La lenteur vs Les contes drôlatiques: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: France in fiction, Continental european fiction, Manners and customs, Social life and customs, Fiction
La lenteur
“We suddenly had the urge to spend the evening and night in a chateau.”
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After the gravity of The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Immortality, Slowness comes as a surprise: it is certainly Kundera's lightest novel, a divertimento, an opera buffa, with, as the author himself says, "not a…
Les contes drôlatiques
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A collection of stories with a mediaeval theme rather after the style of Rabelais. Early editions were illustrated by Gustav Dore and were published by Garnier Freres of Paris. The stories range from the absurd to the…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- La lenteur is the quickest read — about 2 hours vs 10 for Les contes drôlatiques.
- La lenteur has the widest readership — 8 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| La lenteur | Les contes drôlatiques | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardcover | 3.7 (7) | — |
Reception
| La lenteur | Les contes drôlatiques | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 8 | 2 |
| Editions | 29 | 140 |
| Pages | 156 | 557 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: La lenteur or Les contes drôlatiques?
La lenteur has the higher combined reader rating across sources (La lenteur 3.8/5, Les contes drôlatiques 3.8/5).
Which is shorter to read: La lenteur or Les contes drôlatiques?
La lenteur is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: La lenteur (156 pages, ≈ 2 h 53 m); Les contes drôlatiques (557 pages, ≈ 10 h 19 m).
Which is harder to read: La lenteur or Les contes drôlatiques?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — La lenteur: Moderate; Les contes drôlatiques: Challenging.