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jamichalski 's review for:
Madame Bovary
by Gustave Flaubert
After having thought about this one a bit more, while Madame Bovary is a great work, I think it was just not a great fit for me when I read it.
As everyone says, the sentence construction is exquisite, and I really like Flaubert’s tactic of matching the prose style to the events of the narrative and the characters’ thoughts (e.g., flowery in romantic moments, quick in dramatic ones, and languid in moments of boredom). Plus it’s clear that the novel has a huge amount of historical importance (as a major father figure in the lineage of realistic fiction). And, of course, Madame Bovary’s character encapsulates so well that romantic drive for further passion, the sense that something better than what you have is always out there, and the harsh reality of the actual in opposition to your ideal. That was all good stuff, really impressive even.
Basically, though, I wanted more development of both the characters and the story. I know, it’s realism, and real life isn’t full of plot twists and epiphanies. Maybe then I just don’t like something so strictly realistic. The characters were who they were (yes, much like ourselves) and they remained trapped in their cycles of suffering. Honestly, that biggest point of character development I saw was Charles Bovary’s utter misery after the death of his wife. Everyone else was more or less static upon reaching adulthood. And similarly with the story, it was easy to guess that Madame Bovary would make the same sort of mistakes over and over throughout the novel, never really learning her lesson, and that is exactly what happened. I will admit that I was caught off guard and impressed by Flaubert‘s description of the death scene—what horror! And I know, this isn’t a whodunnit, and a book isn’t a puzzle that you have to solve, but a little unpredictability is something I like in a book.
Maybe someday I’ll warm up to realism, and I’ll look back at this review and think that I totally missed the point of why Madame Bovary is so great. I think that’s feasible. But for right now, this isn’t really the kind of book I want to read. That said, I’m still impressed enough by the writing to give it four stars.
As everyone says, the sentence construction is exquisite, and I really like Flaubert’s tactic of matching the prose style to the events of the narrative and the characters’ thoughts (e.g., flowery in romantic moments, quick in dramatic ones, and languid in moments of boredom). Plus it’s clear that the novel has a huge amount of historical importance (as a major father figure in the lineage of realistic fiction). And, of course, Madame Bovary’s character encapsulates so well that romantic drive for further passion, the sense that something better than what you have is always out there, and the harsh reality of the actual in opposition to your ideal. That was all good stuff, really impressive even.
Basically, though, I wanted more development of both the characters and the story. I know, it’s realism, and real life isn’t full of plot twists and epiphanies. Maybe then I just don’t like something so strictly realistic. The characters were who they were (yes, much like ourselves) and they remained trapped in their cycles of suffering. Honestly, that biggest point of character development I saw was Charles Bovary’s utter misery after the death of his wife. Everyone else was more or less static upon reaching adulthood. And similarly with the story, it was easy to guess that Madame Bovary would make the same sort of mistakes over and over throughout the novel, never really learning her lesson, and that is exactly what happened. I will admit that I was caught off guard and impressed by Flaubert‘s description of the death scene—what horror! And I know, this isn’t a whodunnit, and a book isn’t a puzzle that you have to solve, but a little unpredictability is something I like in a book.
Maybe someday I’ll warm up to realism, and I’ll look back at this review and think that I totally missed the point of why Madame Bovary is so great. I think that’s feasible. But for right now, this isn’t really the kind of book I want to read. That said, I’m still impressed enough by the writing to give it four stars.