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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
Dans La Bête humaine, Zola nous offre un protagoniste digne des psychopathes les plus peaufinés de nos thrillers modernes, au mental tordu et à la vie à cheval entre totale discrétion et pure anormalité. C'est un roman très dur, cru et qui n'épargne sans doute pas les âmes sensibles, qui parle d'amour, de sexe dénaturé, de suicide, de meurtre, de corruption de l'âme, de mort.
Un roman qui fait pourtant du bien, tant Zola nous fait plonger dans les abysses de l'esprit humain, les tréfonds des sentiments et l'inexplicable relation étriquée entre le cœur et le corps, pour mieux nous prouver à quel point l'homme court de lui-même à sa propre perte, par vénalité ou avarice.
C'est sans doute un des meilleurs exemples du genre naturaliste, la narration se faisant tout en objectivité, dans l'ombre des personnages au travers desquels on vit l'aventure tout du long. Tantôt dans la peau souillée de Jacques, le corps déréglé de Séverine ou bien l'esprit jalousement déréglé de Roubaud, la narration nous mène d'un défaut humain à l'autre, au grès de la plume toujours si plaisante de l'auteur qui restera sans doute à jamais un de mes préférés.
Et bien sûr, on ne peut parler de La Bête humaine sans évoquer l'incroyable scène finale où Zola se laisse aller à une touche en dehors de son réalisme habituel, avec la machine lancée à toute vitesse, soldats à bord, en route pour la guerre sans mécanicien ni chauffeur. Une faucheuse en métal chargée de sa chair à canon.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Zola is quite simply a master, and I don’t even know where to begin this review. Let me just say this up-front: there is a chapter in this book that is the most brutal, gruesome, heartrending, and horrifying thing I have ever read. It's a chilling photographic (and graphic) detail of a disaster that has the visceral impact of non-fiction reportage. I had to take a coffee break about halfway through the chapter. I just happened by chance to read this in October, when I usually read gothic or horror stories, but Chapter 10 of this novel just torpedoed anything else I may have been planning to read this month. I don’t even know how Zola got away with publishing it in 1890.
Being familiar with the basics of the plot from both Renoir’s La Bête Humaine and Fritz Lang’s Human Desire, I was most interested in Zola’s subplots that weren't really a part of those films, as far as I can remember (Flore and her family, especially), as well as his political commentary on the injustice of a legal system that protects the image of the state at the expense of truth. Although published years before the Dreyfus Affair, Zola’s novel hits directly at the heart of a system that relies on incompetent or willfully ignorant judicial officials to protect the guilty and condemn the innocent, so long as the public image of the state is maintained. And so although La Bête humaine was adapted into film and is most well-known as a novel of crime and passion, it is truly a call for justice, as is the bulk of Zola’s fiction.
I am now three-quarters of the way through the recommended reading order of the twenty-novel Rougon-Macquart cycle, and after six years of reading, Zola continues to thrill. And to think I still have Germinal, Nana, and The Earth yet to read!
Being familiar with the basics of the plot from both Renoir’s La Bête Humaine and Fritz Lang’s Human Desire, I was most interested in Zola’s subplots that weren't really a part of those films, as far as I can remember (Flore and her family, especially), as well as his political commentary on the injustice of a legal system that protects the image of the state at the expense of truth. Although published years before the Dreyfus Affair, Zola’s novel hits directly at the heart of a system that relies on incompetent or willfully ignorant judicial officials to protect the guilty and condemn the innocent, so long as the public image of the state is maintained. And so although La Bête humaine was adapted into film and is most well-known as a novel of crime and passion, it is truly a call for justice, as is the bulk of Zola’s fiction.
I am now three-quarters of the way through the recommended reading order of the twenty-novel Rougon-Macquart cycle, and after six years of reading, Zola continues to thrill. And to think I still have Germinal, Nana, and The Earth yet to read!
Ce livre est pour moi le premier Zola que je finis.
Le sujet tourne autour d'infidélité, de morts, de pulsions meurtrières, de jalousie... Et contrairement à ce que je pouvais penser au début ; j'ai adoré !
Le sujet tourne autour d'infidélité, de morts, de pulsions meurtrières, de jalousie... Et contrairement à ce que je pouvais penser au début ; j'ai adoré !
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is only the second book I have ever read by Émile Zola, but it has firmly cemented his place as one of my top favourite classics authors. Below Steinbeck, but above Dickens. I really enjoy Zola’s style - his descriptive phrases and depiction of human nature/emotion are truly excellent.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
This book was like going on multiple crazy train rides. I can't believe the sanest person in this story is seen as a beast (and is accused of all the murders) when really every other character in this book is in fact messed up and driven by their passions - the real beast of the story. An interesting and captivating story where morality is questioned and brash actions fuels the plot.
dark
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced