Isabelle vs La chartreuse de Parme: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: French fiction, French literature, French language, Fiction
Isabelle
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Gérard Lacase, un étudiant en lettres, arrive au château de la Quartfourche, un grand manoir normand habité par les familles Floch et Saint-Auréol, pour en consulter la bibliothèque dans le cadre de recherches pour une…
La chartreuse de Parme
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Headstrong and naive, the young Italian aristocrat Fabrizio del Dongo is determined to defy the wrath of his right-wing father and go to war to fight for Napoleon. He stumbles on the Battle of Waterloo, ill-prepared,…
Side by side
The verdict
- Isabelle is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 8 for La chartreuse de Parme.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Isabelle | La chartreuse de Parme | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | — | 3.8 (20659) |
Reception
| Isabelle | La chartreuse de Parme | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | — | 20659 |
| Editions | 51 | 554 |
| Citations | — | 31 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 30310 |
| Reading it now | — | 1616 |
| Written reviews | — | 1193 |
| Wikipedia attention | 107 | 67 |
| Pages | 166 | 478 |
Questions readers ask
Which is shorter to read: Isabelle or La chartreuse de Parme?
Isabelle is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Isabelle (166 pages, ≈ 3 h 04 m); La chartreuse de Parme (478 pages, ≈ 8 h 51 m).
Which is harder to read: Isabelle or La chartreuse de Parme?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Isabelle: Challenging; La chartreuse de Parme: Demanding.