Scan barcode
wolfsonarchitect's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this slow read for the plot and the character of the doctor’s wife. She lives in this fantasy world based on the novels she’s read. There’s an interesting tension as she’s in between her boring husband and her fantasy hero. I also enjoyed the vocabulary and descriptions that Braddon employs.
heathssm's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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
4.0
nadaoq's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
rclyburn's review against another edition
5.0
So much better than Madame Bovary!
Love in this novel is always about the person loving, rather than the object of their affections. Object-independent love.
Love in this novel is always about the person loving, rather than the object of their affections. Object-independent love.
lucyandherbooks's review against another edition
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
4.0
msgtdameron's review against another edition
reflective
medium-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
4.0
Braddon freely admits that she stole the plot line from Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary' but with a very English twist. That twist happens around page 275. Now there are 403 pages in the copy I read. This leaves one thinking the falling action is going to be tedious, but it is anything but. There is a lot of soggy sentimentality to get to page 275. But afterward the story proceeds quickly and before you know it your at the End wanting more.
novel_nomad's review against another edition
4.0
An absolutely fascinating read, unlike the sensational Lady Audley’s Secret, this novel focused on the emotional education of a young woman. Isabel has dreamily shut herself away in the Romantic novels and fantasies for most of her young life, awaiting her chance to be a tragic heroine in her own story. Accepting the love and marriage of a honest country doctor, she believes that it may finally herald her heroine status. Yet she is introduced to the young squire, Roland, and his beauty and sad poetry fit her every requirement of a true Romantic hero.
Mimicking the idea of Madame Bovary, but ending in a very different manner - and ending that enthralled me to no end.
Mimicking the idea of Madame Bovary, but ending in a very different manner - and ending that enthralled me to no end.
victoria92's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
4.0
axl_oswaldo's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
<b>Victober</b> (<u>3</u>)
<b>[2.5]</b> rounded up(?)
I remember my first time reading a novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, it was a short story called <b>The Christmas Hirelings</b>, a very sweet, uplifting, and wholesome story set on Christmas Day that was actually one of my best readings in December 2021. Also, the audiobook that you can find easily on Audible and is actually very well narrated by Richard Armitage was definitely the cherry on the cake. In short, I'd wholeheartedly recommend giving it a try, especially during this Christmas season that is just around the corner.
Unfortunately, <b>The Doctor's Wife</b> is a completely different scenario, perhaps not a terrible reading experience, but a novel that didn't live up to my expectations.
To begin with, according to its blurb, this novel is supposed to be a new version of <b>Madame Bovary</b> (Gustave Flaubert), where basically the 'essence' of that French classic should have been here, however, <b>The Doctor's Wife</b> has almost nothing to do with that Flaubert's novel and its storyline.
Perhaps only the fact that both Emma Bovary and Isabel Gilbert (the protagonist of this story) are very much into reading books and married to a rural doctor makes <b>The Doctor's Wife</b> be similar to <b>Madame Bovary</b> in terms of their protagonists, but this fact is by no means enough to say these two books have a similar plot.
Secondly, Braddon's story is plain and sometimes boring; the author is going on and on about the protagonist's thoughts, that are somewhat interesting but not enough to grab the reader's attention throughout the whole book. She—our protagonist—is literally daydreaming about her life, thinking of the possibility of living like her favorite characters in this or that novel, and even though I found some descriptions really compelling, most of them were repetitive and tedious, hence my disappointing experience.
Unlike <b>Madame Bovary</b>, <b>The Doctor's Wife</b> is not about adultery, but about falling in love with someone you can't be with. Basically the whole plot might be described as 'the story of two people who love each other but can't be together due to one of them is married to anyone else.' I must confess that I picked up this novel because I was expecting to find a love triangle, for instance, something in the style of Flaubert, Theodore Fontane (<b>L' Adultera</b>), or even Tolstoy (<b>Anna Karenina</b>), but unfortunately I just found a story where everything is happening in the characters' minds, so to speak. Besides, Braddon is digressing a lot form the main plot, for instance, she talks about the concept of a sensation novel, its characteristics, and even one minor character is a writer of sensation novels. In the beginning I was so confused about this character's explanations since the character was given some examples of how to write a good sensation novel, but alas!, it was not clearly understandable; then I wanted the author to stop rambling on this topic because at some point it was too much—that's why this book has about 450 pages, it's just too long for a simple story—however, I eventually loved the fact that Braddon is mentioning quite a few novels—from both the 18th century and the 19th century—as well as some authors, and also she is describing the typical 3-volume novels that many authors used to write during the Victorian era; this information is given to the reader through this character (the novelist) and our protagonist (don't forget she loves reading a lot). Ultimately, I ended up very much enjoying these digressions, perhaps even more than the main plot when this turned into repetitive descriptions.
It was funny that the author at the very beginning starts talking about the fact that the doctor, and future Isabel's husband, is usually <i>skipping the first few chapters of the great novelist's fictions [Walter Scott] in order to get at once to the action of the story</i> when that is what you, as a reader, really want to do while reading this novel. That being said, I can't deny that overall I did enjoy reading this story – since I find myself gravitating towards Victorian novels, I'll always be eager to read as many of them as I can, and therefore I'll end up enjoying their storyline, topics, characters, and whatnot. There will be exceptions though, but this is probably not one of them (or at least not one of the worst, as far as I can remember).
All in all, I would recommend this book if you love reading Victorian literature; otherwise, <b>The Doctor's Wife</b> won't be for you by any means. In the end I believe this reading is sort of skippable, but as I always say, it's up to you.
<i><b>And now the senna and camomile were to flavour all her life. She was no longer to enjoy that mystical double existence, those delicious glimpses of dreamland, which made up for all the dulness of the common world that surrounded her.</b></i>
<b>[2.5]</b> rounded up(?)
I remember my first time reading a novel by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, it was a short story called <b>The Christmas Hirelings</b>, a very sweet, uplifting, and wholesome story set on Christmas Day that was actually one of my best readings in December 2021. Also, the audiobook that you can find easily on Audible and is actually very well narrated by Richard Armitage was definitely the cherry on the cake. In short, I'd wholeheartedly recommend giving it a try, especially during this Christmas season that is just around the corner.
Unfortunately, <b>The Doctor's Wife</b> is a completely different scenario, perhaps not a terrible reading experience, but a novel that didn't live up to my expectations.
To begin with, according to its blurb, this novel is supposed to be a new version of <b>Madame Bovary</b> (Gustave Flaubert), where basically the 'essence' of that French classic should have been here, however, <b>The Doctor's Wife</b> has almost nothing to do with that Flaubert's novel and its storyline.
Perhaps only the fact that both Emma Bovary and Isabel Gilbert (the protagonist of this story) are very much into reading books and married to a rural doctor makes <b>The Doctor's Wife</b> be similar to <b>Madame Bovary</b> in terms of their protagonists, but this fact is by no means enough to say these two books have a similar plot.
Secondly, Braddon's story is plain and sometimes boring; the author is going on and on about the protagonist's thoughts, that are somewhat interesting but not enough to grab the reader's attention throughout the whole book. She—our protagonist—is literally daydreaming about her life, thinking of the possibility of living like her favorite characters in this or that novel, and even though I found some descriptions really compelling, most of them were repetitive and tedious, hence my disappointing experience.
Unlike <b>Madame Bovary</b>, <b>The Doctor's Wife</b> is not about adultery, but about falling in love with someone you can't be with. Basically the whole plot might be described as 'the story of two people who love each other but can't be together due to one of them is married to anyone else.' I must confess that I picked up this novel because I was expecting to find a love triangle, for instance, something in the style of Flaubert, Theodore Fontane (<b>L' Adultera</b>), or even Tolstoy (<b>Anna Karenina</b>), but unfortunately I just found a story where everything is happening in the characters' minds, so to speak. Besides, Braddon is digressing a lot form the main plot, for instance, she talks about the concept of a sensation novel, its characteristics, and even one minor character is a writer of sensation novels. In the beginning I was so confused about this character's explanations since the character was given some examples of how to write a good sensation novel, but alas!, it was not clearly understandable; then I wanted the author to stop rambling on this topic because at some point it was too much—that's why this book has about 450 pages, it's just too long for a simple story—however, I eventually loved the fact that Braddon is mentioning quite a few novels—from both the 18th century and the 19th century—as well as some authors, and also she is describing the typical 3-volume novels that many authors used to write during the Victorian era; this information is given to the reader through this character (the novelist) and our protagonist (don't forget she loves reading a lot). Ultimately, I ended up very much enjoying these digressions, perhaps even more than the main plot when this turned into repetitive descriptions.
It was funny that the author at the very beginning starts talking about the fact that the doctor, and future Isabel's husband, is usually <i>skipping the first few chapters of the great novelist's fictions [Walter Scott] in order to get at once to the action of the story</i> when that is what you, as a reader, really want to do while reading this novel. That being said, I can't deny that overall I did enjoy reading this story – since I find myself gravitating towards Victorian novels, I'll always be eager to read as many of them as I can, and therefore I'll end up enjoying their storyline, topics, characters, and whatnot. There will be exceptions though, but this is probably not one of them (or at least not one of the worst, as far as I can remember).
All in all, I would recommend this book if you love reading Victorian literature; otherwise, <b>The Doctor's Wife</b> won't be for you by any means. In the end I believe this reading is sort of skippable, but as I always say, it's up to you.
<i><b>And now the senna and camomile were to flavour all her life. She was no longer to enjoy that mystical double existence, those delicious glimpses of dreamland, which made up for all the dulness of the common world that surrounded her.</b></i>