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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
I'm up for hating on the bourgeoisie but otherwise I'm not very wild about this one
Flaubert writes beautifully, as I'm sure most people know, but so intricately that you can lose yourself in his sentences. While I admired and enjoyed the writing, there's a distance between the characters and the reader that I just couldn't surmount. This is a book I think everyone should read because of it's lovely, intricate wording. But I must admit to struggling to care about what happened next and would often put it down for days and read something else in between to give myself some pure enjoyment in the act of reading.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Wow. Ummm, I'll never get the time back I spent reading this book. And I still can't tell you what it was about. Sorry to knock a "classic", but this sucked.
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
My Scotland read. I really liked it.
Just cos she's called Emma, don't think I'm naughty like her :)
I found this to be a wonderful read with an evocative and beautifully worked translation.
This is the first and probably the last review I’d ever leave on here (cause boy do I suck at these) but Madame Bovary turned out to be a very special book for me and I wanted to leave her a little something. More specifically to her main character.
I agree with what most of the reviews say. Emma is a very flawed woman. She is whiny, annoying, melodramatic, lying, a little insane to be honest, ungrateful and selfish cheater who does not even love her own kid. Not once did she think about the consequences of her own actions or how they’d affect anyone else. She’d use everyone and everything to get her way. She is absolutely insufferable and yet somehow that is the only ever female character I’ve been able to relate to this much.
Because the thing that was most important to me, after forgiving all of Emma’s wrong choices and wrongdoings and the fact she hurt people, is that I saw a young woman who was desperate, most of all, for love. But not just simple, quiet love like taking care of a home and having a nice meal with her good and (very) boring husband at the end of a long day. Emma wanted something like the romance stories she’d heard and read about growing up in a monastery, a love story with knights on white horses, honourable ladies chased by (not so) honourable men, adventure and drama and someone to be obsessed with her and love her beyond measure. She did everything in her very little power to change the tragic trajectory of her life and get the things she wanted but she never did. In fact, every effort she put in made things way worse. What if she was just grateful for having such a good man beside her and a home and didn’t want to experience so much more? What if she didn’t continue chasing all those things she wanted and was just satisfied for a moment with everything she already had? But she wasn’t like that, she could never be satisfied no matter how far she got. She preferred to go through all of that and more and to lie to herself too that maybe things could be a bit different rather than accept her fate.
I think Emma made a lot of mistakes and she was all those things I’ve read other people say. But I think her biggest mistake was that deep down she was just a very big dreamer. With hopes for a passionate, insane love, a life of beauty and grandeur and a sense of wonder that I think even the most cynical of people reading this book (especially us women) would agree they’ve hoped for at least once in their lives. It is unfortunate and I felt more sad for her above anything else because the odds were against her from the very beginning. I think even though she was born at a time where a lot of women’s lives were not what they wished it to be, some women did get lucky enough to get their dream love story but Emma was not one of them.
And, besides, what is the difference between her and every other woman with such dreams and aspirations? It’s the fact that Emma did try to do something about them and boy, did she suffer the consequences. How dare she want something beautiful and grand for herself, that pathetic excuse for a woman. How arrogant and greedy of her. (I hope if anyone ever reads this review they get the sarcasm.)
I love this book and I agree that (part) of the moral of the story is “don’t lie”, “don’t cheat” but this is a bit of an obvious thing if I have to be honest. I will never know for sure but I think Gustave Flaubert understood women (or maybe just women like me) and his reasons to write this book went a bit deeper than “thou shall not lie” and “thou shall not cheat”; I don’t know, he just doesn’t seem to me like the religious type. I like to think if he ever got to meet Oscar Wilde they would’ve been great friends. :)
I agree with what most of the reviews say. Emma is a very flawed woman. She is whiny, annoying, melodramatic, lying, a little insane to be honest, ungrateful and selfish cheater who does not even love her own kid. Not once did she think about the consequences of her own actions or how they’d affect anyone else. She’d use everyone and everything to get her way. She is absolutely insufferable and yet somehow that is the only ever female character I’ve been able to relate to this much.
Because the thing that was most important to me, after forgiving all of Emma’s wrong choices and wrongdoings and the fact she hurt people, is that I saw a young woman who was desperate, most of all, for love. But not just simple, quiet love like taking care of a home and having a nice meal with her good and (very) boring husband at the end of a long day. Emma wanted something like the romance stories she’d heard and read about growing up in a monastery, a love story with knights on white horses, honourable ladies chased by (not so) honourable men, adventure and drama and someone to be obsessed with her and love her beyond measure. She did everything in her very little power to change the tragic trajectory of her life and get the things she wanted but she never did. In fact, every effort she put in made things way worse. What if she was just grateful for having such a good man beside her and a home and didn’t want to experience so much more? What if she didn’t continue chasing all those things she wanted and was just satisfied for a moment with everything she already had? But she wasn’t like that, she could never be satisfied no matter how far she got. She preferred to go through all of that and more and to lie to herself too that maybe things could be a bit different rather than accept her fate.
I think Emma made a lot of mistakes and she was all those things I’ve read other people say. But I think her biggest mistake was that deep down she was just a very big dreamer. With hopes for a passionate, insane love, a life of beauty and grandeur and a sense of wonder that I think even the most cynical of people reading this book (especially us women) would agree they’ve hoped for at least once in their lives. It is unfortunate and I felt more sad for her above anything else because the odds were against her from the very beginning. I think even though she was born at a time where a lot of women’s lives were not what they wished it to be, some women did get lucky enough to get their dream love story but Emma was not one of them.
And, besides, what is the difference between her and every other woman with such dreams and aspirations? It’s the fact that Emma did try to do something about them and boy, did she suffer the consequences. How dare she want something beautiful and grand for herself, that pathetic excuse for a woman. How arrogant and greedy of her. (I hope if anyone ever reads this review they get the sarcasm.)
I love this book and I agree that (part) of the moral of the story is “don’t lie”, “don’t cheat” but this is a bit of an obvious thing if I have to be honest. I will never know for sure but I think Gustave Flaubert understood women (or maybe just women like me) and his reasons to write this book went a bit deeper than “thou shall not lie” and “thou shall not cheat”; I don’t know, he just doesn’t seem to me like the religious type. I like to think if he ever got to meet Oscar Wilde they would’ve been great friends. :)
This felt like an attempt at Anna Karenina but less effective.
Basically, Emma is bored with her husband/life and has affairs. A horny classic.
Basically, Emma is bored with her husband/life and has affairs. A horny classic.