Là-bas vs La tulipe noire: Which Should You Read?

Both live on shelves: French language materials, Continental european fiction, History, Fiction

Cover of Là-bas

Là-bas Joris-Karl Huysmans · 1890 ★★★★☆ 4.0 368 pages · ≈ 6 h 49 m · Demanding Find on Amazon

vs

Cover of La tulipe noire

La tulipe noire Alexandre Dumas · 1800 ★★★★☆ 3.9 276 pages · ≈ 5 h 07 m · Challenging Find on Amazon

The verdict

Ratings are close: 4.0 vs 3.9 — either is a safe pick by score.
La tulipe noire is the easier read (Challenging), Là-bas more demanding (Demanding).

Side by side