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grubstlodger 's review for:
Sentimental Education
by Gustave Flaubert
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;
“A man of theory, he respected only the masses and was merciless to individuals.”
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 hadn’t.
I was also shocked by the novel’s attitude to women. I’m 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 Frederic’s relationship veers into the romantic and they either hate or worship women - there’s a real madonna/whore complex in it.
Flaubert’s 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.
There’s 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 Flaubert’s description of the post-revolution, which could also easily describe Britain after Brexit.
“Hatred 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 ‘restore the principle of authority.”
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;
“A man of theory, he respected only the masses and was merciless to individuals.”
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 hadn’t.
I was also shocked by the novel’s attitude to women. I’m 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 Frederic’s relationship veers into the romantic and they either hate or worship women - there’s a real madonna/whore complex in it.
Flaubert’s 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.
There’s 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 Flaubert’s description of the post-revolution, which could also easily describe Britain after Brexit.
“Hatred 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 ‘restore the principle of authority.”