this chapter has been a hell of a ride

the way everything falls apart at lightspeed and yet seems completely inevitable

ultimately, these three people still care deeply about each other, but given what they are, nothing good can come of it

quite a few of the conversations this chapter were just "oh damn"

Max and Danton being honest for once about their deep and disastrous attachments to Camille

Camille and Max being honest for once about neither of them backing down

Max admitting he doesn't know what he wants, when that's the last thing anyone expects to hear out of him

many people interpret his character as paranoid, but it reads a little different than that to me

his concern for doing the right thing and preserving what he has built is obsessive, until he ruins it and himself

when he has no one left but Saint-Just to talk to, it's quite pitiful and sad

but the thing with Mantel is...even these two, they banter

every line sounds quotable

maybe not the best approach in this case

Camille really shines when he tries to do right by his conscience, but again it's not a pure act of heroism

he's aware that he's trying to recapture his glory, of being the catalyst of everything, for the second time in his life

and this insistence that he doesn't need to be protected, by either Danton or Max

it's this glimpse at just how powerless he has felt compared to them all this time, when he feels by right he should be regarded as the one who started it all

"Camille's emotions cannot be contained, like natural disasters" YEP most accurate assessment thus far

as for Danton I still don't like him but at least he's realized it

"once in, never out"

he was also responsible for the most ............ moment thus far

>Danton starts stroking Camille's hair

Camille: Don't stop doing that, it's the nicest thing that has happened to me all month.

ok

also the use of little meaningful details is just great

the changing of the name of the street, for one, has never brought such a sense of doom

and that surprise dialogue with the Marquis de Sade

for once we get someone who truly is fucked up and fascinating to observe, a real writer's writer unlike Laclos (no offense to Laclos I also enjoyed his character)

and his pronouncement on the cruelties of the regime is that they are no longer aesthetically appealing to him

I kind of loved that