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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Tahle kniha na mě udělala velký dojem. Prvních pár stran jsem byla sice trochu nejistá, ale postupně mě kniha naprosto vtáhla do děje a já prožívala každou událost, rozčilovala se nad chováním Coupeaua a později i Gervaisy, bylo mi líto Goujeta a především malé Lalie, jejíž osud mě donutil až k slzám. Kniha je působivým odkazem toho, co z člověka dokáže udělat alkohol. Rozhodně tuhle knihu nečtu naposledy a chystám se i na navazující příběh o Naně.
Summary: "The first novel about the common people that does not lie." Part of Zola's story cycle this is the story of a woman in working-class Paris and her life with her lover and husband, their children, and her eventually downfall through pride and drink.
Why I Read: It was for class as we were studying the Second Empire of France. I had also read "Therese Raquin" in my hated English class in high school.
My thoughts: I had enjoyed "Therese Raquin" until about the halfway point and that also occurred in this book. It seems I like the story until the inevitable downfall of the main character. Here Gervaise is a successful laundress whose husband Coupeau is also an industrious member of society. But after he is injured on the job, he slowly recuperates and then spends most of his days drinking. She takes longer to fall but eventually does so too. I found the characters very unsympathetic. There are vivid descriptions of husband to wife and father to daughter beatings and overall I found it very disgusting. I hope it doesn't make me a snob if I say that if this is truly accurate, then I'm glad I'm not working class French in the Second Empire.
Overall: 3/5 I think I only finished it because it was for class.
Why I Read: It was for class as we were studying the Second Empire of France. I had also read "Therese Raquin" in my hated English class in high school.
My thoughts: I had enjoyed "Therese Raquin" until about the halfway point and that also occurred in this book. It seems I like the story until the inevitable downfall of the main character. Here Gervaise is a successful laundress whose husband Coupeau is also an industrious member of society. But after he is injured on the job, he slowly recuperates and then spends most of his days drinking. She takes longer to fall but eventually does so too. I found the characters very unsympathetic. There are vivid descriptions of husband to wife and father to daughter beatings and overall I found it very disgusting. I hope it doesn't make me a snob if I say that if this is truly accurate, then I'm glad I'm not working class French in the Second Empire.
Overall: 3/5 I think I only finished it because it was for class.
yarisindan cogunu tek oturusta bitirdim, uzun zamandir boyle okuyamiyordum. yazin boyle bogucu bir kitabi bu istahla okuyabilecek nadir insanlar, yazi sevmeyen depresiflerdir diye dusunuyorum. tek sikinti, benim okudugum yayinevi ve basim yili cok eski oldugundan hem hatalar vardi hem de cok kaliteli degildi ama emile zola icin her seye katlanilir.
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol
Moderate: Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity, Sexual harassment
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Maybe it's just me who likes Zola so much, but this has been so far an all time favorite. Zola's realism is frightening. It's one of those books that describe reality so well, in such an ugly way that you find yourself unable to put the book down. Sometimes Zola exaggerates, maybe, but most of the time, it's so painfully true.
The book describes so well the struggle of the working class, a struggle against luck, society, tradition and emotional dependence. The characters, as Zola said, are not evil, they are not even mean, they are so real.
It's one of those books that will make you cry and beg for a Hollywood happy ending. Gervaise (the main characters) starts tumbling down even before the middle of book and once she starts it does not end. The suffering, humiliation and desenchantment of the proud woman does not stop. Yes there were happy moments throughout the book, but the journey went down. At every moment she could have pulled herself away from all this, but she didn't, or maybe she couldn't in some way.
Maybe it's me reflecting my own perception of life, but I see it very real, very macabre.
The book describes so well the struggle of the working class, a struggle against luck, society, tradition and emotional dependence. The characters, as Zola said, are not evil, they are not even mean, they are so real.
It's one of those books that will make you cry and beg for a Hollywood happy ending. Gervaise (the main characters) starts tumbling down even before the middle of book and once she starts it does not end. The suffering, humiliation and desenchantment of the proud woman does not stop. Yes there were happy moments throughout the book, but the journey went down. At every moment she could have pulled herself away from all this, but she didn't, or maybe she couldn't in some way.
Maybe it's me reflecting my own perception of life, but I see it very real, very macabre.
A masterpiece!
A word of warning about translations again: do not try the older translations available for free on the internet, they will be bowdlerized, which is particularly damaging in the case of a work like this, the artistic success of which resides partly in the extent to which it scandalized contemporary sensibilities with its portrayal of lower class life. Shock effect was not the goal, but it it was a means in this novel, and if you erase that, you erase a lot of its power.
I ended up reading the old Penguin translation by Leonard Tancock, which after comparing a few chapters and further random passages I found I preferred to the two other currently available English translations, the new Penguin translation by Robin Buss and the OUP World's Classics translation by Margaret Mauldon, and certainly to the two Dutch translations I briefly looked into.
As soon as I can find the time I will try to give some more detailed impressions of the differences between these translations on my blog and provide a link here. (Busse's and Mauldon's are certainly not bad, and their editions offer more by way of background information in the form of introductions, translator's prefaces and footnotes, so I'd strongly recommend any reader interested in the novel to hunt up at least two different editions of the novel and maybe read them in alternating order; or just read the book twice, it is worth it.)
A word of warning about translations again: do not try the older translations available for free on the internet, they will be bowdlerized, which is particularly damaging in the case of a work like this, the artistic success of which resides partly in the extent to which it scandalized contemporary sensibilities with its portrayal of lower class life. Shock effect was not the goal, but it it was a means in this novel, and if you erase that, you erase a lot of its power.
I ended up reading the old Penguin translation by Leonard Tancock, which after comparing a few chapters and further random passages I found I preferred to the two other currently available English translations, the new Penguin translation by Robin Buss and the OUP World's Classics translation by Margaret Mauldon, and certainly to the two Dutch translations I briefly looked into.
As soon as I can find the time I will try to give some more detailed impressions of the differences between these translations on my blog and provide a link here. (Busse's and Mauldon's are certainly not bad, and their editions offer more by way of background information in the form of introductions, translator's prefaces and footnotes, so I'd strongly recommend any reader interested in the novel to hunt up at least two different editions of the novel and maybe read them in alternating order; or just read the book twice, it is worth it.)