Immediately, I must confess that all the stories in the collection are not the same level. But some are so perfect, so strong that alone they deserve to hoist the collection at the stage of 5 stars. The new title, while excellent, is not from my point of view the best book; she is riding the same wave as "suet ball" context of the Franco-Prussian war, a prostitute shows himself more honorable than many supposedly more frequentable people. For cons, the real dynamite is in my "Lady Baptiste", story of a double penalty, a girl raped and rejected by this fact. In short, upsetting. "Two Friends" is a model construction and efficiency, in the register of collateral damage from the war. Maupassant revisits the theme of the humble and discreet, who know how to be noble and valiant in certain conditions, a bit like in a new another collection, "The Father Milon." The new "horse" is closer to the canonical model of the author, that is to say, not very far from the stuffing, grinding, caustic, a bit misanthropic, these people all a bit rotten in the background, either way. Other new (they are 18 in total) left me a souvenir more perishable but remain pleasant.
