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Pierre and John

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Pierre and John

By: Guy de Maupassant
Narrated by: Walter Zimmerman
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First published in 1888 in France, this novel is usually considered Maupassant's best. It is a piercing study of jealousy and suspicion. Pierre and Jean are the sons of a retired Parisian jeweler, M. Roland, living at Le Havre. Pierre is a doctor, whose temperament is somewhat nervous and unsteady. Jean, the younger, has a placid nature and is a lawyer. Both love the widowed young Mme. Rosemilly, who seems to prefer Jean. When Jean inherits a fortune from M. Marechal, an old family friend, Pierre, who gets nothing, is puzzled, jealous, and suspicious of his mother's relationship with M. Marechal.Public Domain (P)1986 Jimcin Co. Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction
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Editor reviews

Guy de Maupassant’s story of bourgeois guilt and relationships stained with envy is enriched by the subtle humor and playful voice acting of performer Walter Zimmerman. Pierre and John concerns an unexpected windfall, inherited by John Roland following the sudden death of a family friend. John’s brother Pierre doesn’t receive a penny, which leads to familial tensions. The jealous Pierre begins to doubt the fidelity of his mother, and eventually unearths an extramarital affair long past. A veteran performer of 19th-century classics, Zimmerman lends sprightly pacing and fluid efficiency to Maupassant’s treatise on the irony of fortune brought by death.

Critic reviews

"In his novels, he concentrated all his observations scattered in his short stories. His second novel Bel-Ami, which came out in 1885, had thirty-seven printings in four months. His editor, Havard, commissioned him to write new masterpieces and, without the slightest effort, his pen produced works of style, description, conception, and penetration. At this time he wrote what many consider to be his greatest novel, Pierre and John." ( Wikipedia Encyclopedia)
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