12-09-2007, 11:37 AM
Desdemona Wrote:For those of you who have read, or are in the process of reading, Rebecca, I was wondering what you thought/think of Maxim as a romantic hero? He seemed cold and distant to me throughout the book. While I liked him, I didn't think of him as a great romantic hero or someone for whom I felt much affection.
When I first read the book, I thought it was a very romantic story. I was only a teenager at the time. After rereading it, I did pick up that Maxim was very cold. The narrator does point out that he was different during their honeymoon, but since we did not have a glimpse of that, it was hard to imagine Maxim being romantic. It seemed to me that he liked his wife, rescued her from her companion post and her loneliness, and befriended her. When he told her he loved her, it wasn't until near the end when his crime was about to be discovered. It made me feel he was just clinging to her for support.