Peter Prange

Overall, I liked this book. It gave a good view of what was going on ideologically in Paris, in the fifty years prior to the French Revolution, and you can see how some of the events and the ideas presenting in The Philosopher's Kiss lead to the greater complaints later on. I didn't really know much about Madame du Pompadour other than she was Louis's mistress (and what could be gotten from that Doctor Who episode), so I liked learning about her involvement in helping the encyclopedia come into being.

The novel does seem a bit repetitive at times. But I think this is because when each volume of the encyclopedia was printed, it outraged the church and/or state, and someone was threatened with or was arrested and imprisoned, and faced censorship issues. The editors kept trying to push what they could get away with, so the same things kept happening.

Sophie was a real person, according to the author's note, however not much is known about her, or what relationship she actually had with Diderot, other than she existed and knew one another. As a character, I don't really like her very much. Probably because she keeps going back to Diderot, who reads at best as a jerk. I don't think I have a great affinity to any of the characters. But to me, they almost seem to be secondary, while the Encyclopedia seems to be THE main character, as nearly all of the events covered in the book revolve around it. I also don't think the title helps it much. I half expected it to have a stronger romance, or depiction of it, but it didn't. The romance between Sophie and Diderot is fairly tame in the telling, and doesn't read like a romance novel.

I would recommend this if you have an interest in the French Revolution and the precursors that lead up to it, and if you have an interest in the philosophy of this time period and their influences.

I recieved this book via the GoodReads FirstReads giveaway… (plus d'informations)

Peter Prange knows how to wrap up historical events in an exciting novel like no other.
"The Rose of the World" - this is how the University of Paris, founded in 1229, is praised throughout the Occident. It is a time when leading scientific thinkers want to practise their sciences without the church's blessing. This turns out not to be so easy, as the queen mother is very devout and domineering, while her underage son believes in science and would like to study this with renowned personalities.
Paul and Robert, two young men who grew up in the same village, want to study in Paris. While Robert takes this very seriously, Paul is a bon vivant and chases every skirt. He also runs a typing pool where copies of lectures and scientific papers are copied. Robert, on the other hand, wants to study theology and knows that he would have to be celibate. Will he succeed?
At carnival, they both get caught up in a "donkey mass", an orgiastic celebration by the students to mock the bishop and the priests. A riot breaks out, soldiers massacre the students. The aftermath shakes Paris and all of France. The Sorbonne goes on strike, a power struggle begins between the magisters and their students on the one hand and the authorities of church and state on the other. In the storm of unleashed powers, Robert must choose between his love of science and his career - and his love for the beautiful Marie, in whom he has found a soul mate. But Marie is the wife of his best friend Paul.
Once again a great novel that I highly recommend.… (plus d'informations)

En el año 1032, un adolescente de doce años, Teofilacto de Túsculo, se convierte en el papa más joven de la Historia, y probablemente el más odiado: Benedicto IX, a quien las intrigas y el soborno han aupado a la Corte Pontificia. Considerado por muchos un libertino que practicaba la hechicería y recibía prostitutas, también es un joven temeroso e inexperto, manipulado por los cardenales y obispos que le rodean. Pero nada le concitará tantos enemigos como su empeño en reformar la curia y acabar con la corrupción vaticana. Cuando Benedicto IX advierte que solo la autoridad y la violencia le ayudarán en su propósito, la tragedia será inevitable.En El papa niño, Peter Prange convierte uno de los episodios más oscuros de la Iglesia en una inquietante novela, y traslada al lector las mismas preguntas que se hace uno de sus personajes, el cardenal Xing: «¿Nos bastan las apariencias para juzgar a las personas? ¿No deberíamos esforzarnos en intentar entender sus actos como manifestaciones de la divina providencia?».… (plus d'informations)

Escenario de una lucha de ideas que cambiará el rumbo de la civilización, el París de la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII es una ciudad de efervescencia. Frente al poder incuestionable de la iglesia y el Estado, los filósofos reclaman un paraíso terrenal en el que reinen la igualdad, la libertad y la fraternidad. Su detonante será la Enciclopedia, el libro más revolucionario después de la Biblia, una obra que recogerá todo el saber y el raciocinio del hombre, una bomba para la decadente monarquía francesa.… (plus d'informations)