I found this book quite marvelous from beginning to end, the story of a Parisian prostitute - it should have more rightly be called Berthe of Montparnasse but the antagonizing force in Berthe's life was her husband come pimp, known as Bubu (Maurice). One of my favourite observations from the novel ..."The hunger of the tiger is like the hunger of the lamb. You have provided us with nourishment. I think this tiger is good because he loves his female and his cubs, and because he loves to live. But why must there be blood in the hunger of the tiger, whereas the hunger of the lamb is so mild?"

The Pox is a starring role of this novel and sexual diseases that spread wildly and were well known became acts of profound human consciousness, entwined within our daily drive to survive until death we must part.

The novel travels along with ease, it is not a cheery book but it has that wonderful balance between what the world offers us, what we take from the world and what we give back, all encapsulated in the lives of the many who dip our life into the cycle of birth and death, and society. ( )