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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
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 workroxyunderscored'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
alinas_library's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
3.5
J’étais surprise de l’actualité de quelques caractères et actions. Rodolphe est un « fuckboy » typique et Emma est super « delusional » et rêve de l’amour profonde comme dans ses romans. C’était très amusant pour moi. Quand-même, quelques remarques seront problématiques dans le contexte moderne.
« Madame Bovary » est parfois persistant, mais c’est très clair, pourquoi on considère ce roman comme un classique. La langage est très poétique et magistrale, la critique de la société, qui était un scandale pendant cette époque, est claire et ironique.
Un livre bien compréhensible même pour les apprenants du français, comme moi (à l’aide des traducteurs ;)).
« Madame Bovary » est parfois persistant, mais c’est très clair, pourquoi on considère ce roman comme un classique. La langage est très poétique et magistrale, la critique de la société, qui était un scandale pendant cette époque, est claire et ironique.
Un livre bien compréhensible même pour les apprenants du français, comme moi (à l’aide des traducteurs ;)).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Mental illness
Moderate: Medical content
silverasters's review against another edition
challenging
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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Infidelity, and Suicide
Minor: Medical content
ezulc's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical trauma, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
isabella_reads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Medical content
glorgona's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Classism, Infidelity, Vomit, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death, Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Blood
m4rtt4's review against another edition
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
3.0
There's something magnetic about Emma Bovary — I can't say that I liked her, yet still I couldn't help rooting for her no matter what she did. Considering when this novel was written, she sure is an exceptional female protagonist, the OG Material Girl and even practices the gaslight-gatekeep-girlboss agenda, but if only her decisions had solely been based on her twisted mind and not on her "female fragility"!! I hated how so many of her traits were just explained by her sex, as if being a woman automatically makes one weak, stupid and gullible — I despise you, historical misogynists.
since Emma was such an exceptional heroine, I expected her to do something brave like run away or get a divorce, but nah.. it fucking sucks that the only acceptable plotlines for historical heroines are all related to marriage — if it's a happy one, then they live happily ever after, and if it's an unhappy one (like Emma's), the woman must die.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Death, Suicide, Misogyny, Sexism, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Ableism and Classism
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