jenmcmaynes 's review for:

Nana by Émile Zola

4.0

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If you’re looking for a detailed, subtle character study, Nana is not it. However, if you’re looking for a pulsing portrait of the life and times of a Parisian courtesan, wow! It delivers. Zola paints a picture over and over again of the locales (the theater, the race track, a sumptuous mansion) and life of pleasure seeking nobility. The metaphors are not subtle, and the actions often unbelievable, but the imagery and the world he is condemning just leap off the page. I have more thoughts, but need to think on them more. Two thumbs up, though.