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elisala's review against another edition
3.0
Encore un Zola qui sort du lot, dans ma mémoire, pourtant c'en est encore un qui n'est pas rigolo pour un sou, je le trouve même parfaitement amoral. Mais quelque chose dans le ton (moins reportage socio-politique) et dans les personnages (moins embarqués contre leur gré dans la tourmente de leurs vies, peut-être) lui donne son originalité.
browngirlreading's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Zola continues to amaze me with his beautiful writing and with his ability to write detailed, complex character descriptions. The series Les Rougon-Macquart just gets better and better.
elisatifi's review against another edition
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sadkiwia's review against another edition
3.0
un peu ennuyeux, a certains moments. les relations entre les personnages sont intéressantes et me poussaient a continuer mais le livre s'étire pas mal a certains moments. je regrette pas de l'avoir lu mais c'est pas le meilleur livre que j'aie jamais lu non plus.
cloudytm's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
grubstlodger's review against another edition
3.0
Having only read The Belly of Paris, I decided to read Zest for Life (as my translation called it - had Iggy Pop in my head for ages) because the main character was someone I had met before, Pauline, the daughter of the charcuterie owners in that book. I needed have bothered, it says very quickly that Pauline forgot her old Paris life and she was essentially a different character. The prissy, over-dressed, over-indulged little girl we met in that book only really came through to this one on her satisfaction in life.. her Zest for Life perhaps. Though, this book being French, the happy title is bitterly ironic.
Although there’s no real carry-through of Pauline’s character or experiences from The Belly of Paris, Zest for Life could be seen as a mirror-image of it. In ‘Belly’, a Thin - or unsatisfied person, is shopped by the whole market society of Fats - those satisfied with the status-quo. In ‘Zest’, a Fat, satisfied person is strip-mined of everything she has by a group of unsatisfied Thins.
In some ways, the book surprised me. My blurb gave the entire plot away beat by beat, so I was expecting the family Pauline moves in with to be unpleasant and abusive. They aren’t, they love her and the love lasts a long time until the son is ruined by university and launches on a bunch of daft schemes he doesn’t have the stickability to make work. To aid these schemes, his mother starts taking Pauline’s inheritance, which makes her hate Pauline. What’s more, Pauline falls in love with this son, Lazare. She not only sacrifices her inheritance but also her time, patience, love and essentially life to this worthless man. It’s one of those loves where the reader feels that if Pauline had met any other male her age, then she wouldn’t be in love with Lazare. It’s a very frustrating relationship and turns the book into a slog.
Another element that turns the book into a slog is how unrelentingly bleak it is. At one point one character has a fever near to death, then there is a huge gout attack, then someone has dropsy and dies, then another massive gout attack and then most prolonged, painful and claustrophobic descriptions of a difficult birth I’ve ever read, then another gout attack - all while Lazare is moping about in that solid steel egocentric bubble that comes over a person with depression. It’s exhausting.
Then there’s a surprise suicide at the end and, like the other Zola book I’ve read, the last line comes across as a sort of summary/bad-taste punchline to the rest of the book.
Although there’s no real carry-through of Pauline’s character or experiences from The Belly of Paris, Zest for Life could be seen as a mirror-image of it. In ‘Belly’, a Thin - or unsatisfied person, is shopped by the whole market society of Fats - those satisfied with the status-quo. In ‘Zest’, a Fat, satisfied person is strip-mined of everything she has by a group of unsatisfied Thins.
In some ways, the book surprised me. My blurb gave the entire plot away beat by beat, so I was expecting the family Pauline moves in with to be unpleasant and abusive. They aren’t, they love her and the love lasts a long time until the son is ruined by university and launches on a bunch of daft schemes he doesn’t have the stickability to make work. To aid these schemes, his mother starts taking Pauline’s inheritance, which makes her hate Pauline. What’s more, Pauline falls in love with this son, Lazare. She not only sacrifices her inheritance but also her time, patience, love and essentially life to this worthless man. It’s one of those loves where the reader feels that if Pauline had met any other male her age, then she wouldn’t be in love with Lazare. It’s a very frustrating relationship and turns the book into a slog.
Another element that turns the book into a slog is how unrelentingly bleak it is. At one point one character has a fever near to death, then there is a huge gout attack, then someone has dropsy and dies, then another massive gout attack and then most prolonged, painful and claustrophobic descriptions of a difficult birth I’ve ever read, then another gout attack - all while Lazare is moping about in that solid steel egocentric bubble that comes over a person with depression. It’s exhausting.
Then there’s a surprise suicide at the end and, like the other Zola book I’ve read, the last line comes across as a sort of summary/bad-taste punchline to the rest of the book.
blueyorkie's review against another edition
5.0
La Joie de Vivre is Pauline, a young orphan with cousins who casually work to pluck her. All her fortune will spend there, or almost, but not her joy of living. Yet, even faced with impossible love for her cousin, with the permanent sacrifice of her time and life in the service of the sick and suffering, Pauline forces herself to keep this good humour so essential to the house's smooth running.
I wonder how Zola could have the courage to push so hard on such an endearing character, so positive in all respects! Yet, everything, absolutely everything, ends up turning against her, and she stays standing. The meanness and selfishness of the people around her don't seem to affect her.
I will also remember a few pages of a barely sustainable anthology for the young mother: complicated childbirth, very tricky. Incredibly realistic and detailed pages amaze me, given the time and gender of the author.
In short, Zola never ceases to amaze me. Another extremely successful novel, flawlessly sharp, and breathtaking literary beauty!
I wonder how Zola could have the courage to push so hard on such an endearing character, so positive in all respects! Yet, everything, absolutely everything, ends up turning against her, and she stays standing. The meanness and selfishness of the people around her don't seem to affect her.
I will also remember a few pages of a barely sustainable anthology for the young mother: complicated childbirth, very tricky. Incredibly realistic and detailed pages amaze me, given the time and gender of the author.
In short, Zola never ceases to amaze me. Another extremely successful novel, flawlessly sharp, and breathtaking literary beauty!
jgwc54e5's review against another edition
5.0
I went to bed late last night because I had to finish this book. The final chapters are incredible particularly the birth scene (it must be noted the free Vizetelly translations reduce all the pages of detail to a short paragraph that omits all the pain, anatomy and bodily fluids), it’s so intense and then the ending …. so upsetting. The contrast set up in this novel is between Pauline and Lazare. Pauline, so good, she’s tries to see the best in people, is kind to those around her, overlooks the fact her relatives are wasting her money, overlooks the misery and degradation of the poor to care for them, nurses her uncle through his gout when no one else can cope with his pain; accepts Lazare, the man she loves is in love with another and so much more. She tries to be happy and find good in everything while all around her seem to wallow in the opposite. Lazare is world weary and negative. He can’t stick to any job or study, he stuffs up every opportunity handed to him, he’s bored and constantly thinking about death (except when a nearby house is burning down, his fear disappears and he is the one to enter and rescue a child). And then the relentless sea is a constant presence bearing down on the Normandy town of Bonneville.
lourher's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
dissendiumnox's review against another edition
3.0
2,75-3/5
J’adore Zola mais celui-ci ne m’a pas enthousiasmé. C’est très très morne et triste, quasiment un huis-clos, malheur sur malheur mais pas avec ce souffle qu’un roman comme L’assommoir pouvait avoir.
J’adore Zola mais celui-ci ne m’a pas enthousiasmé. C’est très très morne et triste, quasiment un huis-clos, malheur sur malheur mais pas avec ce souffle qu’un roman comme L’assommoir pouvait avoir.