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circe_08's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Ein sehr anspruchsvolles Buch, das den tragischen Untergang einer einst glücklichen Familie zum Thema hat. Madame Bovary hat zum Fehler, dass sie sich nicht zufrieden geben kann, immer nach mehr strebt. Letztendlich wird ihr das trauriger weise zum Verhängnis und während sie immer nervöser uns von Nervenproblem geplagt wird, geht es mit ihren Finanzen bergab. Leider erliegt Madame Bovary einer Vergiftung. Vor allem ist das Ende ihrer Tochter zu bedauern. Ohne Eltern oder Vermögen muss sie alleine in der Welt zurückbleiben.
Besonders schlimm erscheinen mir jene Menschen, die sich nach Madame Bovarys Tod daran bereichern wollen und Monsieur Bovary ausnehmen. Zu Lebzeiten der Madame nutzt auch der fahrende Händler ihre Naivität aus und stürzt sie in einen Berg aus Schulden.
Besonders schlimm erscheinen mir jene Menschen, die sich nach Madame Bovarys Tod daran bereichern wollen und Monsieur Bovary ausnehmen. Zu Lebzeiten der Madame nutzt auch der fahrende Händler ihre Naivität aus und stürzt sie in einen Berg aus Schulden.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Suicide, Sexual content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
uncomfortablecoconut's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
domibi's review against another edition
dark
sad
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide
lostinthelibrary's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
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? Yes
4.0
I can see why this novel is so well praised. It is somehow at the same time satirical, realistic and tragic. It is great that a man of that time was able to write such an interesting female character and I can see why it would have caused controversy. Flaubert also perfectly captured small town rural attitudes and practices in such a humorous and heartfelt way. This all makes the book still very readable to a modern audience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Medical content
Moderate: Suicide
tiiiger35's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Emma - Madame Bovary, is a complex woman, trapped in a life & a marriage she hates. She’s a dreamer, an idealist, a romantic who yearns for overzealous passions. She’s also naive, selfish, greedy, hateful & dishonest.
Her husband, Charles, in comparison, adores her. She can commit no wrongs in his eyes, he’s eternally faithful, loving & loyal to her. He’s also completely blind to her wretchedness toward him & her unhappiness within their marriage.
In context, women in the 19th century had so little autonomy & even less opportunities. I emphathised with Emma on that level. It’s clear she was a tortured soul, who was doomed to a life of unfulfillment & misery. She seemed to suffer from chronic depressions & mood disorders that weren’t understood back then. Driven by a desire to find a love so intense, that even her daughter was pushed aside. Yet, right under her nose, unwanted, were the 2 people who loved her endlessly.
Cruelly, a part of me felt irritated Emma escaped the long term repercussions of her salacious & egocentric actions. Instead, Berthe was left alone in the world, destitute & unloved.
It’s one that will stick with me, but it’s a sad story with a tragic ending. It must have been a scandalous read for its time filled with debauchery, infidelities, lust & betrayal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Death, Grief, Infidelity, and Suicide
var_klar's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity and Suicide
Minor: Religious bigotry
nineinchnails's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
4.25
i love this and surprisingly even loved charles which i did not expect going into this. he was naive and clueless when it came to his wife’s feelings but seemingly pretty sweet otherwise. it was ironic he had no clue about how miserable emma was in their marriage though, considering he had just been in a loveless marriage himself. this is pretty dense - it felt like so much happened but also nothing at all so it was a slog to get through occasionally. i loved the style of the prose and the flowery language it felt almost poetic in places - i wish i was fluent in french because i imagine the prose would flow even better in the original text.
i did get a little bored in the middle since i’d assumed the fun was over for our titular character (and the pacing of this was pretty strange) but she got a second wind and i ended up loving it!! emma had no redeeming qualities that i can recall but she was really engaging to read about and i found myself empathising with her, especially towards the end. she came across as quite naive and disillusioned so i had a lot more vitriol for rodolphe on account of his shameless manipulation of her. he wasn’t the only man to take advantage of her naïveté and it was both gratifying (because she was pretty awful) and frustrating to watch it happen as the reader.
the copy i read had a section at the end of “explanatory notes” which was referenced to constantly throughout and it massively contributed to my enjoyment since i ended up learning so much about 19th century france and flaubert himself. it was genuinely really interesting and i had no idea just how advanced medicine was in those times. i don’t think i agree with the moral of the story (from my interpretation) but i still really enjoyed this. no plot little character development just vibes but the vibes were gorgeous. i loved the setting and the prose was incredibly pretty.
i did get a little bored in the middle since i’d assumed the fun was over for our titular character (and the pacing of this was pretty strange) but she got a second wind and i ended up loving it!! emma had no redeeming qualities that i can recall but she was really engaging to read about and i found myself empathising with her, especially towards the end. she came across as quite naive and disillusioned so i had a lot more vitriol for rodolphe on account of his shameless manipulation of her. he wasn’t the only man to take advantage of her naïveté and it was both gratifying (because she was pretty awful) and frustrating to watch it happen as the reader.
the copy i read had a section at the end of “explanatory notes” which was referenced to constantly throughout and it massively contributed to my enjoyment since i ended up learning so much about 19th century france and flaubert himself. it was genuinely really interesting and i had no idea just how advanced medicine was in those times. i don’t think i agree with the moral of the story (from my interpretation) but i still really enjoyed this. no plot little character development just vibes but the vibes were gorgeous. i loved the setting and the prose was incredibly pretty.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Classism, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Grief, and Mental illness
Minor: Child abuse, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Vomit, Antisemitism, Racism, and Racial slurs
Child neglect and Prostitution/Sex workcorvuscorax's review against another edition
4.25
Oui, le livre a été très, très bon. Mais tu savais ça déjà; tout le monde te le dit, notamment tes profs de français. Alors, quoi dire sur un livre qui a pu créer presqu'un culte sans paraître s'en soucier trop? Peut-être juste qu'il ne parle pas d'une adultérine. Ou, plutôt, qu'il parle de tous ceux qui ont voulu plus que ce qu'ils ont obtenus dans la vie en parlant d'une adultérine, des détails minutieux et horribles de ses douleurs incessantes.
Le cadre clos et suffoquant d'une ville qui ne la comprend pas, d'un mari qui ne la comprend pas, des amants qui ne la comprend pas, d'elle-même qui ne se comprend pas, qui ne peut qu'indiquer ses blessures sanglantes en balbutiant quelque chose de l'amour. C'était désespérant de voir une jeune fille qui a désiré si fortement et qui n'a jamais goûter la gloire de chasser quelque chose pour elle-même, d'avoir ses propres échecs. Elle jouait toujours dans une pièce de théâtre dont tous les histoires qu'elle a aimées sont les autrices, sans percevoir le regard du public.
Comme est le cas de beaucoup de malheureuses femmes littéraires, le seul moment où elle a vraiment exprimé ses désirs est sa mort. Pas dans la manière, aussi romanesque et exaggerée que toutes les gestes de sa vie, mais dans le refus de survivre à son suicide. C'est au moment où elle ne vomit pas qu'elle regagne le dernier mot de son dialogue avec l'espoir.
Tout autour d'Emma, le personnage de livre qui voudrait être un personnage de livre, on trouve toutes les "personnes" du livre, qui attend les actions et pensées d'Emma pour comprendre leurs propres gestes mécaniques. Emma n'est que l'écho passional d'une ville pleine de gens qui ont des désirs dont ils ne parleront jamais.
Un bon début pour la nouvelle année.
Le cadre clos et suffoquant d'une ville qui ne la comprend pas, d'un mari qui ne la comprend pas, des amants qui ne la comprend pas, d'elle-même qui ne se comprend pas, qui ne peut qu'indiquer ses blessures sanglantes en balbutiant quelque chose de l'amour. C'était désespérant de voir une jeune fille qui a désiré si fortement et qui n'a jamais goûter la gloire de chasser quelque chose pour elle-même, d'avoir ses propres échecs. Elle jouait toujours dans une pièce de théâtre dont tous les histoires qu'elle a aimées sont les autrices, sans percevoir le regard du public.
Tout autour d'Emma, le personnage de livre qui voudrait être un personnage de livre, on trouve toutes les "personnes" du livre, qui attend les actions et pensées d'Emma pour comprendre leurs propres gestes mécaniques. Emma n'est que l'écho passional d'une ville pleine de gens qui ont des désirs dont ils ne parleront jamais.
Un bon début pour la nouvelle année.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
roxyunderscored's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Suicide, and Infidelity
Moderate: Sexual content and Medical content
Minor: Death of parent
shellfish's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Grief, and Suicide