, and that happened to come to hand.
It left me cold. The first 20% or so was mildly enjoyable, basically expository opining about Parisian life. Then the major middle part is about the handsome young man’s infatuation with an unknown cloistered handsome girl, basically about his hopes and plans to seduce and abandon her. That aspect became increasing distasteful, at least to me, partly because of the antiquated (French?) notions about male-female relations. And then it resolves itself into rip-roaring Gothic romanticism hysteria, with plot twists coming out of nowhere.
I know I should be more respectful and appreciative, but I just couldn’t get past the aggravations of the plot. According to the book’s introduction, Balzac is considered at realist???