Scan barcode
mchl_btt's review against another edition
5.0
È il 2012 e ti obbligano a leggere Madame Bovary.
Hai 16 anni e pensi che lei sia una stronza maledetta.
È il 2022 e rileggi Madame Bovary di tua sponte.
Hai 26 anni e forse Emma sei un po’ anche tu
Hai 16 anni e pensi che lei sia una stronza maledetta.
È il 2022 e rileggi Madame Bovary di tua sponte.
Hai 26 anni e forse Emma sei un po’ anche tu
fatima4reads's review against another edition
4.0
“It didn’t matter! She was not happy and never had been. Why was life so inadequate, why did the things she depended on turn immediately to dust? … Yet if somewhere there existed a strong, handsome being, with a valorous nature, at once exalted and refined, with the heart of a poet in the shape of an angel, a lyre with strings of brass, sounding elegiac epithalamiums to the heavens, then why mightn’t she, by chance, find him? Oh, how impossible! And anyway, nothing was worth the difficulty of such a search; everything was a lie! Every smile hid a yawn of boredom, every joy a malediction, every pleasure its own disgust, and the sweetest kisses left on your lips no more than a vain longing for a more sublime pleasure.”
I honestly can’t tell if I hate Emma Bovary or if I pity her.
I think at first I pitied her, then I hated her, then when she swallowed a handful of arsenic I went back to pitying her.
Emma really does live in her own mind, which she has filled with out of touch thoughts about the reality she lives in. She couldn’t be happy with herself no matter what she did, and even when she thought she was getting what she had always wanted, it was never enough for her, there was always something missing.
I was baffled by how she completely loathed Charles even though he was nothing but sweet to her, and she went on to cheat on him with not one, but two different men who did nothing but use her. In the end she not only ruined her own life, but her husband’s, and her little girl’s future, all for vanity.
Finally I just want to say that carriage scene is iconic.
I honestly can’t tell if I hate Emma Bovary or if I pity her.
I think at first I pitied her, then I hated her, then when she swallowed a handful of arsenic I went back to pitying her.
Emma really does live in her own mind, which she has filled with out of touch thoughts about the reality she lives in. She couldn’t be happy with herself no matter what she did, and even when she thought she was getting what she had always wanted, it was never enough for her, there was always something missing.
I was baffled by how she completely loathed Charles even though he was nothing but sweet to her, and she went on to cheat on him with not one, but two different men who did nothing but use her. In the end she not only ruined her own life, but her husband’s, and her little girl’s future, all for vanity.
Finally I just want to say that carriage scene is iconic.
liviethecat's review against another edition
4.5
wow . . consider this the most enjoyable classic ever. i love it so so so much.
tristansreadingmania's review against another edition
5.0
Madame Bovary, c'est nous tous.
Portrait of Madame X (1884), John Singer Sargent
Portrait of Madame X (1884), John Singer Sargent
dyno8426's review against another edition
3.0
Madame Bovary is a story of wretchedness and misery, and left me with many bittersweet thoughts. The book chronicles the degradation of a discontented and an avaricious lady who finds her marriage with her loving husband not exactly fitting according to the dreams painted by romantic novels and luscious drama. She resorts to infidelity and dishonesty as her only means of escape to the world she fanatasies about. She keeps collapsing into complications born from strings that bound her to reality. All through the novel she makes herself look foolish, selfish, greedy and utterly hopeless, turning into the tragedy affected antagonist that you loathe and pity at the same time for her miserable circumstances. The book powerfully presents the theme of greed and desires as the ultimate antithesis to a happy, satisfactory life. Her husband himself is presented as the happiness that was always within her reach, yet always far away, if only she had the wisdom and the conscience to reconcile with her reality. But I felt that there is a protagonist perspective as well. Madame Bovary is one of those exceptional stories that I have read so far where a woman's decisions and consequences are fully presented in an independent manner. The resolution to seek love when not found within the social construct of marriage and aspiring a chivalry which captivates her assertively without caring at all about others, solely for her own good, appears pretty feminist to me. For a moment, leaving ethics and conscience aside, I think true power and freedom lies in one's ability to make one's own decision, even if they go against the world, if you truly believe in that choice and its importance to you. And that is a source of happiness which is our protagonist also found, though it always kept fleeting away from her and landing her in a nomadic abyss. She cared about herself first before caring about anything else. There's certainly some wrong in that, which also makes it despicable. But isn't it the very essence of survival as well, the spirit to fight. Gustave Flaubert also shows even how the supposedly happy married life can be torturous for some. Happiness is subjective and its subjectivity is everyone's right as well. Her husband stayed a happy man, thinking he had a happy wife alongside her, making him selfish as well, isn't it? But this story is a symbol of how mutual happiness is first a function of individual happiness. While Madame Bovary's almost unreal pursuits gets really irritating at times due to her reckless desperation, but on restrospect, she turns out to be just another society bound human ruined by her weakness. Finally, several other side characters coherently lend support to the story's essential idea about how detestable us humans sometimes become in the pursuit of our ambitions. Some succeed, while others fail miserably. The unconventional, "moving on" kinda ending, really puts that idea into place.
All in all, this bittersweet classic will leave you feeling different at different points in your life I think. Mind you though that it gets less progressive at places; but to say it's just empty with words is an understatement, because there are plenty of beautiful phrases and poetic quotes. Reading through it will make this beauty stark to the reader, if they are willing. My only complaint is that at moments, there are quite some French details which break the English rhythm, but since it's a French translation after all, I think that ought to be pardoned. Merci!
All in all, this bittersweet classic will leave you feeling different at different points in your life I think. Mind you though that it gets less progressive at places; but to say it's just empty with words is an understatement, because there are plenty of beautiful phrases and poetic quotes. Reading through it will make this beauty stark to the reader, if they are willing. My only complaint is that at moments, there are quite some French details which break the English rhythm, but since it's a French translation after all, I think that ought to be pardoned. Merci!
afroditi86's review against another edition
2.0
I gave this book 2 stars not because it was badly written or uninteresting. In fact, I was impressed by Flaubert's story telling and the way he made his characters seem so real. However I could not stand Emma. I hated her with a deep rooted passion. She annoyed me so much I actually found it hard getting motivated to finish the book and now that I have I don't think I actually enjoyed it at all.
Emma did not have one good quality about her. She was a bad wife, a horrible mother, she didn't have any talents and if she did she did not care to cultivate them. She ruined her family financially and when time came for her to own up to all the mistakes she made, she took the easy way out.
She depended too much on men and thought that her only salvation from her dreadful life would be the love of a prince in shiny armour. Which I think is impossible since no one could ever love Emma as much as she loved herself.
I understand that maybe in days past Emma's story might have worked as a cautionary tale for young girls, but I just found it unbearable.
Emma did not have one good quality about her. She was a bad wife, a horrible mother, she didn't have any talents and if she did she did not care to cultivate them. She ruined her family financially and when time came for her to own up to all the mistakes she made, she took the easy way out.
She depended too much on men and thought that her only salvation from her dreadful life would be the love of a prince in shiny armour. Which I think is impossible since no one could ever love Emma as much as she loved herself.
I understand that maybe in days past Emma's story might have worked as a cautionary tale for young girls, but I just found it unbearable.
anouk_i's review against another edition
challenging
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
evgeorge's review against another edition
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
4.0