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mmefish's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
medium-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
5.0
Sublime. Everything is overly dramatic and miserable, in the best tradition of 19th century classic literature, but at the same time refreshingly realistic and ironic.
As for Emma, she's never questioned herself to find out if she loved him. Love, she believed, must come suddenly, with great thunderclaps and bolts of lightning, —a hurricane from heaven that drops down on your life, overturns it, tears away your will like a leaf, and carries your whole heart off with it into the abyss. She did not know that the rain forms lakes on the terraces of houses when the drainpipes are blocked, and thus she would have lived on feeling quite safe, had she not suddenly discovered a crack in the wall.
Then, growing calmer, she came to see that she had probably disparaged him unjustly. But vilifying those we love always detaches us from them a little. We should not touch our idols: their holding will remain on our hands.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Medical content, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Racial slurs, Antisemitism, and Child abuse
hiddeninbooks's review against another edition
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Stimulating read, with interesting language.
I wish the first Madam Bovary hadn't been so quickly and neatly killed off. I think the doctor's emotional affair is treated softly relative to the two affairs of his second wife, quickly overshadowed by the first Madam Bovary's lack of forthrightness with regards to the mortgages on her properties, and all of it set aside as she conveniently dies shortly thereafter. Were the first Madam Bovary to live, it would have left the doctor longer to contend with being in the position his second wife finds herself in.
The fact that the doctor dies of a broken heart, while his second wife, the presumably titular Madam Bovary, dies from suicide, and all the disgrace therein, again points to their disjointed treatment. I also wish that there might have been some sort of reflective comment on the fact that Madam Bovary underwent a minor (though perhaps not experienced as such given the time period) sexual assault by a man she sought aid from just prior to her suicide.
The fact that the doctor dies of a broken heart, while his second wife, the presumably titular Madam Bovary, dies from suicide, and all the disgrace therein, again points to their disjointed treatment. I also wish that there might have been some sort of reflective comment on the fact that Madam Bovary underwent a minor (though perhaps not experienced as such given the time period) sexual assault by a man she sought aid from just prior to her suicide.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Body horror, Suicide, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Racial slurs
saintmaud's review against another edition
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
emma is so beautiful, so sensuous, so hungry, so french.. flaubert's writing is wondrous, almost cinematic; his use of different techniques in the narrative was so marvelous to read, i need more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Suicide
Moderate: Vomit
aiyam's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Infidelity, Death, Suicide, and Mental illness
Moderate: Racial slurs
vincef's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Classism, Suicide, Sexism, Racial slurs, Murder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Mental illness, Infidelity, and Ableism
Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, and Gaslighting
Minor: Pregnancy
nachtvlucht's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Gore, and Grief
Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexism, and Sexual content
Minor: Child abuse
mollmccaff's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Grief, and Vomit
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Classism, Sexual content, and Abandonment
Minor: Racial slurs, Eating disorder, and Death of parent
lgchalmers's review
dark
reflective
slow-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
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Death
miagw962's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
But this one taught her nothing, knew nothing, wished nothing. He thought her happy; and she resented this easy calm, this serene heaviness, the very happiness she gave.
Boy oh boy was this tricky to get through sometimes. There were many moments where I was like 'what is going on?' and for a while that made me kind of lean towards not liking this book. BUT I think the moments I did love in Madame Bovary outweighed the moments I didn't. There were so many beautifully written chapters that just absolutely blew me away. It was really the ending that solidified my opinion that this is a good book and it was worthwhile reading. I did struggle through some of it but most of it I loved for how melodramatic everything was. The narration I felt was also kind of uncaring towards a lot of the characters which I thought added another interesting layer to the story. I don't know, it really was just the vibe at the end that pushed my original thoughts of a 3 or 3.5 star read to a 4 star. Sidenote: why is every young lady from the 1800s named Emma? Or Jane?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Minor: Death
lina_reads_to_escape's review
challenging
dark
tense
slow-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
1.0
I hated this book. Regardless of the fact that it’s considered a classic, for whatever reason, I found it completely uninteresting and irritating. I read this in French, the original version, for class, and I hated every moment of it. The character of Emma is completely unlovable and irritating. She keeps chasing an unachievable dream, wanting more in life, a fairy-tale-like existence, and when she doesn’t achieve something so obviously impossible for her time, she blames absolutely everyone else but herself for such expectations. There is no character development. Continuously, more things happen to her, she has new experiences, meets new people, she is still unhappy, she blames it on everyone and any one. Her husband is too mediocre, her lovers don’t love her enough and don’t give her enough thrill, this book is completely « one note », and it absolutely didn’t require 400 pages to tell me that Emma is a flawed person with unachievable expectations which lead to her inevitable demise. Boring, repetitive, trust me, there are far better classics, do NOT recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Death