A review by jgwc54e5
The Bright Side of Life by Émile Zola

5.0

I went to bed late last night because I had to finish this book. The final chapters are incredible particularly the birth scene (it must be noted the free Vizetelly translations reduce all the pages of detail to a short paragraph that omits all the pain, anatomy and bodily fluids), it’s so intense and then the ending …. so upsetting. The contrast set up in this novel is between Pauline and Lazare. Pauline, so good, she’s tries to see the best in people, is kind to those around her, overlooks the fact her relatives are wasting her money, overlooks the misery and degradation of the poor to care for them, nurses her uncle through his gout when no one else can cope with his pain; accepts Lazare, the man she loves is in love with another and so much more. She tries to be happy and find good in everything while all around her seem to wallow in the opposite. Lazare is world weary and negative. He can’t stick to any job or study, he stuffs up every opportunity handed to him, he’s bored and constantly thinking about death (except when a nearby house is burning down, his fear disappears and he is the one to enter and rescue a child). And then the relentless sea is a constant presence bearing down on the Normandy town of Bonneville.