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A review by anunusedmoniker
L'Assommoir by Émile Zola
3.0
This took me almost all year to read.. A large part of it is because I hate this edition. I hate the format, the kerning, the way the yellowed pages make it even harder to read the overly tight lines of small font.
It kind of fits though, since I hate the setting and the characters. The villain is crushing poverty and alcoholism and how filth collects on the floor after you've been unable to bring yourself to clean it. The characters disappoint you like you know they will and it's heartbreaking.
I hate Zola, for having money to write these stories and document the poverty of the working poor, and protecting his readers from exactly none of the its horrors, while making the book long enough that those horrors seep into your very soul.
I hate the audience and rules of the time, who decided that this novel was offensive because of how and in what order the poor characters cling together in an attempt to find any sort of comfort, and not the way in which they're destroyed.
Mostly I hate this because it's an accurate depiction of humanity and how our systems of wealth force the life out of people. Which is good for a couple of stars on the ol' star-o-meter.
But seriously, find a better copy to read. Book is already depressing enough without burning your eyes out.
It kind of fits though, since I hate the setting and the characters. The villain is crushing poverty and alcoholism and how filth collects on the floor after you've been unable to bring yourself to clean it. The characters disappoint you like you know they will and it's heartbreaking.
I hate Zola, for having money to write these stories and document the poverty of the working poor, and protecting his readers from exactly none of the its horrors, while making the book long enough that those horrors seep into your very soul.
I hate the audience and rules of the time, who decided that this novel was offensive because of how and in what order the poor characters cling together in an attempt to find any sort of comfort, and not the way in which they're destroyed.
Mostly I hate this because it's an accurate depiction of humanity and how our systems of wealth force the life out of people. Which is good for a couple of stars on the ol' star-o-meter.
But seriously, find a better copy to read. Book is already depressing enough without burning your eyes out.