A review by mercedes
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Madame Bovary is perhaps the most controversial book I've read of late, scandalous at the time of release and still a point of debate nowadays, albeit for different reasons. Despite the harsh reviews and rating it receives, I found the novel simply fascinating.

(Spoilers below!)

One of the most common criticisms I've seen is precisely the reason I was so captivated by the story—that Emma Bovary has a comfortable life, a devoted husband and loving child, and she detests them both. She isn't a nice or agreeable person, she has no valid reason to hate her spouse, she hates him solely because he is dull, because their life isn't reminiscent of the sentimental romance books she reads. He worships her, never wants to leave her side when she becomes unwell, and has all the patience of a saint. Every so often she tries to commit to the loving housewife act, and quickly grows tired of it, pushing herself further into despair. Eventually she's drawn to more extreme methods of regaining any amount of happiness, and is tempted into affairs, while at the same time spending all of her husband's money on clothes and furniture for the house, anything to satiate her gluttony and imitate the high society life she dreamed of.

I think the most distinct aspect of Emma's downfall was her unrealistic ways of romanticising a life she couldn't ever lead and in overly relying on these dreamlike ideas as if they were fact. We see this first early on, before and directly after she marries Charles Bovary. Because married life with Charles isn't exactly what her idea of marriage is, it's almost immediately ruined in her mind.
We see similar things happen in her affairs, the initial excitement and infatuation which then falls back into the mundanity she despairs of when the lust dies down. Romance means nothing in Madame Bovary, because Emma is only happy in her relationships when sex is the core aspect—and vice versa for her partners. Once the novelty of Emma's sexuality wears off, and the men can see her selfish demands more clearly, they turn to cowardice and run away. Although Emma goes through the motions of this multiple times, she remains naive—because it doesn't suit her romanticisations... which eventually leads to her horrific suicide. Believing that she'll drop off to sleep and die peacefully, like the heroines in books she's read, Emma eats a handful of arsenic, and then spends the next day slowly dying in agony. Time and time again, she puts herself and her family through terrible situations because of how unrealistically she perceives bourgeois life.


I thought this book was incredibly interesting and I don't think people should be put off by the low ratings or of the fact it's primarily about infidelity. I don't like the topic of infidelity much in fiction but I didn't find this uncomfortable to read about at all. 

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