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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
If you’re looking for a detailed, subtle character study, Nana is not it. However, if you’re looking for a pulsing portrait of the life and times of a Parisian courtesan, wow! It delivers. Zola paints a picture over and over again of the locales (the theater, the race track, a sumptuous mansion) and life of pleasure seeking nobility. The metaphors are not subtle, and the actions often unbelievable, but the imagery and the world he is condemning just leap off the page. I have more thoughts, but need to think on them more. Two thumbs up, though.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
funny
slow-paced
MIKS NÄÄ LUVUT on niin PITKÄT anyway ihan hauskaa ajoittain, mutta omg pääse asiaan miks mun pitää lukee kolme sivuu siitä miten kaikki istu ruokapöydässä
tota .. ei inspiroinu lukemaan lisää zolaa, tai sit mä en vaan tykkää ranskalaisesta naturalismista
tota .. ei inspiroinu lukemaan lisää zolaa, tai sit mä en vaan tykkää ranskalaisesta naturalismista
Why should I even bother writing a review when Tex Avery's Red Hot Riding Hood sums up the entire thing. Except for the smallpox and the insect-based extended not-quite-metaphor.
Seriously. Zola is widely praised for his exquisite crowd scenes, but as far as I can tell, this just meant that, over and over again, there would be a scene in which 25+ characters each had one line, most of them catty. I get that it's meant to show the wild whirl of Parisian nightlife, but it really means there there are 10 or 20 different actress/prostitutes, another 10 or 20 men of leisure, and a half-dozen moralizers, each of whom is pretty interchangeable, all working together to deliver a small amount of exposition.
Oh, right, and it's all okay because Nana is a whore and then gets punished for it.
I wonder if I'd have hated this book as much if I had read it before reading about feminist discourse. Probably not. Then it would have been just a whore story with a cheap moral. Now I just see it as the opposite of a her-story. Misogynistic and despicable.
3.5 ⭐️
c’est le premier roman de zola que je termine (j’avais du lire l’assommoir au lycée et je me souviens avoir DÉTESTÉ le style d’écriture de zola qui était bien trop descriptif à mon goût)
j’ai aimé ce roman mais détesté les personnages (ce qui était sûrement le but d’émile zola): les hommes étaient tous plus pathétiques et faibles les uns que les autres et nana était détestable.
le déterminisme de zola est bien sûr présent dans ce livre…nana devient folle et est de toute façon rattrapée par le milieu d’où elle vient. J’ai haï le personnage durant une bonne partie du roman, mais vers la fin j’ai eu de la peine pour elle…
je lirai sûrement l’intégralité des rougon macquart au fur et à mesure des mois (années??)
c’est le premier roman de zola que je termine (j’avais du lire l’assommoir au lycée et je me souviens avoir DÉTESTÉ le style d’écriture de zola qui était bien trop descriptif à mon goût)
j’ai aimé ce roman mais détesté les personnages (ce qui était sûrement le but d’émile zola): les hommes étaient tous plus pathétiques et faibles les uns que les autres et nana était détestable.
le déterminisme de zola est bien sûr présent dans ce livre…nana devient folle et est de toute façon rattrapée par le milieu d’où elle vient. J’ai haï le personnage durant une bonne partie du roman, mais vers la fin j’ai eu de la peine pour elle…
je lirai sûrement l’intégralité des rougon macquart au fur et à mesure des mois (années??)
adventurous
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
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:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One of my favourite required readings for school - written by one of my favourite French authors! Words can't describe the level of drama squeezed into this novel. Don't be taken aback by the width of it, when you've read a couple of chapters it gets really interesting and suspenseful. Exploring the theatrical life of Nana, this 19th-century story recounts Zola's cynical view of French society and the bourgeoisie at the time, translating the latter's flaws into the pages of his book. Greed, love, deceit, jealousy, wrath, prostitution and death are a few of its melodramatic aspects, and this, combined with Nana's frivolous decisions and the fate of her and the characters around her, render the novel poignantly tragic. I can guarantee that your opinions and views on certain characters will change, which is what I think Zola intended. An absolute classic that I recommend.