A review by jay_the_hippie
L'Assommoir (The Dram Shop) by Émile Zola

4.0

Bleak bleak bleak, but in a good way. This is my first Zola novel (I know, right?), but I fully expect it won’t be my last. The events that befall a woman whose main failing is optimism are so pitiful. If she was just a little more of a cynic, she would not have kept assuming good motives in people or that the money situation would work out. Optimism smooshed under the wheels of reality seems to be what triggers most of her misfortune. Oh, you could say that it’s mainly the fault of other in her life, but she trusts them too much. You could say that she gives up, but that’s more a symptom than a root cause. Trust will destroy you is the main theme. And also alcohol. This should be assigned reading as part of an DARE program. Anyway, more Zola is for me because tragic (and “tragic”) stories make me so happy.