A review by lezreadalot
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

3.0

Mais le dénigrement de ceux que nous aimons toujours nous en détache quelque peu. Il ne faut pas toucher aux idoles : la dorure en reste aux mains.

Okay so I didn't love this. I actually probably liked it less than when I read it originally for school, years and years ago. I get the themes and what it's trying to say, but I don't care about the plot at all. But jeez, Flaubert could write. And now I'm in the era of my life where I can appreciate it! I'm so sad that I don't care about the goings-on and the adultery and the bad decisions and the financial ruin and whatever, because the language of this novel is so very lush and beautiful. I want to eat it. I mostly listened to the audiobook for this in English, and sometimes I'd follow along with my French copy, and it was literally so sublime. I spaced out because of boredom sometimes, but I honestly wouldn't mind reading this a third time, just for the language. And I have to give huge kudos to the translation too, which (imo) keeps all of the precision and beauty of the original.

(I haven't mentioned the plot but I assume I don't need to. It's about Emma Bovary fucking around and finding out. All of the morality stuff left me deeply unmoved, and I know we're supposed to give classics a ~pass~ for all the racism and antisemitism but it needs to be said: yikes!)

Listened to the audiobook as read by Juliet Stevenson; my favourite voice for classics. I might try L'éducation sentimentale next; I just want to experience more of Flaubert's writing.

Mais un infini de passions peut tenir dans une minute, comme une foule dans un petit espace.