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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
İnternetten satın aldığım ilk kitaptı Madam Bovary, iyi ki 2014 yılında değil de 2023 yılında okumuşum. 15 yaşındaki halimle anlayabileceğim ve içselleştirebileceğim bir kitap değilmiş. Belki 9 sene sonra tekrar okusam bambaşka çıkarımlarda bulunurum. Bazı kitaplar yaş aldıkça tekrar okunmalı, özellikle de klasikler.
DNF at 38%.
I was following along really well at first, but then completely lost focus and couldn't get it back even after rewinding a bit and trying to make sense of who exactly she was whining about by then, it's just too tedious and boring, at least in audio form.
I might try it out in Estonian one day, but this doesn't seem to be my kind of classic.
I was following along really well at first, but then completely lost focus and couldn't get it back even after rewinding a bit and trying to make sense of who exactly she was whining about by then, it's just too tedious and boring, at least in audio form.
I might try it out in Estonian one day, but this doesn't seem to be my kind of classic.
Madame Bovary is a novel one wants immediately to comparable to Anna Karenina, though they do differ significantly. Bovary is so very French, Karenina is so very Russian. Bovary is brief, to the point, explicit both in character perspective and romantic content (for the time period). Things progress along with out superfluous content, focusing on the progressive descent of one woman into a self-obsession that destroys her. Karenina is tediously drawn out, elusive, telling through minute details the depth of action and perspective of a dozen varied characters without always giving explicit insight into their motivations. Both novels revolve around a woman who is obsessed with romanticism in a way that eventually leads them to throw off all the social expectations and relationships commitments they’ve committed to, but Bovary excels in its poignancy whereas Karenina excels in its diversification of perspectives, contrasting increasing selfishness and desire with increasing sacrifice and gratefulness.
There are really three Madames Bovary. From childhood, Charles Bovary is dominated by his mother. His father is a well-established rake and his mother turns all of her energy to establishing her aimless son in the world. Educating him as a doctor, she marries him off successfully to an older widow with a comfortable income, Mrs. Bovary the (slightly) younger. Out on his rounds, he is smitten by the young daughter of a farmer of modest means. Soon, his wife notices the difference in him and eventually died, it seems, of a heartbreak. Thus, Charles marries Emma, the second Mrs. Charles Bovary and the third in the novels first chapter or so.
Emma Bovary was raised in a convent and spent her time there increasingly obsessed with unsatisfactory romance novels. Initially eager to be married to Charles, she becomes almost immediately scornful of his affections after they fall into a household routine. Happy-go-luck Charles is a dunce who is happy in all ways and can’t believe his luck at landing such a well-bred and beautiful homemaker. But when Emma because disenchanted with their way of life, he agrees to make a fresh start elsewhere.
Setting up shop in a new town, Emma starts making conquests of the local men in increasingly haphazard ways. She is enthralled by just the sort of man who would willingly take advantage of her in any way possible and it’s often hard to tell who is taking advantage more greatly of whom in these relationships, though her position as a woman and a married woman at that is far more compromising. In the midst of these wild affairs, she finds she is so brazenly capable of cuckolding her husband that she gets control over their finances and begins to drive them into deepest of debts as well. All of her tragic machinations come together to spell out disaster for herself, her father, her husband, and her little daughter.
As a character, Emma Bovary reminds me more of Becky Sharp from Thackeray’s Vanity Fair than she does of Anna Karenina. Anna Karenina seems always to be pushed by a depressive fate to further disasters and her lover is far more smitten with her. Emma Bovary is far more discontented and conniving, somehow intentional in her crimes and still seemingly caught completely off guard by their plots of her lovers and the results of her actions. She seems so willing to follow her instincts that she never even questions their morality. Even she she takes a sober turn of religious reflection, it is experienced for what she thinks it will mean about her and the feelings of piety and nobility she experiences toward herself.
Lastly, I’ll just point out that in Karenina, the story is a juxtaposition of families who are approaching life every differently from a religious and moral perspective. In Bovary, there are some contrasts made, but the Voltarians and the clerical argue about God almost as a backdrop to reality. In Tolstoy, the questions of existence and morality lead us into lives lived well or not. In Flaubert, they are aggressively portrayed as irrelevant to the passionate and fatalistic ways in which we fling ourselves by whims into a chaotic universe.
There are really three Madames Bovary. From childhood, Charles Bovary is dominated by his mother. His father is a well-established rake and his mother turns all of her energy to establishing her aimless son in the world. Educating him as a doctor, she marries him off successfully to an older widow with a comfortable income, Mrs. Bovary the (slightly) younger. Out on his rounds, he is smitten by the young daughter of a farmer of modest means. Soon, his wife notices the difference in him and eventually died, it seems, of a heartbreak. Thus, Charles marries Emma, the second Mrs. Charles Bovary and the third in the novels first chapter or so.
Emma Bovary was raised in a convent and spent her time there increasingly obsessed with unsatisfactory romance novels. Initially eager to be married to Charles, she becomes almost immediately scornful of his affections after they fall into a household routine. Happy-go-luck Charles is a dunce who is happy in all ways and can’t believe his luck at landing such a well-bred and beautiful homemaker. But when Emma because disenchanted with their way of life, he agrees to make a fresh start elsewhere.
Setting up shop in a new town, Emma starts making conquests of the local men in increasingly haphazard ways. She is enthralled by just the sort of man who would willingly take advantage of her in any way possible and it’s often hard to tell who is taking advantage more greatly of whom in these relationships, though her position as a woman and a married woman at that is far more compromising. In the midst of these wild affairs, she finds she is so brazenly capable of cuckolding her husband that she gets control over their finances and begins to drive them into deepest of debts as well. All of her tragic machinations come together to spell out disaster for herself, her father, her husband, and her little daughter.
As a character, Emma Bovary reminds me more of Becky Sharp from Thackeray’s Vanity Fair than she does of Anna Karenina. Anna Karenina seems always to be pushed by a depressive fate to further disasters and her lover is far more smitten with her. Emma Bovary is far more discontented and conniving, somehow intentional in her crimes and still seemingly caught completely off guard by their plots of her lovers and the results of her actions. She seems so willing to follow her instincts that she never even questions their morality. Even she she takes a sober turn of religious reflection, it is experienced for what she thinks it will mean about her and the feelings of piety and nobility she experiences toward herself.
Lastly, I’ll just point out that in Karenina, the story is a juxtaposition of families who are approaching life every differently from a religious and moral perspective. In Bovary, there are some contrasts made, but the Voltarians and the clerical argue about God almost as a backdrop to reality. In Tolstoy, the questions of existence and morality lead us into lives lived well or not. In Flaubert, they are aggressively portrayed as irrelevant to the passionate and fatalistic ways in which we fling ourselves by whims into a chaotic universe.
First read this for class with Lundin many years ago. I did not remember what a perfect novel it is. Every word, necessary.
I read this book when I was a teenager and thought it was lofty and romantic. I read it as an adult, and thought it was completely ridiculous. I think Flaubert intended it to be ridiculous. A story about the excesses of materialism and the shallown nature of aquisitiveness. Paris and her ilk would really get a lot out of it.
This is a hill I’ll die on: Emma Bovary is the original sad-twenty-somethings.
And that’s undoubtedly my favorite genre, so why did I only rate it 3 stars (well, 3.5 actually)?
This is an issue that I often have with translated books: that the atmosphere isn’t really there. While Madame Bovary takes place in 19th century France, I felt like I was in a more modern(?) world. And that kinda ruined the vibe/atmosphere for me. I’m not sure if the translation is just not for me, but I’m definitely willing to try another translation in the future.
But aside from that, I enjoyed the novel.
Emma was a fascinating character to read about. She felt so realistic that I was shocked that she was written by a man instead of a woman. It’s so easy to hate her — let’s admit it, she caused the issues in her life — but I also can’t blame her. She was such a memorable character that I’m still thinking about her to this day. That’s probably because — although the story takes place in the 18th century — it still feels applicable to modern society.
Overall, pretty good. But I'd love to try a different translation next time.
And that’s undoubtedly my favorite genre, so why did I only rate it 3 stars (well, 3.5 actually)?
This is an issue that I often have with translated books: that the atmosphere isn’t really there. While Madame Bovary takes place in 19th century France, I felt like I was in a more modern(?) world. And that kinda ruined the vibe/atmosphere for me. I’m not sure if the translation is just not for me, but I’m definitely willing to try another translation in the future.
But aside from that, I enjoyed the novel.
Emma was a fascinating character to read about. She felt so realistic that I was shocked that she was written by a man instead of a woman. It’s so easy to hate her — let’s admit it, she caused the issues in her life — but I also can’t blame her. She was such a memorable character that I’m still thinking about her to this day. That’s probably because — although the story takes place in the 18th century — it still feels applicable to modern society.
Overall, pretty good. But I'd love to try a different translation next time.
reflective
sad
medium-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
I can see why it was 'shocking' at the time it was written.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes