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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
i was forced to read this in high school-i wish i was given the option to watch paint dry instead
In this case, I think it was a bad idea to know stuff about [b:Madame Bovary|2175|Madame Bovary|Gustave Flaubert|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335676143s/2175.jpg|2766347] and [a:Gustave Flaubert|1461|Gustave Flaubert|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1198541369p2/1461.jpg] before starting the book. My high school English teacher loved to talk about books - and I know how she feels - but the result was quite a few spoilers for a lot of European classics. I think that knowing the author's intentions can be a bad thing and I'm certain that I was unable to keep it from influencing the way I viewed Emma Bovary and her behaviour. If you're curious about these intentions of Flaubert's:
Even so, three stars means I liked it and I did. The novel reminds me of a cross between [b:Lady Chatterley's Lover|32067|Lady Chatterley's Lover|D.H. Lawrence|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1260489197s/32067.jpg|3249302] and [b:The Painted Veil|99664|The Painted Veil|W. Somerset Maugham|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320421719s/99664.jpg|1069201]. I found it better than the former but nowhere near as good as the latter. It is built on the same ideas of a woman being unhappy in marriage and turning to other comforts and affairs in order to try and gain some happiness and romance from life. Emma Bovary starts off a character much like Kitty from [b:The Painted Veil|99664|The Painted Veil|W. Somerset Maugham|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320421719s/99664.jpg|1069201], she is naive and fickle, her new husband is nice and kind but he cannot hold her interest. She longs for passion and excitement and she becomes delusional in the face of empty promises made by her secret lover.
She is a far better character than Constance Chatterley, or perhaps what I mean is that I find her selfishness and dissatisfaction with everything in life more interesting. I am not a big fan of Lawrence - a man who I believe wrote mediocre romance novels and owes his fame to what could at the time be considered shock tactics like "ohmigod, female orgasms!" and "ohmigod, affairs with the working class!" All I'm saying is that Lawrence was lucky the term "mommy porn" wasn't around back then. But Maugham is an entirely different story and I think where Emma Bovary fails and Kitty succeeds is in character growth.
In [b:The Painted Veil|99664|The Painted Veil|W. Somerset Maugham|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320421719s/99664.jpg|1069201], Kitty starts out naive and annoying, at times you'd like to strangle her for being so frustrating... but she suffers, she changes, she adapts and she grows into a different human being. Emma Bovary is a rather hopeless case, and if you did happen to read the spoiler in the first paragraph then you'll probably understand why I think this was Flaubert's intention all along. I will give him every credit where it's due, I think he paints a very interesting and detailed picture of a unhappy woman's life and mental workings. It has been pointed out that he doesn't judge Emma, but I sort of think he does in an indirect way. I mean, Emma Bovary and those closest to her are the ones who suffer in the end because she was so delusional and unable to be happy and satisfied with what she had. But, like I said, my opinion is undoubtedly influenced by what I already knew of Flaubert.
One more thing: I don't believe Gustave Flaubert is really Gustave Flaubert. I think he is Hercule Poirot O.O
Spoiler
He hated the rising bourgeoisie during the nineteenth century, therefore he intentionally painted them as silly fools obsessed with romance and never satisfied with the good things life gave them.Even so, three stars means I liked it and I did. The novel reminds me of a cross between [b:Lady Chatterley's Lover|32067|Lady Chatterley's Lover|D.H. Lawrence|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1260489197s/32067.jpg|3249302] and [b:The Painted Veil|99664|The Painted Veil|W. Somerset Maugham|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320421719s/99664.jpg|1069201]. I found it better than the former but nowhere near as good as the latter. It is built on the same ideas of a woman being unhappy in marriage and turning to other comforts and affairs in order to try and gain some happiness and romance from life. Emma Bovary starts off a character much like Kitty from [b:The Painted Veil|99664|The Painted Veil|W. Somerset Maugham|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320421719s/99664.jpg|1069201], she is naive and fickle, her new husband is nice and kind but he cannot hold her interest. She longs for passion and excitement and she becomes delusional in the face of empty promises made by her secret lover.
She is a far better character than Constance Chatterley, or perhaps what I mean is that I find her selfishness and dissatisfaction with everything in life more interesting. I am not a big fan of Lawrence - a man who I believe wrote mediocre romance novels and owes his fame to what could at the time be considered shock tactics like "ohmigod, female orgasms!" and "ohmigod, affairs with the working class!" All I'm saying is that Lawrence was lucky the term "mommy porn" wasn't around back then. But Maugham is an entirely different story and I think where Emma Bovary fails and Kitty succeeds is in character growth.
In [b:The Painted Veil|99664|The Painted Veil|W. Somerset Maugham|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320421719s/99664.jpg|1069201], Kitty starts out naive and annoying, at times you'd like to strangle her for being so frustrating... but she suffers, she changes, she adapts and she grows into a different human being. Emma Bovary is a rather hopeless case, and if you did happen to read the spoiler in the first paragraph then you'll probably understand why I think this was Flaubert's intention all along. I will give him every credit where it's due, I think he paints a very interesting and detailed picture of a unhappy woman's life and mental workings. It has been pointed out that he doesn't judge Emma, but I sort of think he does in an indirect way. I mean, Emma Bovary and those closest to her are the ones who suffer in the end because she was so delusional and unable to be happy and satisfied with what she had. But, like I said, my opinion is undoubtedly influenced by what I already knew of Flaubert.
One more thing: I don't believe Gustave Flaubert is really Gustave Flaubert. I think he is Hercule Poirot O.O
Maybe it's because we've heard the story time and time again, but Madame Bovary seems to be telling the story of a bored, rich woman. The description of those emotions - even making me believe that boredom can be an emotion - is powerful. Still, after reading this, I don't feel particularly interested in what caused Emma's demise.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
What makes a book a masterpiece? I will not attempt to search for the definitive answer to that question, because I wish to keep these reviews here on Goodreads brief. But surely one criterium can be that a book that was written over 150 years ago, is still fresh and of relevance in our time. And such is the case for Madame Bovary.
Emma Bovary, one literature's most famous female heroines, wishes to lead the romantic, exciting life that is lived by the protagonists of the romantic books that she has read. Much like young people today fancy the lives they are shown in music videos and movies. As Emma embarks on her adventerous, adulterous course, she finds she needs more and more money to keep up her lifestyle. She piles one debt on top of another, partly lured by the shrewd businessman Lheureux. Much like most of us in this day and age are lured by shrewd marketeers to spend more money than we have. Voilà, a parallel that has effortlessly survived one and a half century.
Add to this that Emma is a madly irrational, complex, contradictory character and that you so grow to understand her wild desire to live, live! Her husband, Charles, is so commonplace and dull ('Charles's conversation was als flat als a street pavement, and everyone's ideas paraded along it in their ordinary dress, without rousing emotion, laughter or dreams').
There is much more that makes this a classic that is worth every second invested in its reading; I gladly refer to many excellent reviews that I have encountered on Goodreads.
I have chosen to read this book in the recent translation by Adam Thorpe (you can easily find an interesting interview with him on the internet). I am not an expert when it comes to translations, but I believe that this translation is so excellent, it brings you very, very close to what Flaubert meant when he penned it (with a quill) in French. Highly recommended.
11/09/2018: I note that if one reads the same book in another language, one cannot add it as a separate reading. Perhaps it is not altogether important. I just wanted to note that I have now read Madame Bovary in French (in an effort to improve my command of that language), and while doing so, compared it with Adam Thorpe's translation. Not, of course, to check on his translation, but just to help myself understand the French version. And let it be said again: Adam Thorpe's translation is really, really excellent. So precise, so true to the original language of Flaubert, I have nothing but praise.
And furthermore it has been very rewarding to read this novel in its original language. It gave me the chance to savour Flaubert's superbly crafted writing, of which I will give one example:
"Parce que des lèvres libertines ou vénales lui avaient murmuré des phrases pareilles, il ne croyait que faiblement à la candeur de celles-là ; on en devait rabattre, pensait-il, les discours exagérés cachant les affections médiocres ; comme si la plénitude de l’âme ne débordait pas quelquefois par les métaphores les plus vides, puisque personne, jamais, ne peut donner l’exacte mesure de ses besoins, ni de ses conceptions, ni de ses douleurs, et que la parole humaine est comme un chaudron fêlé où nous battons des mélodies à faire danser les ours, quand on voudrait attendrir les étoiles."
Which, in Thorpe's translation, reads:
"Because licentious or venal lips had murmured similar phrases to him, he believed only feebly in their innocent candour; one had to beat back, he thought, the exaggerated language under which everyday affections hid themselves; as if the soul’s fullness would not at times spill over through the most vacant of metaphors, since no one can ever take the exact measure of his needs, nor of his conceptions, nor of his sorrows, and human utterance is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes to make the bears dance, when we would like to move the stars to pity."
Emma Bovary, one literature's most famous female heroines, wishes to lead the romantic, exciting life that is lived by the protagonists of the romantic books that she has read. Much like young people today fancy the lives they are shown in music videos and movies. As Emma embarks on her adventerous, adulterous course, she finds she needs more and more money to keep up her lifestyle. She piles one debt on top of another, partly lured by the shrewd businessman Lheureux. Much like most of us in this day and age are lured by shrewd marketeers to spend more money than we have. Voilà, a parallel that has effortlessly survived one and a half century.
Add to this that Emma is a madly irrational, complex, contradictory character and that you so grow to understand her wild desire to live, live! Her husband, Charles, is so commonplace and dull ('Charles's conversation was als flat als a street pavement, and everyone's ideas paraded along it in their ordinary dress, without rousing emotion, laughter or dreams').
There is much more that makes this a classic that is worth every second invested in its reading; I gladly refer to many excellent reviews that I have encountered on Goodreads.
I have chosen to read this book in the recent translation by Adam Thorpe (you can easily find an interesting interview with him on the internet). I am not an expert when it comes to translations, but I believe that this translation is so excellent, it brings you very, very close to what Flaubert meant when he penned it (with a quill) in French. Highly recommended.
11/09/2018: I note that if one reads the same book in another language, one cannot add it as a separate reading. Perhaps it is not altogether important. I just wanted to note that I have now read Madame Bovary in French (in an effort to improve my command of that language), and while doing so, compared it with Adam Thorpe's translation. Not, of course, to check on his translation, but just to help myself understand the French version. And let it be said again: Adam Thorpe's translation is really, really excellent. So precise, so true to the original language of Flaubert, I have nothing but praise.
And furthermore it has been very rewarding to read this novel in its original language. It gave me the chance to savour Flaubert's superbly crafted writing, of which I will give one example:
"Parce que des lèvres libertines ou vénales lui avaient murmuré des phrases pareilles, il ne croyait que faiblement à la candeur de celles-là ; on en devait rabattre, pensait-il, les discours exagérés cachant les affections médiocres ; comme si la plénitude de l’âme ne débordait pas quelquefois par les métaphores les plus vides, puisque personne, jamais, ne peut donner l’exacte mesure de ses besoins, ni de ses conceptions, ni de ses douleurs, et que la parole humaine est comme un chaudron fêlé où nous battons des mélodies à faire danser les ours, quand on voudrait attendrir les étoiles."
Which, in Thorpe's translation, reads:
"Because licentious or venal lips had murmured similar phrases to him, he believed only feebly in their innocent candour; one had to beat back, he thought, the exaggerated language under which everyday affections hid themselves; as if the soul’s fullness would not at times spill over through the most vacant of metaphors, since no one can ever take the exact measure of his needs, nor of his conceptions, nor of his sorrows, and human utterance is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes to make the bears dance, when we would like to move the stars to pity."
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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
sadly, my french lit professor was right when she told me this wasn't THAT good
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes