4thace reviewed The tale of the rose by Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry
Review of 'The tale of the rose' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
The author of this memoir had already been widowed twice when she fell in love with and married the aviator and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, so a person might assume that she might have brought a certain world-weary pragmatism to the marriage. But this was not the case. The two of them were madly in love with love, but turned out to be badly prepared for the strains that a career spent in the air would place on them as a couple. This was at a time when aviators such as Lindbergh and Earhart were world celebrities associated with daring and glamour and a lust for freedom, and her husband was part of this elite circle. Accidents and losses were not too uncommon then, so every transcontinental trip or mail route held the threat they would never see one another again. At the same time, as a celebrity and a …
The author of this memoir had already been widowed twice when she fell in love with and married the aviator and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, so a person might assume that she might have brought a certain world-weary pragmatism to the marriage. But this was not the case. The two of them were madly in love with love, but turned out to be badly prepared for the strains that a career spent in the air would place on them as a couple. This was at a time when aviators such as Lindbergh and Earhart were world celebrities associated with daring and glamour and a lust for freedom, and her husband was part of this elite circle. Accidents and losses were not too uncommon then, so every transcontinental trip or mail route held the threat they would never see one another again. At the same time, as a celebrity and a member of a noble family, (Consuelo assumed the title of Comtesse by marrying him), there were plenty of other women attracted to the dashing pilot, ones she knew about and ones she did not. Added to this tension was a series of wrenching moves between South America, Africa, and Europe because of the job and a habit of breakups followed by extravagant professions of contrition which she never failed to escape. Also the matter of a World War with a need for aviators. It's not long before the reader becomes agitated at what Consuelo has described as her lot in life, and is hoping that she would just separate for good, after the next betrayal or near fatal crash or display of selfish callousness, but she never does. It is one of those made love affairs impossible for those on the outside to comprehend, especially in the present time with the relations between men and women so different from decades ago. It does not end happily, either, making the reading experience even more frustrating (though anyone picking up the book probably knows this from the start). I think the only way I could appreciate this memoir is just as a glimpse of a psychology I cannot succeed in understanding rationally. People still link up nowadays because of powerful magnetic attraction not based in reason, and maybe all of these are as aware of their misery the same way the author describes she was of hers, and unable to free themselves of it. Every relapse of the old obsession demonstrates how addictive the emotion is for such sufferers. The image of her husband does not come off well in the end, tragic as his disappearance turns out (not described in these pages), so it can come as a shock for those who loved his books. I was one of those who admired the childlike sense of wonder who felt betrayed to know that there was a less rosy side to his character.