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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
challenging
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As I read this I could not help but see the comparison between Flabert's work and Dostoevsky's "The Idiot". It is very obvious that Dostoevsky read "Sentimental Ed" while he was voyaging through France and Germany. The plots are very similar. The main difference being the Prince in "The Idiot" is really an idiot as defined by late 19th Century psychology. More likely high functioning autistic / aspergers as defined today. But, Frederic is really a mid 19th Century rich, family money, playboy who can't make a bloody decision. Multiple times through out this work I find myself screaming at the work, "Grow some balls you dam fool!!! Make a bloody decision!!! Don't take the worst decision which is no decision!!!! How stupid can you be." Yea, OK yelling at a novel is dumb, but Frederic will drive any one who made decisions as a part of his/her every days work absolutely to distraction. And yet even with this "Sentimental Ed" is a wonderful work.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-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
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Exhausting.š©
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Flaubert writes with his usual skills - he is a sharp observer of character and quite probably the best chooser of the telling detail.
There are some absolutely wonderful setpieces in this book: alling in love at first sight, of horse-racing, the aftermath of a party. There is also the compelling portrayal of the revolutions of 1848 as well as the best description of a traffic jam I have ever read - and this one with horses and carriages. It admirably captures the hypnotic nature of the wheels, the nosiness and sluggishness and the individual horse riders nipping through like cyclists.
He is as good at describing people as individuals as he is as a group. Who has not met someone who could be described as;
āA man of theory, he respected only the masses and was merciless to individuals.ā
All of that, and as much as I admired the book and found things in it as good as any other writing, I could not utterly enjoy it as I did 'Bovary'.
The storyline drifted a little, and the cohesion seemed to lack. Maybe it was the translation but it often felt like I had skipped a page or important part when I hadnāt.
I was also shocked by the novelās attitude to women. Iām amazed that an author who wrote such an involving and real character as Emma Bovary can show such misogyny as he does in this book. Delauriers and Fredericās relationship veers into the romantic and they either hate or worship women - thereās a real madonna/whore complex in it.
Flaubertās knack for finding the telling detail can also count against him, such as the scene where the dead baby has his portrait painted - a scene that made me feel disgusted.
Thereās also the fact that a book on the inevitable mediocrity of growing older was probably not the best book to be reading around my birthday.
These are big flaws, but I would have to agree that it is a completely brilliantly described novel, if a little weak in conception.
Finally, here is a bit of perceptive Flaubertās description of the post-revolution, which could also easily describe Britain after Brexit.
āHatred abounded: hatred of primary school teachers and wine merchants, of philosophy classes and history lectures, of novels, red waistcoats, and long beards, of any kind of independence, any display of originality; for it was necessary to ārestore the principle of authority.ā
There are some absolutely wonderful setpieces in this book: alling in love at first sight, of horse-racing, the aftermath of a party. There is also the compelling portrayal of the revolutions of 1848 as well as the best description of a traffic jam I have ever read - and this one with horses and carriages. It admirably captures the hypnotic nature of the wheels, the nosiness and sluggishness and the individual horse riders nipping through like cyclists.
He is as good at describing people as individuals as he is as a group. Who has not met someone who could be described as;
āA man of theory, he respected only the masses and was merciless to individuals.ā
All of that, and as much as I admired the book and found things in it as good as any other writing, I could not utterly enjoy it as I did 'Bovary'.
The storyline drifted a little, and the cohesion seemed to lack. Maybe it was the translation but it often felt like I had skipped a page or important part when I hadnāt.
I was also shocked by the novelās attitude to women. Iām amazed that an author who wrote such an involving and real character as Emma Bovary can show such misogyny as he does in this book. Delauriers and Fredericās relationship veers into the romantic and they either hate or worship women - thereās a real madonna/whore complex in it.
Flaubertās knack for finding the telling detail can also count against him, such as the scene where the dead baby has his portrait painted - a scene that made me feel disgusted.
Thereās also the fact that a book on the inevitable mediocrity of growing older was probably not the best book to be reading around my birthday.
These are big flaws, but I would have to agree that it is a completely brilliantly described novel, if a little weak in conception.
Finally, here is a bit of perceptive Flaubertās description of the post-revolution, which could also easily describe Britain after Brexit.
āHatred abounded: hatred of primary school teachers and wine merchants, of philosophy classes and history lectures, of novels, red waistcoats, and long beards, of any kind of independence, any display of originality; for it was necessary to ārestore the principle of authority.ā