"Cyrano de Bergerac"

      Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written by Edmond Rostand in 1897.  Luckily, it being a play means that you can literally read it a single sitting.  This is another French written work that was translated into English.

    The play is about a wealthy cadet in the French military named Cyrano de Bergerac.  As well as being a nobleman, he is a very gifted poet and orator.  But most notably is Cyrano's giant and elongated nose.  It is due to this flaw that he lacks the confidence to express his love for his cousin, Roxanne.  Unfortunately, Roxanne is in love with another man, Christian.  Roxanne calls on Cyrano to bring her and Christian together.
     Heart broken, Cyrano must work his poetic magic to help Christian fool Roxanne into believing that Christian can a sappy and romantic poet.  It is from this play that the famous scene (used in dozens of movies) in which Cyrano feeds lines of poetry to Christian under Roxanne's balcony.
     While this play is sprinkled with humor and cute wit, it is mostly a heartfelt tale of a lifelong love that cannot be extinguished even by time and unrequited love.  But that's really it.  Upon finishing, I never really felt like I received any kind of life lesson I can hold with me.  A good read, nonetheless.

I give it 3 out of 5 Wildes.