A review by travelsalongmybookshelf
The Dream by Émile Zola

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Well, this was an odd one. The Dream is the 5th book in my read of the Rougon Maquart cycle, Zola’s series of 20 novels, although it was the 16th in the order they were written.

This is the least Zola like novel I’ve read so far. The link to the rest of the series feels a bit tenuous. Angelique Rougon is the daughter of Sidonie Rougon and there the link ends! She is found penniless and alone in the snowy porch of a cathedral by Hubert and Hubertine and becomes a talented embroideress. She is innocent and lives in a fairytale dreamworld of the book she reads called the golden legend. She wants to fall in love with her Prince and live happily ever after. She meets a young man called Felicien, and they fall in love, it transpires he is loaded and effectively a prince but their marriage is blocked by his father, the monseigneur of the cathedral and Hubertine. It’s all a little odd, Angelique wastes away and after a miracle recovers to marry Felicien, only to die at the end 😱

It is full of fairytale imagery, everything is bathed in a white hue, miracles occur and I got to the end thinking I’m not quite sure what I’ve read! I enjoyed it, it was different, a little like a one off episode of your favourite series featuring only one or two characters. It was lighter, kinder and the characters for all the dreaming were in fact more 3 dimensional than in previous books. I dare say we’ll be back to the grasping full on Rougons in the next book which is The Conquest Of Plassans, but for now this was a pleasant interlude.