Reviews - L'Assommoir | The StoryGraph

217 reviews for:

L'Assommoir

Émile Zola

3.9 AVERAGE

burritapal_1's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The plot of the book is basically this: we get to know Gervaise Macquart, and witness her life between its rise and fall during 13 chapters. In Chapter 7 she holds a great feast to celebrate her Saint's Day. This is her high point but it's already signaling her downfall because of the reappearance of her children's father, Lantier.
I love the character of Gervaise. Her weakness for her men, Lantierand then Coupeau, forgiving them too much, in my opinion, was really her downfall.
When Zola published this book, people were so offended at his representation of real life. Apparently, thee hypocrites couldn't stand to see human beings depicted in reality like this: drunkenness, promiscuity, filthy hovels for Apartments.
From the translator and author of the introduction, Robin Buss:
"... throughout his life and work, Zola was torn between idealism and despair, I need to show the worst of life as he saw it and the need to express the human yearning for something higher and better. Zola The Atheist coexist with Zola the religious enthusiast, Zola the scientist with Zola the artist."
Particularly realistic was Zola's depiction of Coupeau at the end of his life, when he was overtaken by delirium tremens, caused by his addiction to the wine merchant's moonshine, that was made at the back of his shop.

In the preface, Zola responds to attacks against his book:
".. do I really need, in these few lines, to explain my intentions as a writer? I set out to show the Fatal collapse of a working family in the poisonous environment of our city slums. With drunkenness and laziness come the loosening of family ties, the filth of promiscuity and the gradual abandonment of decent feelings; then, in the end, shame and death. Quite simply, this is Morality In action. "

Gervaise, the main character, is doing her laundry in the neighborhood "laundromat," when the sister of the woman who departed with her husband shows up, and insults her. the next scene is just delicious:
"suddenly, Gervaise let out a yell. Virginie had just struck her with full force on her naked arm, above the elbow. A red mark appeared and the arm immediately started to swell. At this, she hurled herself forward; TheSpectators thought she was going to beat the other woman's brains out.
'stop! Stop!' They shouted.
The look on her face was so Dreadful that no one dared go near. With redoubled strength, she grasped Virginie round the waist and bent her double, her face pressed against the stone floor and her bottom in the air. And, despite the other's struggles, she pulled her skirts right up. Underneath, she was wearing bloomers. Gervaise put her hand into the Gap and tore them off, revealing everything: naked thighs, naked bottom. then, raising her beetle, she started to beat her, as she used to beat the linen once in Plassans, by the River Viorne, When she was employed by a woman who did the washing for the troops. The wooden stick thumped into the flesh with a muffled sound."
But Virginie will have her revenge in the end.

When Coupeau finally talks Gervaise into marrying him, during the wedding procession, her sister-in-law Madame Lorilleux was spewing her poison into the ear of Monsieur Madinier:
" 'oh, it's nothing to do with us, I assure you,' madame Lorilleux was explaining to monsieur Madinier. 'we don't know where he picked her up - or, rather, we know only too well; but it's not our place to say anything, is it? My husband had to buy the wedding ring. This morning, we were no sooner up than we had to lend them another 10 francs, without which nothing would have gone ahead. A bride who doesn't bring one single relative to her wedding! She claims that she has a sister who is a butcher's wife in paris. So why didn't she invite her, then?'
She stopped to point to Gervaise, who was limping heavily as she went down the sloping street.
'look at her! I asked you! Tip Tap!'
and the words 'Tip-Tap' went round the company. Lorilleux said they should call her that, but madame fauconnier leaped to Gervaise's defense: they shouldn't make fun of her, she was clean as a new Penny and really got down to her work, when she had to. Madame Lerat [Gervaise's other sil], who always had some suggestive remark or other when she wanted, called the girl's leg a 'love pin,' adding that a lot of men liked that, without further explanation."

The apartment house where Gervaise and most of the characters in the book live in, is an overcrowded, dirty, filthy-smelling place with about a million kids running around. The kids are little hellions, including Gervaise's and Coupeau's little kid Nana, who is the leader of the pack. Madame Boche, who, between her and her husband are the concierges of the house, are driven Wild by them:
" 'aren't they dreadful, those little brats!' Madame Boche cried. 'honestly, people must have very little to do if they have time to make so many children. And they complain all the time that they don't have enough to eat!'
Bocge observed that children grow on poverty like mushrooms on a dung hill. The concierge yelled after them all day long, threatening them with her broom. Eventually, she locked the door to the cellars, because she learned from Pauline - when she was giving her a slap around the face - that Nana had had the idea of playing doctors down there in the dark: the naughty little girl had been giving treatment to the others, with sticks."

Gervase's old husband, the one who abandoned her and their children, Lantier, now shows up like a bad penny in their neighborhood. This character is a real heel: he just lives off of women and other people. He moves in with families, and starts sleeping with the wife, and eats them out of house and home. He hasn't got a spot of shame in his whole body. And for some stupid reason, everybody likes him and just lets him run all over them. And fucking Coupeau, who has no sense and has been starting to drink a lot, is just like them. He actually invites the son of a bitch to move in with them, despite them using their apartment as Gervaise's laundry business:
" 'by golly, you're well set up the two of you, I must say!'
One evening, after he had dined there and was saying his piece over the dessert, Coupeau, who was now on familiar terms with him, suddenly cried out: 'but you must stay here, old chap, if you'd like to... we'll manage...'
and he explained that the room with the dirty laundry in it, if it was cleaned up, would make a fine apartment. Etienne [Lantier's son 🙄] could quite simply sleep in the shop, with a mattress on the floor.
'No, no,' Lantier said. 'I couldn't accept. It would be too much trouble for you. I know you mean well, but we'd get on each other's nerves, living on top of each other like that. And, you know, a person needs his freedom. I'd have to go through your room, and that could sometimes be embarrassing.'
'oh, listen to him, the animal!' said the roofer, choking with laughter and banging on the table to get his voice back. 'he's always thinking about you know what! Well, don't you see, you dunderhead? If you use some imagination, you can find a solution. There are two windows in that room, aren't there? Well, we can knock one down and make a door of it. Then you can come in through the yard and we could even seal up the communicating door if we like. Neither seen, nor heard, you will be in your own place and we'll be in ours.'
There was a pause. Then the hatter [Lantier lied and said he was the manager of a hat manufacturer when he was gone from Paris] said:
'well, yes, that's a possibility... but no, I'd still be too much trouble to you.'
He had been avoiding looking at Gervaise, but was obviously waiting for a word from her before accepting. She was very annoyed at her husband's idea;... "

The night when Gervaise goes back with Lantier, in her and her husband's house, is a disgusting scene. She and Lantier had gone out together and come back late:
" 'everyone is asleep,' Gervaise said, after she had rung three times, and the Boches had not pulled the cord to release the catch.
The door opened, but the porch was dark, and when she knocked on the window of the lodge to ask for her key, The Drowsy concierge started spinning her some yarn that at first she didn't grasp. Eventually, she understood that the constable, Poisson, had brought Coupeau home in a dreadful State and that the key must be in the lock.
'Damn it!' Lantier muttered when they went in. 'what's happened here? It's disgusting!'
It did indeed smell very strongly. Gervaise, who was looking for matches, walked on something damp. When she managed to light a candle, they were greeted by a pretty sight. Coupeau had thrown up all over the place. The room was full of vomit, the bed was covered in it, as was the carpet; even the chest of drawers was splattered. Moreover, Coupeau had fallen off the bed where Poisson must have thrown him, and was snoring away in the midst of his filth. He was spread out in it, sprawling like a pig, one cheek splattered with vomit and exhaling his foul breath through an open mouth, his already gray hair lying in the wide pool around his head.
'oh, the swine! The swine!' Gervaise said, over and over, in exasperation. 'he's fouled everything... no, no, not even a dog would have done that. A dead dog is cleaner.'
So, Gervaise ends up sleeping in Lantier's room. And in no time at all, she's regularly going into his room at night, while, unknown toher, Nana spies through the window into the next room at her.

When it's really Gervaise's downfall, when she starts drinking the Moonshine that the wine merchant makes in the back of his shop, she's looking for Coupeau, and spies him through the window, sitting in the back. He won't listen to her, when she asks him to come home, so she let's go of all that she once hoped for, and joins him in debauchery.
But the really sad part is when Gervaise goes to Goujet, to ask him to lend her money to pay the rent. Goujet was a fine young man, a blacksmith, who had been in love with Gervaise for forever. But he was always respectable to her, until she at last killed his love for her:
"she kept looking at him; and, seeing him so kind, so sad, with his fine yellow beard, she was on the point of accepting the proposal he had once made, to go away with him so that they could be happy somewhere together. Then, another Wicked thought came into her head: that of borrowing her two quarters' rent from him, at any price. She shivered and said cajolingly:
'there's no ill feeling, is there?'
He shook his head and replied:
'no, of course, there will never be any ill feeling... it's just that, you understand, it's all over.'
he Strode off, leaving Gervaise stunned, hearing the last words beating in her ears like a tolling bell. As she stepped inside the wine merchants, she could hear a dull voice inside her: if it's all over, then it's all over. There's nothing more from me to do if it's 'all over'! She sat down, swallowed a piece of bread and cheese and emptied the full glass, which was on the table in front of her."

mbondlamberty's review against another edition

Downer of a read, that's for sure. Interesting examination into that milieu of society but depressing.

yun4's review against another edition

4.25

dark informative tense medium-paced

Loveable characters: No

pascalthehoff's review against another edition

4.0

dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Basically a proto-feminist novel. The female protagonist, despite her best efforts, is dragged down by her drinking male companions. Addiction is presented as a systemic temptation that afflicts the male working class. The women in their lives – no matter how hardworking and resourceful – have no way of escaping the patriarchal power structures, even if that patriarchy is utterly wasted. They are bled dry, first financially and then physically, by their husbands, fathers and male peers.

The portrayal of alcoholism in L’Assommoir is relentless – in a way that is rarely seen even in similar literature on the subject. There is not a single instance in which drinking is portrayed as fun or pleasurable. Alcohol is the devil in this novel, and the reader is the only person at the party who remains sober.

tomdvs's review against another edition

5.0

Génial, extrêmement bien écrit. Le style est très fin et tout est bien pensé. Une histoire prenante qui nous fais nous forger des avis sur les personnages qui évoluent au fil du roman.

La fin est incroyable : bien que prévisible, les derniers chapitres sont rondement bien menés, ça se conclue si bien, tant en accord avec le personnage de Gervaise, pitoyable mais au coeur perdu, en rapport étroit avec comment elle est perçue par sa société. C'était sublime.

C'est pour sûr, un des meilleurs romans que j'aie pu lire et apprécier de la sorte.

ccz's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark slow-paced

shiradest's review against another edition

Apés avoir lu le Préface de l'auteur,
(du bouquin ici: https://www.fichier-pdf.fr/2013/02/14/Emile-zola-l-assommoir/? )
je crois que je vais le lire, peut-être, un autre jour/mois...
Donc je ne le dons pas des étoiles, cars je n'ai pas le droit.

After reading the author's Preface, I think I may read this book another day/month...
So, I'm not rating it since I don't have the right to do so, imho.