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A review by jgwc54e5
Pot Luck by Émile Zola
5.0
Octave Mouret arrives in Paris and moves into a new building in Paris. This book felt a natural follow on from [b:Nana|448908|Nana|Émile Zola|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1628108329l/448908._SY75_.jpg|89633]. In this novel it’s the bourgeoisie and their hypocrisies being exposed. The concierge constantly overlooks the obvious scandalous behaviours of the well off ‘what did not concern him did not concern him’ while attacking the working class boarders (the poor boot stitchers story is tragic) and the servants. It’s shocking, yet entertaining with almost no likeable characters and as the story finishes it comes full circle “Then Octave had the strange feeling that it was all beginning anew. His two years in the Rue de Choiseul were like a blank. There sat his wife, smiling at him, yet no change had come into his life; today was the same as yesterday, with neither pause nor stop.”
The church doesn’t escape “For a moment Father Mauduit stood alone in the middle of the empty drawing-room. Through the wide-open door he watched the throng of guests and, as though vanquished, smiled as once more he threw the cloak of religion over this corrupt bourgeois society, as if he were some master of ceremonies, veiling the canker in an attempt to delay the final moment of decomposition.”
Octave’s story continues in [b:The Ladies' Paradise|20252337|The Ladies' Paradise|Émile Zola|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1430645926l/20252337._SY75_.jpg|1540214]
The church doesn’t escape “For a moment Father Mauduit stood alone in the middle of the empty drawing-room. Through the wide-open door he watched the throng of guests and, as though vanquished, smiled as once more he threw the cloak of religion over this corrupt bourgeois society, as if he were some master of ceremonies, veiling the canker in an attempt to delay the final moment of decomposition.”
Octave’s story continues in [b:The Ladies' Paradise|20252337|The Ladies' Paradise|Émile Zola|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1430645926l/20252337._SY75_.jpg|1540214]