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Rating: 
Summary: Cold Blooded Caveat Emptor not a romance
Review: Last reviewer missed the Tark's irony. This is not romance; it's a warning about accepting the exterior. The closest irony I can compare it to is Tom "freeing" Jim at the end of Huck Finn. One impish fellow plays a wonderfull dating game. He survives dangers, costume changes(and some fine engravings in the early edition), treachery, duels, all the romantic posturings. But, when he asks if he can be loved simply for himself, not for the trappings,...well the book could end there. I am glad that Tark gave some of the characters their come uppance in the epilogue.
Rating:
Summary: Cold Blooded Caveat Emptor not a romance
Review: Last reviewer missed the Tark's irony. This is not romance; it's a warning about accepting the exterior. The closest irony I can compare it to is Tom "freeing" Jim at the end of Huck Finn. One impish fellow plays a wonderfull dating game. He survives dangers, costume changes(and some fine engravings in the early edition), treachery, duels, all the romantic posturings. But, when he asks if he can be loved simply for himself, not for the trappings,...well the book could end there. I am glad that Tark gave some of the characters their come uppance in the epilogue.
Rating: 
Summary: Typical Early Tarkington
Review: This short novelette held much promise. I actually read the introduction and was told that this was one of the great "love" stories in American literature. What I got was a muddled story that was hard to follow and unfeeling. A lowly Frenchman comes to England and notices a lady in the upper class. She has noble blood. He worms his way into an introduction with her under the guise of French nobility and a made up title. She is impressed with him until he is revealed to her as a mere "barber". Yet he is not all that he seems to be -- as the story reveals much to the woman's regret ( after she learns the truth ). I am glad this book was short, otherwise I probably would've ditched it after page 50... but I figured I was already almost half way through and stuck with it... It started to make sense near the end but there seemed to be about 35 pages of confusion occurring.
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