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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
I found this painting by Degas, Interieur (1868-69),
mentioned in the other book I am reading at the moment, [b: The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art|27876332|The Art of Rivalry Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art|Sebastian Smee|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463600777s/27876332.jpg|47869158]. I was immediately drawn to it and started googling its history. Apparently, most people agree that it was inspired by Zola's Thérèse Raquin therefore I had to stop and read it.
It's been more than 20 years since I read Zola and coming right after a VERY contemporary novel, [b: Conversations With Friends|32187419|Conversations with Friends|Sally Rooney|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1500031338s/32187419.jpg|52827120], I found it at least funny to get back to an omniscient narrator, who knows exactly what his characters think and what motivates them in doing this or that. I must admit, it was a bit of a struggle to cope with that, and there might be other challenges for the modern reader along the way, however I was completely enthralled by his manner of dissecting the change in the characters' behaviour. For more than half the novel we follow two guilt-ridden characters and truth be told, I was very curious to what lengths Zola will go with them. Great lengths, I tell you. Unfortunately I wasn't able to sympathise with any of the characters (perhaps because Zola already told me what to believe), but the reader wasn't probably supposed to like them in the first place anyway.
3.5*
mentioned in the other book I am reading at the moment, [b: The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art|27876332|The Art of Rivalry Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art|Sebastian Smee|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463600777s/27876332.jpg|47869158]. I was immediately drawn to it and started googling its history. Apparently, most people agree that it was inspired by Zola's Thérèse Raquin therefore I had to stop and read it.
It's been more than 20 years since I read Zola and coming right after a VERY contemporary novel, [b: Conversations With Friends|32187419|Conversations with Friends|Sally Rooney|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1500031338s/32187419.jpg|52827120], I found it at least funny to get back to an omniscient narrator, who knows exactly what his characters think and what motivates them in doing this or that. I must admit, it was a bit of a struggle to cope with that, and there might be other challenges for the modern reader along the way, however I was completely enthralled by his manner of dissecting the change in the characters' behaviour. For more than half the novel we follow two guilt-ridden characters and truth be told, I was very curious to what lengths Zola will go with them. Great lengths, I tell you. Unfortunately I wasn't able to sympathise with any of the characters (perhaps because Zola already told me what to believe), but the reader wasn't probably supposed to like them in the first place anyway.
3.5*
If you were to believe Zola, Thérèse Raquin is not so much a novel as it is a scientific study of what happens when two personality types meet up in certain circumstances. One of his earlier novels, Thérèse Raquin is not so much the narrative of a class of people (such as factory workers or prostitutes), but a more personal small-scale subject.
Thérèse is raised alongside her cousin Camille. A sickly child, Camille is bed-bound for most of his childhood, and Thérèse learns to keep her passions within herself in this languid and silent environment. Under the guidance of her aunt, Mrs Raquin, the two marry when they reach adulthood. Thérèse’s passions are awakened when she meets a sturdy farmer’s son, who is the opposite of Camille, whom she hates.
The plot of Thérèse Raquin could have come straight from a contemporary romantic novel, but it is anything but. It is a story of how passions can destroy the lives of anyone who comes into touch with them. Every scene is pervaded by gloom, melancholy, depression, and ultimately cruelty. If anything, I would call this novel decidedly Gothic. It is the tempers that make the characters monstrous, that leads them to revel in each other’s destruction. They are haunted by their past, by their actions.
While I think Zola does not have the psychological insight as some of his contemporaries had, there are bits of truthfulness in his dark narrative that I appreciated. One scene describes how crowds of people would flock to the Morgue, an institution open to the public, where recent corpses were showcased for several days. Zola describes, among other things, how groups of young boys would ogle the naked breasts thus displayed, chattering. Zola has a talent for showing the darkest, most deprived impulses people have – something which has caused him to be called amoral by most of his critics – which is interesting, but also skews the total portrait. Yes, people are selfish, greedy, and wilfully ignorant. Yes, they might live in squalor. Perhaps I am an optimist, but I believe that most people also form genuine connections despite or because of these.
I liked Thérèse Raquin better than Nana, which is a novel about the destructive quality of female sexuality. This theme is also incorporated in Thérèse Raquin, but perhaps less obnoxiously so. Ultimately, I think Zola has too low an appreciation for humanity, and his “scientific” and “objective” descriptions favour that which he knows would shock, offend, and cause a backlash.
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Trigger warnings:sexual assault, murder, severe physical abuse in a romantic relationship, miscarriage due to physical abuse. A character is fully paralysed and emotionally abused by her carers. Graphic descriptions of decomposing corpses abound.
Thérèse is raised alongside her cousin Camille. A sickly child, Camille is bed-bound for most of his childhood, and Thérèse learns to keep her passions within herself in this languid and silent environment. Under the guidance of her aunt, Mrs Raquin, the two marry when they reach adulthood. Thérèse’s passions are awakened when she meets a sturdy farmer’s son, who is the opposite of Camille, whom she hates.
The plot of Thérèse Raquin could have come straight from a contemporary romantic novel, but it is anything but. It is a story of how passions can destroy the lives of anyone who comes into touch with them. Every scene is pervaded by gloom, melancholy, depression, and ultimately cruelty. If anything, I would call this novel decidedly Gothic. It is the tempers that make the characters monstrous, that leads them to revel in each other’s destruction. They are haunted by their past, by their actions.
While I think Zola does not have the psychological insight as some of his contemporaries had, there are bits of truthfulness in his dark narrative that I appreciated. One scene describes how crowds of people would flock to the Morgue, an institution open to the public, where recent corpses were showcased for several days. Zola describes, among other things, how groups of young boys would ogle the naked breasts thus displayed, chattering. Zola has a talent for showing the darkest, most deprived impulses people have – something which has caused him to be called amoral by most of his critics – which is interesting, but also skews the total portrait. Yes, people are selfish, greedy, and wilfully ignorant. Yes, they might live in squalor. Perhaps I am an optimist, but I believe that most people also form genuine connections despite or because of these.
I liked Thérèse Raquin better than Nana, which is a novel about the destructive quality of female sexuality. This theme is also incorporated in Thérèse Raquin, but perhaps less obnoxiously so. Ultimately, I think Zola has too low an appreciation for humanity, and his “scientific” and “objective” descriptions favour that which he knows would shock, offend, and cause a backlash.
---
Trigger warnings:
What might have happened in Crime and Punishment had Raskolnikov not confessed. I don't think the translation in the book I read was the best, so it might be worth investigating more before purchasing.
Reading Zola's Thérèse Raquin took me right back to when I was 17 and had to read extracts from Germinal. I hated Zola back then. I'm not sure how I'd feel about Germinal 7 years later.
What I know now, however, is that I enjoyed Thérèse Raquin.
What always strikes me about his work is the frantic attention to detail. I read that Zola seems to write like he's "writing with a meat ax," which is truly the best and most accurate description of his style I've ever read. This novel gave me nightmares. It was a lot more disturbing than I expected it to be. Zola has no issues with minutely describing corpses and he does it in his typically clinical, scientific way. I'm not sure which is more terrifying, what he describes or how he describes it. But, yes, it's nightmare material. Take it as a gentle warning. I know why they didn't make us read Thérèse Raquin when I was 17. French literature would have become even more of a terrifying experience than it already was.
I was also not surprised when the Introduction revealed that Zola was inspired by Gustave Flaubert's infamous Madame Bovary. Sometimes it was so crudely obvious that I actually thought for a few seconds I was reading Flaubert. Weird but great.
There were a couple of things that annoyed me but I wasn't sure if I could be mad at our dear friend Emile for them. Linking Thérèse's animalistic, savage nature to her African blood... Yes, I know. That's what Naturalism does but it is annoying and it is terrible. Also, the wife-beating... Ugh. And the name calling. Lauren't blaming Thérèse for everything. I almost wanted to call the National Domestic Violence Helpline for Thérèse. For me, Thérèse was just another "madwoman in the attic". But even Laurent having violent, murderous tendencies because he's from a peasant family was disturbing. I guess I forgave Zola for being Zola in the end and I decided to look away.
A great read.
What I know now, however, is that I enjoyed Thérèse Raquin.
What always strikes me about his work is the frantic attention to detail. I read that Zola seems to write like he's "writing with a meat ax," which is truly the best and most accurate description of his style I've ever read. This novel gave me nightmares. It was a lot more disturbing than I expected it to be. Zola has no issues with minutely describing corpses and he does it in his typically clinical, scientific way. I'm not sure which is more terrifying, what he describes or how he describes it. But, yes, it's nightmare material. Take it as a gentle warning. I know why they didn't make us read Thérèse Raquin when I was 17. French literature would have become even more of a terrifying experience than it already was.
I was also not surprised when the Introduction revealed that Zola was inspired by Gustave Flaubert's infamous Madame Bovary. Sometimes it was so crudely obvious that I actually thought for a few seconds I was reading Flaubert. Weird but great.
There were a couple of things that annoyed me but I wasn't sure if I could be mad at our dear friend Emile for them. Linking Thérèse's animalistic, savage nature to her African blood... Yes, I know. That's what Naturalism does but it is annoying and it is terrible. Also, the wife-beating... Ugh. And the name calling. Lauren't blaming Thérèse for everything. I almost wanted to call the National Domestic Violence Helpline for Thérèse. For me, Thérèse was just another "madwoman in the attic". But even Laurent having violent, murderous tendencies because he's from a peasant family was disturbing. I guess I forgave Zola for being Zola in the end and I decided to look away.
A great read.
It started out amazing but later it just dragged on and on. Zola said the same thing over and over just in a bit different way, but when you sum it up the 70% of this book is the same but with different words and expressions.
This story is dark and intoxicating. I was equally uncomfortable to continue reading and yet didn't want it to end. Who doesn't love a good tale of murderous lovers?
I'm trying to work my way through this book. It's been painful. It reminds me a lot of Crime & Punishment. It just drags on depressingly.
*3.5.
Estoy un poco en shock por esta novela, qué manera de reflejar la RUINDAD del ser humano. Considero que la descripción de la naturaleza de los personajes está súper bien lograda; esta recomendación la tomé de María de "Cumbres Clásicas" de su video de iniciación al autor y creo que es un buen libro para comenzar.
Sin duda Laurent es de los personajes más ruines, malditos, despreciables (... inserte más adjetivos) que he leído en toda mi vida, les prometo que en mi mente lo insultaba en cada página que aparecía. La historia (y sus personajes) se siente aterradoramente vívida debido a la descripción psicológica que hace el autor.
La segunda mitad de la novela se me hizo un tanto pesada debido a dichas descripciones, quizás podría haberse resumido un poco a mi parecer. Aun así, me encantó y pretendo leer mucho más del autor.
El personaje de la señora Raquin me rompió totalmente el corazón, el desarrollo que tuvo me iba cada vez destruyendo más jajaj, casi llego a las lágrimas.
El final me fascinó, creo que es bastante apropiado para lo que se construyó a lo largo de la trama.
Se los súper recomiendo, creo que definitivamente no quedarán indiferentes ya sea si les guste la novela o no.
PS. Equipo de Goodreads, hasta cuándo esperamos la opción de poner medias estrellas?! Vamos, no creo que sea tan complicado.
Estoy un poco en shock por esta novela, qué manera de reflejar la RUINDAD del ser humano. Considero que la descripción de la naturaleza de los personajes está súper bien lograda; esta recomendación la tomé de María de "Cumbres Clásicas" de su video de iniciación al autor y creo que es un buen libro para comenzar.
Sin duda Laurent es de los personajes más ruines, malditos, despreciables (... inserte más adjetivos) que he leído en toda mi vida, les prometo que en mi mente lo insultaba en cada página que aparecía. La historia (y sus personajes) se siente aterradoramente vívida debido a la descripción psicológica que hace el autor.
La segunda mitad de la novela se me hizo un tanto pesada debido a dichas descripciones, quizás podría haberse resumido un poco a mi parecer. Aun así, me encantó y pretendo leer mucho más del autor.
El personaje de la señora Raquin me rompió totalmente el corazón, el desarrollo que tuvo me iba cada vez destruyendo más jajaj, casi llego a las lágrimas.
El final me fascinó, creo que es bastante apropiado para lo que se construyó a lo largo de la trama.
Se los súper recomiendo, creo que definitivamente no quedarán indiferentes ya sea si les guste la novela o no.
PS. Equipo de Goodreads, hasta cuándo esperamos la opción de poner medias estrellas?! Vamos, no creo que sea tan complicado.
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
