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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Empecé a leer [b:El loro de Flaubert|530807|El loro de Flaubert|Julian Barnes|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1339612616l/530807._SY75_.jpg|1414912] porque me llamó la atención y siempre me apetece leer a Barnes (y porque la alternativa es ponerme en serio con [b:Oathbringer|34002132|Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3)|Brandon Sanderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1654573897l/34002132._SY75_.jpg|23840254] y cualquier cosa me tienta más) para caer en la cuenta de que NUNCA HE LEÍDO NADA de Flaubert y que quizá una biografía novelada como la que propone Barnes me deje un poco indiferente y hasta me arruine la posibilidad de disfrutar de sus libros. Descartado [b:Madame Bovary|2175|Madame Bovary|Gustave Flaubert|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1606770119l/2175._SY75_.jpg|2766347] por obvio me decidí por éste que, si bien tenía pinta de novelota de amores, por lo menos hacía gala de tratar la Revolución de 1848. Vale, no hay guillotinas ni Pimpinelas pero por lo menos habrá barricadas y tiroteos como en [b:Les Miserables|36377471|Les Miserables|Victor Hugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1509394980l/36377471._SY75_.jpg|3208463] (si, ya se que esa es otra; la Revolución de los Miserables siempre es otra). Finalmente, la Revolución dista mucho de ser pivotal en el libro y se queda en un mero transfondo al que se asiste en la distancia o por los periódicos. De hecho el protagonista se las arregla para irse de fin de semana rural durante el apogeo de la revuelta.
Elegido el libro por las razones equivocadas tengo que confesar que me ha gustado (gracias, Sanderson, si no fuera por ti no veo que hubiese disfrutado igual) a pesar de que es, sin duda, la antítesis de lo que busco yo en un libro.
Es la historia de la juventud y madurez de una persona, Frederic, insufrible, inane, irresoluto y egoista. Un niñato malcriado de la burguesía de mitad del diecinueve que vive una vida de disipación y ocio en el País de la Restauración, encaprichado de una mujer casada a la que en realidad no conoce, seducido por todos los vicios de la libertina sociedad parisina min llegar a hacer nada de provecho, dejandose estafar, y defraudando a sus amigos y conocidos, tan egoistas y tarambanas como él.
Una cotidianeidad abrumadora, plagada de detalles y de minucias rodea la vida desaprovecha da de este señorito de provincias con aspiraciones y creo que en ella radica el atractivo de este libro. No es moral, no es romántico, no hay héroes ni villanos. Solo hay personas más o menos mezquinas viviendo vidas burguesas mientras los grandes acontecimientos y cambios sociales ocurren a su alrededor. Salvando las distancias, uno reconoce La Vida con mayúsculas.
Al parecer Henry James declaró que le había aburrido este libro. Yo que solo conozco su obra por la soporífera adaptación de [b:Las Bostonianas|11325299|Las Bostonianas|Henry James|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1304881978l/11325299._SY75_.jpg|1189794] diría que buenos huevos tiene pero que no me parece imposible. A mi me ha fascinado un poco como te fascina un grano con pus y me he quedado con las ganas de darle un par de tortas a Frederic por gilipollas.
Elegido el libro por las razones equivocadas tengo que confesar que me ha gustado (gracias, Sanderson, si no fuera por ti no veo que hubiese disfrutado igual) a pesar de que es, sin duda, la antítesis de lo que busco yo en un libro.
Es la historia de la juventud y madurez de una persona, Frederic, insufrible, inane, irresoluto y egoista. Un niñato malcriado de la burguesía de mitad del diecinueve que vive una vida de disipación y ocio en el País de la Restauración, encaprichado de una mujer casada a la que en realidad no conoce, seducido por todos los vicios de la libertina sociedad parisina min llegar a hacer nada de provecho, dejandose estafar, y defraudando a sus amigos y conocidos, tan egoistas y tarambanas como él.
Una cotidianeidad abrumadora, plagada de detalles y de minucias rodea la vida desaprovecha da de este señorito de provincias con aspiraciones y creo que en ella radica el atractivo de este libro. No es moral, no es romántico, no hay héroes ni villanos. Solo hay personas más o menos mezquinas viviendo vidas burguesas mientras los grandes acontecimientos y cambios sociales ocurren a su alrededor. Salvando las distancias, uno reconoce La Vida con mayúsculas.
Al parecer Henry James declaró que le había aburrido este libro. Yo que solo conozco su obra por la soporífera adaptación de [b:Las Bostonianas|11325299|Las Bostonianas|Henry James|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1304881978l/11325299._SY75_.jpg|1189794] diría que buenos huevos tiene pero que no me parece imposible. A mi me ha fascinado un poco como te fascina un grano con pus y me he quedado con las ganas de darle un par de tortas a Frederic por gilipollas.
Okay, not Flaubert at his best, but it is a marvelous send up of the artist as a young dilettante. What was our young hero doing in the middle of a revolution? Lusting after women. Looking for the perfect beauty. How we waste our youth!
Ce livre parle de Frédéric, un héritier qui souhaite mener la grande vie à Paris, il fréquente quelques femmes. On suit dans le même temps la destitution de la monarchie pour instaurer la deuxième république. Bref j'ai bien aimé les deux dernières pages ...
Voici comment Wikipedia explique le malaise que l'on ressent en lisant ce livre :
Voici comment Wikipedia explique le malaise que l'on ressent en lisant ce livre :
L'Éducation sentimentale se distingue par une structure qui procède volontiers par parataxe. Flaubert ne se soucie pas de lier entre elles et de façon logique les différentes scènes du roman : il se contente de les juxtaposer à l'image d'une mosaïque.
Et Proust dit :
L’Éducation sentimentale est un long rapport de toute une vie, sans que les personnages prennent pour ainsi dire une part active à l'action.
Que pouvait donc faire Regimbart ? Frédéric l’attendait, perdu dans une détresse illimitée.
– C’est un soir que vous m’avez baisé le poignet entre le gant et la manchette. Je me suis
dit : « Mais il m’aime, il m’aime !... » J’avais peur de m’en assurer, cependant. Votre réserve était si charmante, que j’en jouissais comme d’un hommage involontaire et continu.
Il ne regretta rien. Ses souffrances d’autrefois étaient payées.
reflective
slow-paced
This was a difficult read. I picked it up because Madame Bovary is one of my most favorite novels, and I enjoyed Flaubert's descriptive writing. However, whether because it was a more political novel (though with a focus on illicit affairs, believe me), I was slightly disappointed that there wasn't as much powerful, delicate imagery in this book. Perhaps because it was Flaubert's first novel, although he didn't quite finish it until the end of his life. Who knows.
It was mostly hard to read because Frederic is just so damn unlikeable. He serves as a cautionary tale - he's someone who let desire and lust completely overtake his like. His fixations lead him straight to unhappiness in his love life and in his business affairs. He never was quite focused on any one goal, be it woman or political position. Such a flighty man - honestly at the end I was actively hating him, and glad that he never achieved his great passion.
It's worth the read if you are interested in French politics of the time, but as a love story it falls short. If you're looking for a slightly confusing cautionary tale however, this book is it.
It was mostly hard to read because Frederic is just so damn unlikeable. He serves as a cautionary tale - he's someone who let desire and lust completely overtake his like. His fixations lead him straight to unhappiness in his love life and in his business affairs. He never was quite focused on any one goal, be it woman or political position. Such a flighty man - honestly at the end I was actively hating him, and glad that he never achieved his great passion.
It's worth the read if you are interested in French politics of the time, but as a love story it falls short. If you're looking for a slightly confusing cautionary tale however, this book is it.
naturally, after reading Madame Bovary, i needed to read more Flaubert.. Sentimental Education, at 500 pages, is nearly double the pleasure of Madame Bovary.. i was attracted immediately to the nearly plot-less story and the circulatory everyday life of its main character, Frederic, over a period of years.. years in which he never matures, squanders his fortune on unrequited love and never does get that education..
Flaubert always wanted to write "a novel about nothing" and he would have succeeded with this one if he had tried a little harder or had shaved off a few pages.. ha ha.. but i'm glad that he didn't and that he used so many pages to say so little.. all the while dazzling the reader with rich details and carefully assembled words (who else can paint an entire human being in just one sentence?).. Flaubert reads like a polaroid picture - an instant visual impression is left with the reader.. and it is the reader who is left with the education.. from history (french revolution of 1848 along with fully detailed trends at the time in furniture, food, clothing and the like) to the ways of society (with a sharply focused eye particularly on the baseness and pettiness of human relations) and finally, running throughout the 500 pages, the experience of human failure..
as with many of my favorite books, i hated to end this one.. i wish it would go on and on..
Flaubert always wanted to write "a novel about nothing" and he would have succeeded with this one if he had tried a little harder or had shaved off a few pages.. ha ha.. but i'm glad that he didn't and that he used so many pages to say so little.. all the while dazzling the reader with rich details and carefully assembled words (who else can paint an entire human being in just one sentence?).. Flaubert reads like a polaroid picture - an instant visual impression is left with the reader.. and it is the reader who is left with the education.. from history (french revolution of 1848 along with fully detailed trends at the time in furniture, food, clothing and the like) to the ways of society (with a sharply focused eye particularly on the baseness and pettiness of human relations) and finally, running throughout the 500 pages, the experience of human failure..
as with many of my favorite books, i hated to end this one.. i wish it would go on and on..
Meandering and tedious. For a book with "education" in its title, the truly unlike able protagonist changes remarkably little over its course, and few of the other characters do either, leaving me annoyed by the reappearance of each one. They're as hard to believe as they are to like--it feels like Flaubert used them as dummies to set up and knock down in the place of whoever it was from his youth for which he held grudges. Compared with Madame Bovary, which I remember devouring when I read it twelve years ago, this book offered characters that to me seem med neither very real nor very interesting. Henry James's dismissal that it was like "masticating ashes and sawdust" captures my reading experience: there was little flavour or intellectual nourishment for me here. Though I could see a clear example of the excesses in realism against which modernists were reacting. Too often the excess of writing, which I presume Flaubert felt brought him closer to capturing the reality of the situation described, alienated me from the scene's emotional core and essence. There are a lot of long lists in this novel and few of them succeed in bringing to mind resonant images or lasting emotions. Given how much I enjoyed Bovary, I'm a little shocked, but a lot of factors enter into one's enjoyment of a novel. Perhaps twelve years from now I'll return to this and read it with different eyes, but for the moment it felt largely like a waste of time that I hoped would go someplace further than it did.
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An impossibly rich anthropological novel; a history unto itself. Looking forward to coming back to this one.