AmySea

I sort of feel silly giving The Scarlet Pimpernel five stars--from a literary/intellectual standpoint it's just not a five star work. But what can I say? I just loved this book!

I loved the dynamic between Sir Percy and Marguerite, and their marriage felt very authentic to me. I loved the scene in the garden when Marguerite needed and wanted her husband, but neither of them was quite able to put aside their hurt and their pride in order to admit to the other how much they really loved one another. I got how much Marguerite loved her husband, because it's how I feel toward my husband, but I also got how tough marriage can sometimes be on love, and I got how disappointed expectations, hurt and pride can sometimes lead us to sabotage our marriages.

Although deep with emotion, the book wasn't strong on every count. The author seemed to struggle with description a bit. All of her women were, at some point, compared to children either in terms of their temperment or in terms of their little mouths, or little hands, or little shrugs. Citezen Chauvelin did a lot of "sarcastic smiling." I don't know if he ever smiled any differently than "sarcastically." At a certain point in the story our heroine became almost superfluous, except as a set of eyes through which the action of the story was being observed, and frankly, I thought this book telegraphed its big secret from a mile away. I was aware of all of this as I listened to this story, and I realize that this book is no [b:Jane Eyre|10210|Jane Eyre|Charlotte Brontë|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327867269s/10210.jpg|2977639]. But when I finished this story I felt satisfied, and happy, and in love with the story I had just been told. I just adored it, and I have to give it five stars.