From Marguerite to Violetta to Satine

I just finished the Lady of the Camellias. This was supposedly the first novel my grandmother read, when she was about 13 or so. She told me that these kind of books were forbidden to teenagers, so she had to steal it from the bookcase of his father, and read it while hiding on a tree.

The book seems to have created a compelling type of love story set in Paris, between a courtesan and a naive young man. La Traviata and Moulin Rougue! follow the same storyline as the lady of the Camellias:

Setting:
Paris, sometime between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century:

1. A naive and idealistic young man meets beautiful and successful Parisian courtesan.
2. The naive young man falls in love with the courtesan and convinces her to love him.
3. Courtesan leaves all her riches and favors of wealthy people to be with the only person who can show her "true" love.
   
4. By external forces, the courtesan must lie to the young man and tell him she does not love him anymore. He must go away. She believes she has done this for his own good.
   
5. Young man is bitter and angry against the suffering courtesan. He believes she has left him because she missed her life of luxury.
   
6. Courtesan dies of tuberculosis. Young man finds out she has always loved him.

While on the topic of books again, I just wanted to mention two more: Anna Karenina has the most believable characters I have ever seen! I found the actions of each character very believable, I think I could have been anyone in the book, under the right circumstances!! I think Biogeek and the Gadfly should go through it! The book talk about two loves stories, one that grows into disaster and another one that is not even a love story!! I believe it was just a matter of convenience!! Of course, if you have a marriage that is convenient to both parties, then both will be happy, even if they do not know what love is. If you have one where both love each other madly, but is very inconvenient, it will be a very unhappy one. Of course this is my own interpretation... so it may not be right... some people might say that Kitty loved Vronsky, but not me!

I think even biogeek will like the book, for the animal characters like Frou-Frou (the most lovable horse) and Laska (a dog that even has some sentences in the book, dealing with the incompetence of her master for hunting).

Ok. one more book and that is it... what the hell is wrong with the ending of The Pearl!!! Grrr.