Reviews

An exceptional, dark little book that brims with malice, passion and the weight of how consequences can change and ruin lives.

Annoyingly, I went into this book having previously watched the film version without realising that the two are related (the film is called In Secret and stars some wonderful acting talent, including Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy!)) so I think that did very slightly ruin the enjoyment for me as I knew all of the major points of the book before they occurred in my read through. However, I don't think this took away enough to detract from my overall reading experience, and I think this book may seriously be one of my favourites of the year so far.

I was utterly entranced by the delicate balance of passion and insanity, the wonderful descriptions and Zola's masterful ability to capture that sort of feral madness that could easily exist in us all. Therese is a really interesting character, Laurent is highly believable and Madame Raquin was also wonderfully realised, with the host of supporting characters all adding a touch of realistic community and weight to the general story.

I won't ruin it by going through the plot, and in actuality it's not one of those books where not a lot happens besides one really major event. I would describe it as more of a character study exploring how people react once something unspeakable has occurred.

Fab stuff and I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants something sinister and quick to read but with very high quality writing.

tosia_f's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

eliathereader's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

Emile Zola’nın 3. ve sayesinde üne kavuştuğu romanı Therese Raquin. Masum bir adamı öldüren ama vicdanlarını öldürmeyi bir türlü başaramayan bir çiftin hikayesini anlatıyor. Tamamen karakter odaklı ilerlediği için bütün kitap boyunca onların tutkularını, isteklerini, pişmanlıklarını, çıldırmalarını ve hayal kırıklıklarını okuyorsunuz. Therese hasta kuzeniyle evlendirildikten sonra sıkıcı, tekdüze hayata gömülür. Bir gün eşinin çocukluk arkadaşı Laurent hayatlarına dahil olur ve o andan itibaren hayatın kadına sunabileceği her şey değişir. Sırf özgürlüğün düşüncesiyle umursamadan haraket eden bu iki insan müsveddesine bir yerden sonra hiçbir şey yetmez. Zola bu hastalıklı insanların zihinlerini anlatmada inanılmaz bir iş çıkarmış. Soluksuz okunan bir roman ki nadiren bir klasik bu kadar akıcıdır. Kitaptaki bütün karakterler ayrı sıkıntılı tipler ama son derece gerçekçi insanlar. Therese ve Laurent’i okumak bana Müge Anlı’nın programını anımsattı. Bir cinayeti işlemenin yanında bunu düşünmek ve tartışmak, birbirini ikna etmek için çabalamak çok ayrı bir zihniyet. Zola’nın hangi kitabına elimi atsam yazara daha bir hayranlık duymaya başladım. Natüralizm öncesine kaçındığım bir edebiyat akımıydı. Ama Zola sayesinde okuma zevkimin değiştiğini ve okumadığım tarzlara daha çok yönelmem gerektiğini anladım.

apstatler's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

joannaautumn's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

A study of temperaments not character as Zola said.
Zola wanted to incorporate science and reason into literature making them a form of creative studies, and looked at writers as scientists and thinkers more than artists.He was one of the founders of naturalism.
Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from 1865 to 1900 that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character.

The novel is based on the temperaments that a Greek philosopher Aelius Galenus or Galen has made. The characters are assigned one of the four temperaments accordingly. Therese is a melancholic and Laurent is sanguine, Camille phlegmatic and so on.
It is an interesting concept of mixing something highly logical like a scientific study with something as free and creative as literature.

The writing style was full of descriptions of often gruesome images, since it does contain traces of realism.The novel shows what happens if we let the impulses and beastly part of us take over, what happens if we let out temperaments rule over our reason. Accordingly, the characters are stripped away of any inner self or complex thinking and emotions because they are ruled by their animal impulses.There is not much emotional or lyrical scenes in this novel, you don’t really form any kind of attachment to the characters due to the distanced way of writing, being that it is a study in literary form. So it might be dull at times, and certain words and phrases are repetitive.

Nonetheless, it did achieve what it was intended to do, and you will either like the book or find it boring. As for myself, I did like it and I will reach again for something written by Zola.

More...