Part of La Comédie Humaine
First published 1997
Eugène de Rastignac arrives in Paris from the provinces with empty pockets and grand ambitions. At his shabby boarding house, he meets Père Goriot, an elderly man who has sacrificed everything for his two daughters, Delphine and Anastasie. Goriot sold his business and gave away his fortune to secure their marriages into high society, yet they treat him with cold indifference. Rastignac becomes entangled with both daughters as he navigates the treacherous waters of Parisian society. He watches Goriot grow poorer and more desperate, begging for scraps of affection from the women who have consumed his life. The young man must choose between his moral conscience and his burning desire for wealth and status. As Goriot's health fails and his daughters abandon him completely, Rastignac witnesses the brutal cost of unconditional love in a world where money determines worth.
Genres: drama, classics, classic-literature, french-literature, literary-fiction, 19th-century
Vibes: introspective, melancholic, morally-complex, thought-provoking, tragic
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, moral-dilemma, sacrifice-and-betrayal, social-climbing
Setting: Paris, Parisian society, boarding house, provinces
Period: 19th century, Restoration era
384 pages · Paperback · W. W. Norton & Company
Content warnings: death, emotional-abuse