I'd love to call this a love story but it's really the story of an abusive relationship and the emotional roller coaster a narcissistic adventurer kept his wife on for the duration of their marriage. While Consuelo was clearly St. Exupery's muse (at least the main one), he projected the image of a porcelain child doll onto her, allowing him to return again and again to his disowned innocence for a whiff of redemption before returning to his life of debauchery and selfishness. Some may romanticize the author's willingness to endure as a testament to unconditional love, but I read and felt it as the submission of a woman to the patriarchal domination of the times, culture, and a marriage that did not honor her voice or needs. If you are concerned about harming your own ideal of the author of The Little Prince, think carefully before proceeding with this account of a far less than charming love affair.

Two opposites marry; extreme ups and downs; man who lives to fly, writes famous book, "The Little Prince." Forced myself to finish it. To me, it reads like a teenage diary. My opinion; you might disagree.

An interesting read of the inside perspective on a tumultuous relationship. I am fairly certain that Consuelo was suffering from mental illness: most likely bipolar disorder or NPD. Meanwhile, Antoine's avoidance and restlessness is typical behavior of one who is struggling with coping with a loved one with mental health issues.

Everything I expected, and more. It is an intriguing look into their complicated love life, and particularly mesmerizing if you love "The Little Prince". The rose is such an integral part of that book, and this is a behind the scenes look at where she came from. Seeing how Consuelo was Antoine's rose tugged at my heartstrings on more than one occasion while reading this. The vivid imagery was and attention to detail made this an engrossing read.

This book did not do a lot for my opinion of relationships, but it did make me want to move to France even more than I already did. Antoine de Saint Exupery was kind of an a-hole.

The most honest and candid (without a trace of sensationalism) I've seen portrayed in writing. Not superb writing, but the tumultuous fervor of their relationship was gripping. A sad life of love.

This tale of the relationship of Consuelo and Antoine de Saint-Exupery is compelling and harrowing. Because of the obsessional nature of the relationship and their emotional fragility, both are unable to either make a go of the relationship or end it. I found it painful to read about the ways Antoine (Tonio) manipulated Consuelo and lied to her about his machinations and how she kept on going back to him even when she expressed the desire to get a divorce. I guess, for some people, being a muse has its allure.

While I was reading "The Little Prince," Natalie lent me her copy of this book to read.

For those of you unfamiliar with The Little Prince, it is about a little prince who lives on a small planet all alone. The only companion he has on his small island is a rose - a beautiful, delicate rose with an attitude problem. From the prince's perspective, the rose seems to demand a lot of attention and work, which starts to get on his nerves. He decides he can't take it any more and leaves his planet. He travels to other planets, meeting interesting people along the way. He finally ends up on planet Earth. While on Earth he meets and becomes friends with a pilot who has crashed in the desert (and who is also the narrator of the story). After spending some time with the pilot, the little prince realizes how much he loves and misses his beautiful rose. He decides he'd rather be with her, thorns and all, than without her - so he returns to his planet and his rose.

As I stated above, right after reading The Little Prince, I read the book "The Tale of the Rose: The Love Story Behind The Little Prince" a memoir written by the wife of the author of "The Little Prince." The memoir details the tumultuous (and 'tumultuous' is putting it mildly) marriage of the two authors. This marriage was the inspiration for the story of the little prince - a story about two people in love who, after expecting perfection from one another, learn that an imperfect life is better with each other (thorns and all) than it is apart.

The moral of both of these stories impressed me. Often, the ones we love the most are the ones that have the ability to annoy and bother us the most - just like the beautiful rose and the little prince. A lot of the time, we tend to think that breaking away from these people will make us happier...and sometimes it might. But I also believe that, often, the people we love the most can annoy us the most precisely because we love them the most. These people, thorns and all, are the pretty roses that make our own little planets warm, beautiful, and complete.

Interesting account by the widow of the author of the Little Prince, a French aviator.

It's a wonderful book about love, compassion and holding on to each other through rough and bad times. I read it in Italy after my girlfriend broke up with me. It's simply a good book, and Consuelo wrote the stars off the sky - her words are very pictured.

Es ist schwierig, einem Buch zu folgen und sich in die Geschichte hineinzufühlen, wenn man die Gedankengänge der Protagonistin oft einfach nicht nachvollziehen kann, was bei mir leider sehr oft der Fall war. Zu häufig erschien mir ihr Verhalten einfach widersprüchlich, insbesondere was ihre Beziehung zu Antoine de Saint-Exupéry betraf. Auch der Schreibstil war nicht hundertprozentig mein Ding, da mir oft Erklärungen und Hintergrundinformationen gefehlt haben, um ihre Biographie besser nachvollziehen zu können. Dennoch wirkte der Schreibstil sehr ehrlich und ich konnte mir oft ein gutes Bild von dem Leben, der Zeit und den Umständen machen. Vielleicht es auch einfach nicht der richtige Zeitpunkt für mich, da ich davor noch nichts über das Leben von Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wusste.

First off let me admit that I am totally embarrassed now by my review of Saint-Exupery’s Wind, Sand and Stars: “I fell in love with Saint-Exupery while reading this.” My embarrassment has nothing to do with the book, which is the best, it’s that after reading this memoir by his wife, Consuelo, I see that every other woman who ever read his books seems to have had the same reaction. Then they all threw themselves at him and, sadly for Consuelo, he slept with every last one of them.
I wouldn’t say this is a good book, but it was interesting to read about their trainwreck of a marriage and get a perspective on this beloved hero/writer. He seems to be along the lines of those types that everyone’s met: captivating, intense, when their attention is on you you feel you’re the only person in their world… until they’re distracted and move on to something/someone else. Except he’s that person on steroids, with ADD, an immense talent and an ego that tells him his writing can save all of humanity. Even though she wrote the book, I can’t really see what he saw in Consuelo. He seems to have been more in love with the idea that she was an innocent child he had to take care of (I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was a little retarded), than with Consuelo herself. I guess that’s kind of like the little prince’s relationship to the rose? Except the little prince didn’t fuck every other flower in sight. Whatever. I hated both of them by the end of the book, so I don’t really care.