Book summary

Old Goriot has raised his two daughters to be selfish, vain, and greedy; when as adults they treat him badly, repaying his indulgence of their whims with indifference and cruelty, Goriot realizes that they are only behaving as they have been trained to. In this brilliant but bleak novel, virtually every character has been corrupted in some way by money. This is the French-language version of the novel.

Media reviews

"There are sometimes passages in Balzac..., for instance in 'Père Goriot', where words reach a degree of passion that is white hot."