Really exceptional storytelling in this. Gide is so spellbinding when his characters tell a story and some of the stories in this novel took complete hold of me. I'd say his conceit paid off, too. From beginning to end I really got the sense of being lead down the path of a character's transformation but without very much obtrusive telling and so naturally that by the end, when this self-indulgent protagonist has come into his own, all the guilt and cringe over his character had transferred completely to me, the reader. He pulls this off by using his pontification only to provide the bare amount of context for his detailed descriptions of people and places (and low key masterful dialogue).

I'm reading the companion novel, Strait is the Gait, now and the experience is only making my feelings for The Immoralist swell. Gide took on such an interesting project to explore notions he set forth in Fruits of the Earth. I've only read 2 1/2 of his works but they all cohere in such wonderful ways. I look forward to reading more.