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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
Davis' translation reads very well. It is almost too good, because it is easy to read as a British 19th c. novel with such elegant prose and forget that it is a French novel in translation. I kept imagine everyone speaking with the wrong accent and leaving London for the summer.
Lines such as "Every notary carries within him the debris of a poet." are priceless.
I appreciate Flaubert's aggressive use of irony. He mixes the high and low to undermine the high. None of the characters/archetypes escape ridicule, and the three central characters are tortured with seeming glee by the author. The result is a clear and largely satirical portrait of the middle class in 1850's France.
I'm embarrassed to rate a classic middling, but I personally didn't enjoy this as much as novels that invest more in their characters or present a less uniform march through their lives.
Lines such as "Every notary carries within him the debris of a poet." are priceless.
I appreciate Flaubert's aggressive use of irony. He mixes the high and low to undermine the high. None of the characters/archetypes escape ridicule, and the three central characters are tortured with seeming glee by the author. The result is a clear and largely satirical portrait of the middle class in 1850's France.
I'm embarrassed to rate a classic middling, but I personally didn't enjoy this as much as novels that invest more in their characters or present a less uniform march through their lives.
i read this book every two years...? i don't know why maybe I am fascinated with infidelity
I agree, it’s likely preposterous that I give this classic only 3 stars. It’s also perhaps only possible for me to do so at such a remove from its original publication. Still, the very reasons it was so revered are the same for which I’m able to be bored by it: so many lists and evocations of the mundane, long passages of descriptive text of the quotidian, sardonic portrayals of every average person in town, including the sharpest, most cutting study of the protagonist herself. In my modern world I have the luxury to be bored and vaguely irritated by all of it.
Madame Bovary as a book shows the life of a middle class woman living above her means in France during the 1800s. The character Madame Bovary is an evil, spoiled character. From her wants of all thing material to the treatment of her loved ones to her multiple affairs (her lovers the charming and egotistical playboy that is Rudolphe Boulanger and the young, immature romantic that is Léon Dupuis) that she has while her simpleton husband is unaware.
The character of Madame Bovary shows what happens to a materialistic person who only loves the illusions of society. She wants love but only the type of love seen in romance books. She wants a child only for the status of being a mother brings to her life. Although in some points she gets victimized by her lovers who use her and throw her away these victimizations are only momentary. She also gets into massive debt which is her fault.
In the end her romanticism and materialistic attitude leads to her death. This leaves her husband Charles devastated and leads to his death as well. Madame Bronte might be an older book but the ideas absolutely ring true to this day. Do not let things like cars or jewelry own you. Do not equate happiness with trinkets because then your life will be an empty one
The character of Madame Bovary shows what happens to a materialistic person who only loves the illusions of society. She wants love but only the type of love seen in romance books. She wants a child only for the status of being a mother brings to her life. Although in some points she gets victimized by her lovers who use her and throw her away these victimizations are only momentary. She also gets into massive debt which is her fault.
In the end her romanticism and materialistic attitude leads to her death. This leaves her husband Charles devastated and leads to his death as well. Madame Bronte might be an older book but the ideas absolutely ring true to this day. Do not let things like cars or jewelry own you. Do not equate happiness with trinkets because then your life will be an empty one
Riletto in francese a causa della sparizione della mia copia italiana so benissimo dove. Anche stavolta la signora Emma mi ha lasciato una tristezza di fondo, non che non me lo potessi aspettare, ma credevo che, siccome era una rilettura, mi avrebbe fatto meno effetto. Ora lo scopo é quello di scriverci un paper di almeno 800 parole paragonando Flaubert a Kant, Rousseau e Marx e io sono assolutamente senza idee e non so dove mettere le mani.....
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
