A review by musicdeepdive
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

People cry at the end of this book? Really? Never once did I get the sense that Emma is a sympathetic figure - Flaubert doesn't mock her per se, but he seems to want us to fear her, draw the reader into the same paranoia that consumes our central character throughout much of this narrative. In that sense, it takes the idea of the romance novel and perverts it, causing us to question our ideas of what it means to love, and whether devotion is as healthy as culture presents it as.