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Nana (Les Rougon-Macquart #9)

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 7,412 ratings · 200 reviews

One of the founders of literary naturalism, Émile Zola thought of his novels as a form of scientific research into the effects of heredity and environment. He created characters, gave them richly detailed histories, and placed them in carefully observed, precisely described environments, and his readers watch as they wriggle and thrash toward their inevitable destinies.

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Paperback, 473 pages

Published (first published 1880)

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Sep 20, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: france, une-femme-est-infame

Here's why Nana should never be made into a movie... (Too late. It already has been. Four times.) Emile Zola has created a character so preposterous that casting agents in every corner of the globe would be hard-pressed to locate an actress capable of making her believable. Now I am not claiming that a woman like Nana could not exist—because our world is certainly chock-full of the preposterous—but she would necessarily be so exceptional—such an astounding confluence of so many unlikely variable...more

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David Thanks, Traveller! I appreciate your comments. I do think that in Zola's time, however, the 'sexual woman' was probably even more prevalent than today...more
updated 8 de Sep 06:22

Traveller Thanks for understanding, David. :) It is only sometimes that novels invoke a reaction like this in me, but being able to evoke a negative feeling doe...more
updated 8 de Sep 07:43

Sep 18, 2012 Traveller rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Disclaimer: Whereas I usually try to be objective with my ratings and reviews, with this specific one, I allowed my gut to lead me.

I hated this novel for it's sanctimonious preaching and its rank offensively aggressive misogynism (or perhaps, as has been remarked, it is misanthropy, plain and simple? ..since both men and women are ripped to shreds by the sharp lash of Zola's ~~tongue~~ pen ).

The general milieu in the period of history that this novel is set in, was very unkind to the poor, so good...more

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Apr 19, 2013 Henry Avila rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In the year of the fabulous Paris World's Fair of 1867,Nana a prostitute, makes her debut also.On stage,in "The Blonde Venus",an operetta.That she can't dance, sing or act,and has a horrible voice, doesn't matter. Nana is beautiful and most important, has charisma.Monsieur Bordenave, the owner of the Opera House"Varietes",isn't worried,he tells his friends on Opening Night.And he was right.She becomes the symbol of the decadent French Second Empire, of Napoleon the Third. Her half naked stunning...more

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Jul 24, 2009 Lisa (OhThatLisa) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books

Wealthy halfwits are enslaved by the power of hooker Nana's magic vag; misogyny and self-destruction ensue, the upper classes are called out, there is lesbianism, people pimp their wives, someone feels guilty, someone feels angsty, Nana gets compared to like a dozen different kinds of animals, someone gets a nasty case of pustules, and it all ends up being a big political metaphor. I kind of hate French literature.

But I had to look up scrofulous and crapulous, so Zola gets four stars for forcin...more

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Aug 31, 2009 Jason rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I get it--Nana rose from a fetid pile of garbage and alighted arbitrarily on the upper crust of Parisian society, staining it.

I get it--Nana exposed the myriad faces of man's desires, disgracing them.

I get it--Nana digested men wholly and selfishly, wildly prostituting herself.

I get it, but only in the last couple hundred pages. I'm an ardent fan of Emile Zola, especially the 20 part Les Rougan-Macquart series. His writing is powerful. However, the first 200 pages of Nana was downright boring. T...more

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May 11, 2007 Bob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It started with my admission (principally to myself, though I placed it on my blog, which means principally to myself) that I didn't know the difference between realism and naturalism - still figuring it out, but I think naturalism means you don't have to have a plot.

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Nov 17, 2012 Bethan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: regular-fiction

I couldn't help but laugh. It just seems funny and crazy in a lampooning way. It's full of sex and the stupidity of people. The more it went on, the more I hoped that the vapid and well-meaning but fiscally and sexually voracious prostitute Nana of the title would screw everyone over, including herself. As she did, repeatedly. It's such a French romp. I mean, really. France produces 120 Days of Sodom, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Story of O.. and Nana.

"Nana shot through like a cloud of invadi

...more

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Jan 04, 2009 Mandy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Nana is one of the best characters in literature I believe, since she has all the flaws one looks for in ourselves despite being a courtesan. The book details beautifully the Haussmannisation in Paris and the emergence of prostitution as a result in the 19th century.

It was a fantastic read for me as I had just studied this period in art history and the details were all easy for me to understand.

What makes Nana so appealing is the fact that she goes from being a no one to being famous and gets ca...more

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Jun 24, 2008 Abailart rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Joy unlimited. A long, long time ago my kindly Headmaster recommended I broaden my reading prior to university, and gave me Germinal. I read it somewhat dutifully and marked as done, a knowledge of Zola. Now, man years later, I can read at last. And this book that has been staring from my shelf for years has bombed me out. Nana is a carbonated torrent of the most high speed and energetic writing I have come across. Decay, decadence, death, power, class, cruelty, the brilliant equation of the mus...more

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Aug 13, 2010 SJH (A Dream of Books) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, own

One of the things I like the most about Emile Zola novels is their gritty realism. Zola is never one to shy away from depicting the poverty, degradation or despair of his central characters. In 'Nana' he depicts the rise and fall of a young woman whose life is steered by the whims of the men around her. She rises from abject poverty to glow brightly as the star of Paris but she also burns out suddenly when things around her start to crumble. I docked this novel a point because I thought that the...more

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Jun 06, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, pernod-and-gauloises, pre-1900s, oxford-classics

Zola’s ninth instalment in the Rougon-Macquart cycle tells the tale of steely-hearted coquette Nana—part-time actress, part-time prostitute, full-time booty-shaking Venus mantrap. The first quarter of the novel is a bacchanalian romp through the Théâtre des Variétés demimonde, introducing Nana’s rolling revue of sexual partners and sugar daddies. After her semi-nude debut (where she shows off her ‘corncrake’ singing voice), she has all Paris’s men drooling at her calves. First she settles down w...more Zola’s ninth instalment in the Rougon-Macquart cycle tells the tale of steely-hearted coquette Nana—part-time actress, part-time prostitute, full-time booty-shaking Venus mantrap. The first quarter of the novel is a bacchanalian romp through the Théâtre des Variétés demimonde, introducing Nana’s rolling revue of sexual partners and sugar daddies. After her semi-nude debut (where she shows off her ‘corncrake’ singing voice), she has all Paris’s men drooling at her calves. First she settles down with the abusive comic actor Fontan who slaps her around and steals her lamb cutlets. Next she humours the doting teenager Georges before yielding to the tortured Count Muffat—a nobleman corrupted by sensual urges, willing to surrender his fortune to collapse into Nana’s arms. As fun as the decadent antics are, the novel is festooned with exhaustive room-to-room descriptions (more so than the overcooked Ladies’ Paradise), which is common for Zola, but far too many pages are bogged down in tedious, prolix passages. Like this mouthful:

The velvet drapes, flesh-coloured like the tea-rose pink sky on fine evenings when Venus is gleaming against the soft glow of the setting sun on the horizon, were dotted with the bright stars of silver buttons, while the barley-sugar gilt mouldings descending from each corner and the gold lace round the central panels seemed like darting flames, tresses of red hair floating loose, half-veiling the stark simplicity of the room and emphasizing its voluptuous cool tints. (p.400)

I know. I also found the novel lacking focus, flitting from character to character in a very distracting way, making it hard to lock on to the story (Nana’s moral corruption as moralising metaphor) or sink your teeth into Nana as a fully-rounded filly out for our hatred or sympathy. The characters’ behaviour is more ludicrously OTT than in other Zola novels (where OTT is a philosophy, but he’s really pushing it here, esp. with Muffat). The central flaw in Nana—her charms are never properly delineated. By Zola’s account, she is chubby, broad-hipped and whorish. To have all Paris’s men begging at her feet, she’d need to be much more than a pretty face with a tongue like a New York cabbie. Still, this novel offers a change from the po-faced social realism of his other famous works. A closing limerick:

Little Count Muffat sat on his tuffet
praying his soul to stay
along came that Nana
as quick as mañana
and sent him to hell that day
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Apr 24, 2009 Manny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, french

You've heard of The Hooker With A Heart Of Gold? Well, this is the other kind.

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Feb 06, 2012 Boots rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century-fiction

this is the only Zola book i have read twice (and only because it was assigned in college). and since it's been twenty years since my first read, i thought i should, in fairness, read it again as i work my way through the Rougon-Macquart series.

i probably enjoyed it as much the second time as i did the first. i don't think there's much to it beyond the metaphor of the golden fly, but it's entertaining anyway and moves along quickly. i don't have any sympathy whatsoever for the character of Nana...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Smcleish rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

Originally published on my blog here in February 2002.

Because of its film versions (which are considerably toned down) and its controversial subject matter, Nana is Zola's best known novel. One of his series Les Rougon-Macquart, which together amounts to a study of heredity, Nana is the story of a prostitute in Paris just before the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

The portrait painted of this part of Parisian society is neither cheerful nor romanticised (as it was, for example, in Dumas' Dame aux C ...more Originally published on my blog here in February 2002.

Because of its film versions (which are considerably toned down) and its controversial subject matter, Nana is Zola's best known novel. One of his series Les Rougon-Macquart, which together amounts to a study of heredity, Nana is the story of a prostitute in Paris just before the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

The portrait painted of this part of Parisian society is neither cheerful nor romanticised (as it was, for example, in Dumas' Dame aux Camélias about thirty years earlier). Nana herself, who was a child character in L'Assommoir, has nothing going for her except beauty; she is stupid, vulgar, greedy, vain and capricious, a product of the worst slums of the city. She at least has the excuse that she is the inevitable result of her background, but the remainder of Zola's characters are no more pleasant. The members of high society are hedonistic hypocrites who are rushing headlong to their downfall (the Prussian invasion being given a moral dimension by the author). In the meantime, they are oblivious to the suffering they cause and to the mental and physical consequences of their actions, not to mention the degrading nature of the pleasures they seek. (Even though venereal diseases are not mentioned, their corruption is indirectly part of the novel, particularly towards the end.) Even the church is involved (in a depiction controversial at the time), waiting to garner those crumbs not wasted, rushing Nana's lover Count Muffat off the moment he repents and shows signs of wanting to return to the fold.

Zola's writing was extremely shocking in its day, with its strong emphasis on the unpleasant and unglamourous side of life; parts of Nana are still not an enjoyable read and it is unrelentingly bleak. The underbelly of nineteenth century life was a theme for several of its authors, notably Charles Dickens in English, but Zola differs from the others in at least two ways. As I have already implied, his self-publicised emphasis on "realism" basically meant that the details of life over which a veil had previously been drawn now became the centre of attention. He is much more uninhibited than earlier authors. (His claim that his writing is more realistic is actually not quite true.) The other difference is that writers like Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell were trying to change things; they wrote to campaign. Zola exaggerated society's ills for other reasons, for an artistic purpose, for the fascination of the exercise. (This is one reason why the novels are set a decades or so in the past rather than in the present favoured by the English writers mentioned above.)(less)

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Jun 16, 2012 Brian Bess rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the first of Emile Zola’s novels that I have read and, while I have read much by Balzac as well as other major 19th century authors such as Flaubert and Hugo, there were certain aspects that were disorienting that those other authors generally lack.
The central character is a well-paid and kept courtesan, Nana, who has a brief but notorious success in the theater. She prefigures contemporary celebrities that somehow become famous for being famous and often sustain their notoriety on their...more This is the first of Emile Zola’s novels that I have read and, while I have read much by Balzac as well as other major 19th century authors such as Flaubert and Hugo, there were certain aspects that were disorienting that those other authors generally lack.
The central character is a well-paid and kept courtesan, Nana, who has a brief but notorious success in the theater. She prefigures contemporary celebrities that somehow become famous for being famous and often sustain their notoriety on their undeniable sexual appeal. Nana certainly has that. She is promiscuous and proud of it. She indulges an appetite and when she is satisfied she indulges another. She also has a natural habit of leaving a curse on all of her partners. One commits suicide, another falls into financial ruin, another is a convicted thief and so on. All these men pay an enormous price for falling under the spell of Nana. Ultimately, Nana’s compulsion to consume and spit out takes its self-destructive toll on her as she succumbs to a miserable death from smallpox.
The disorienting qualities of the novel I referred to earlier arise from Zola’s narrative method. If this were a film, the camera would be swooping and dollying in multiple directions and zooming in to an interchange with one character that I don’t know, then to another one that I don’t know and on to several others. The cast is simply too vast and there are very few that are identifiable beyond occupations—journalist, moneylender, theater owner, soldier, banker. It took 200 pages for me to distinguish between two characters with similar names—Mignon and Muffat. The females are equally indistinguishable. Are most of them, like Nana, simply prostitutes that have come up in the world by beguiling wealthier ‘patrons’?
There are brilliant passages in the novel and I usually felt I was on secure footing when I was observing Nana and understanding her motives as the primary character. With few other exceptions, most of the other characters were never clearly delineated.
Like Balzac, Zola devised a master plan carrying through subsequent novels that in many cases revisit characters from previous ones. Nana herself appears in one of the earlier novels in the Rougon-Macquart novels as a little girl from an impoverished family who begins her life on the streets at a very early age. At the beginning of Nana she is only seventeen and already has a young son. With Balzac, however, I almost always know who the characters are within a few pages and have to do very little cross referencing. Same with Dickens. Zola comes highly recommended by many people whom I respect. I have immense admiration of his ambition, as I do for his predecessor Balzac. I will definitely read more of him. However, I can only offer qualified praise for Nana.
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Jun 11, 2012 Linda Leven rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: NO ONE

I must disagree with all the previous reviews. I found this book to be one of Zola's most tedious and tiresome. Of course. I am a Trollope lover, and maybe that is what accounts for my dissenting opinion. I will not go through the story. That has been told. I found the book crammed with scenes of large crowds -- at the dinners and salons, at the theatre, at the racetrack-- dozens of miscellaneous characters chattering away, frivolous conversations of meaningless nonsense. And most of these chara...more

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May 31, 2011 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature, french-original

For those who like time travel, not to a virtual time someone makes up, but to a real one such as Paris in the 1870’s, those who want vivid, detailed, and realistic imagery, minimal moralization, or those who want to sample “naturalist” or “scientific” literature, Nana is a perfect specimen.

Here we follow a first-rate Parisian courtesan into her home, every room, including the bathroom, to see her clients, what they do, talk about, eat, and how much money changes hands, what her room maid, cook...more

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May 28, 2011 Steve Lindahl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nana has one of the worst beginnings of any novel I've read recently, but I ended up liking it very much.

The story starts at a theater where a new production of The Blond Venus is having its opening night. Nana has the lead. She's an actress who has received a great deal of publicity, but has not been seen be the general public. Zola uses this situation to build suspense while presenting all of the book's minor characters. It's the all I have problems with. The opening chapter bounces around fro...more

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Mar 21, 2012 Alexandra Sullivan rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm not sure this book is supposed to be an inspiration, but it inspired me in a way. I love the idea of a woman born of poverty taking her revenge on the aristocracy by robbing them of their money and luxurious way of life, and leaving them broken and enfeebled. There's an air of class warfare involved, and it's only right that those accustomed to an excessive way of life will find their downfall through their excess. It is mentioned several times that Nana cares nothing for money, not really....more

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Nov 27, 2012 Lett' rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

http://letteraturaa.wordpress.com/201...

Je vous vois déjà arriver avec vos préjugés sur les classiques qui sont “chiant” à lire et trop lourd, mais là, ce ne fut pas du tout le cas ! Du moins, pas autant que les autres romans d’Emile Zola. Quand à l’histoire, comme tout les Zola, j’ai adoré !!! Ce fut donc un presque coup de cœur classique !

En effet, je vous disais que l’écriture n’était pas autant lourde que les autres livres de Zola, c’est vrai, même très vrai. En effet, les descriptions perde...more http://letteraturaa.wordpress.com/201...

Je vous vois déjà arriver avec vos préjugés sur les classiques qui sont “chiant” à lire et trop lourd, mais là, ce ne fut pas du tout le cas ! Du moins, pas autant que les autres romans d’Emile Zola. Quand à l’histoire, comme tout les Zola, j’ai adoré !!! Ce fut donc un presque coup de cœur classique !

En effet, je vous disais que l’écriture n’était pas autant lourde que les autres livres de Zola, c’est vrai, même très vrai. En effet, les descriptions perdent de leur lourdeur pour devenir essentiel pour pouvoir découvrir les lieux présentés, et sinon, le reste étant de l’action, on se délecte de cette écriture de qualité. Vous l’aurez compris, j’ai adoré l’écriture qui se trouve parfois un peu trop description, mais bon, c’est tout à fait normal, c’est le genre du siècle, donc je suis satisfait d’avoir encore plus apprécier cette écriture que ses textes lus précédemment.

Par la suite, on découvre NANA ! C’est le personnage tant attendu dès le début et qu’on découvrira par la suite petit à petit. D’ailleurs, j’ai grandement apprécié le début et la façon dont l’auteur a fait entré Nana dans l’histoire. On découvre donc une actrice qui n’est pas très vertueuse, en effet, elle couche avec beaucoup d’hommes mais ça ne nous empêche pas de l’apprécier, parce qu’on sait qu’elle n’est pas méchante, même si par la suite elle se dégrade d’un point de vue, personnellement j’était très attaché à elle et donc, je ne l’ai pas jugé surtout en comprenant ses actes. D’ailleurs, j’aimerais aussi dire qu’elle est la fille de Gervaise et Copeau dans L’Assommoir, ça fait plaisir de voir qu’il y a une continuité dans son œuvre. Au final, profiteuse, calculatrice, mais c’est une “bonne fille” Nana !

Sinon, on a ici une ambiance complètement différente…ici, on est face à des bourgeois qui n’ont pour ainsi dire pas de pudeur, ils ont tous des amants, ce sont tous des hypocrites, obnubilés par l’argent et l’argent, ils se critiquent tous entre eux… C’est donc dans une ambiance super tendu chaleureuse en apparence mais doublé de tension derrière que l’on évolue avec Nana. Et on se rend compte que Nana, c’est juste pas ça, elle fait tout pour mettre à ses pieds toute cette bourgeoisie qu’elle méprise.

Le thème est super intéressant ! Après les ouvriers (L’Assommoir) et les minier (Germinal), Nana est beaucoup moins imposant mais il montre bien ce milieu social pervertis ou tout le monde couche avec tout le monde où Nana utilisera les règles de la bourgeoisie pour la mettre à son pied. L’histoire de Nana est vraiment intéressante, on apprend ses motivations petit à petit, puisque tout ne nous est pas donné tout de suite.

J’ai vraiment adoré découvrir cette bourgeoisie pourri se soumettre à une femme NANA qui n’en veut pas vraiment… c’est vraiment fascinant de voir à quel point nous les hommes sommes prêt à faire pour un peu de plaisir. Avec la cruauté de Zola, le destin de ces hommes faibles se révèlent assez horrible, et c’est bien ça que j’aime chez ses écrits, il est cruel mais réaliste et ainsi, ça rend la chose encore pire.

NANA aurait pu être pour ma part un des meilleurs Zola, mais la fin est bien trop triste, mais bien trop réaliste à la façon de l’auteur que je ne me suis pas plu dans ça. J’aurais préféré une fin plus heureuse, mais il faut dire que ce n’est pas vraiment son genre. Mais en soit, la fin est très réussi, elle montre aussi bien plus de choses ainsi. Je ne voulais pas que Nana, si forte, si puissante se retrouve ainsi…comme sa mère si je peux dire !

Donc, au final j’ai adoré malgré une fin un peu trop triste puisque l’ambiance du roman et la force de caractère de Nana ne nous y préparait pas mais vraiment pas du tout. C’est une fin réaliste qui m’a quelque peu déplu, mais dans l’ensemble, j’ai adoré !!!(less)

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Jan 13, 2013 Maria Pallozzi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Non posso farci niente, i romanzi francesi riescono sempre a scaldarmi il cuore.
Emile Zola questa volta mi ha proposto Nanà, sapevo vagamente di cosa lo scrittore mi avrebbe narrato ma non pensavo fino a che punto fosse capace di farlo. Zola descrive una Parigi consumata dal vizio dove la donna virtuosa e nobile è corrotta quanto la prostituta che si ferma di fronte ai caffè affollati alla ricerca di un buon cliente. Forse il falso perbenismo rende l'accompagnatrice un po' più nobile e la gran s...more Non posso farci niente, i romanzi francesi riescono sempre a scaldarmi il cuore.
Emile Zola questa volta mi ha proposto Nanà, sapevo vagamente di cosa lo scrittore mi avrebbe narrato ma non pensavo fino a che punto fosse capace di farlo. Zola descrive una Parigi consumata dal vizio dove la donna virtuosa e nobile è corrotta quanto la prostituta che si ferma di fronte ai caffè affollati alla ricerca di un buon cliente. Forse il falso perbenismo rende l'accompagnatrice un po' più nobile e la gran signora una puttana.
Gli uomini sono dei porci, tutti irrimediabilmente stupidi e incapaci di resistere al desiderio di possedere, e sono pure ciechi: nessuno è capace di vedere nella forza sessuale della protagonista la profondità della fossa in cui saranno sprofondati aprendole le braccia.
Sembra un romanzo misogino descritto così, invece non lo è.
Non credevo potessi affezionarmi a una donna tanto sciocca e frivola come Nanà tuttavia direi che dopo averla disprezzata (come d'altronde tutte le attrici e le contesse e le cameriere della storia) ho imparato ad apprezzarne l'intelligenza, e la vena di follia romantica che la animava. Una Madame Bovary meno schizzinosa e tragica, capace di prendersi in giro e di farla a ricchi e poveri, una donna di mondo pronta a far fruttare la sua sola ricchezza: un'estrema carica sessuale, un maremoto che travolge l'intera Parigi. In un articolo viene paragonata a una mosca che vola sull'immondizia e contagia e appesta e ammorba chiunque incontri sulla via. Nanà è questo e come tutte le cose che fanno male è la dipendenza di ogni uomo e donna parigina: un'attrice che non sa recitare ma ha curve più eloquenti di qualsiasi monologo, una padrona di casa un po' sbronza e melodrammatica che dà feste che pagheranno i suoi corteggiatori, una ventenne annoiata che impara che si concede più per noia che per profitto prima, poi per dimostrare di essere libera, poi per ricordarsi di essere viva, o per far del male a chi la ama, o per spremere chi non la amava e che poi l'amerà. Nanà è una parabola che sale fino al podio e poi si getta a capofitto verso la morte, è la scelta della vita nella sua accezione più squallida e il ripudio della morte.
Non credo sia un racconto misogino, e nemmeno un romanzo attempato, io lo ritengo attualissimo.
4 stelline e mezzo.
Ah, e comunque: il tema non sarà la guerra nè il mal di vivere nè la crisi economica, ma il lessico è stupendo, i personaggi hanno un carisma incredibile, mi sono sembrati reali, animati da passioni e sentimenti, insomma provate a leggerlo e poi fatemi sapere se non vi affezionate.
Solo un po' l'ultimo capitolo mi è parso un po' frettoloso, ma quelle pagine forse sono state inevitabili.
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Oct 26, 2010 Theresa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Fantastic story about wealth, indulgence, sexuality and society. It's what you would expect from Zola, naturalism; super dark, a little disgusting and completely enchanting. The text is dense and the descriptions meander (to be mild). If you like Hawthorne or Melville or Dickens you'll like this.

I think Nana might be my new unhealthy, kind-of-terrible-but-I-love-her-anyway, feminist, literary hero...

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Nov 18, 2009 Judith rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't know if I gave this book a fair shake because it was so annoying I had to stop reading it after 50 pages or so. All the women were described as "sluts" and "whores". All the men were drooling boors. And the author's tone seemed to be one of a madly gesticulating Frenchman flippantly dismissing various sexual escapades as if to say, "ah yes, sex is so boring. but what else is there to talk about?"

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Feb 23, 2012 Marija rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

One of Zola’s main objectives for writing was to describe people, places and events true to nature as they exist in real life—documented in writing with a scientific precision. Zola has certainly achieved this through his characterization of Nana. Even if you take away Nana’s profession, she is a character that transcends time. You could easily find her amidst the in crowd of any high school—the kind of girl who would have dozens of followers about her; and yet no matter how many times she “inno...more One of Zola’s main objectives for writing was to describe people, places and events true to nature as they exist in real life—documented in writing with a scientific precision. Zola has certainly achieved this through his characterization of Nana. Even if you take away Nana’s profession, she is a character that transcends time. You could easily find her amidst the in crowd of any high school—the kind of girl who would have dozens of followers about her; and yet no matter how many times she “innocently” manages to trash their lives, she would still have those same followers crawling back to her, begging her for forgiveness.  

This book is a mess! I don’t think I’ve ever come across a character I despised more. At times, I truly felt badly for those men who fell into Nana’s poisonous clutches, especially the Hugon boys and even Count Muffat and Steiner. I could even empathize with them when it came to their gift giving—watching Nana toss their gifts away like pieces of trash, or watching her break them immediately upon opening. But as the novel progresses, whatever positive feelings you might have had for these characters, seemingly dwindles away, upon the realization that these boys and men are knowingly and willingly crossing a line in terms of behavior—an addiction they don’t want to overcome. For me, watching these characters become more and more immeshed in Nana’s web, essentially wasting away physically, emotionally and monetarily becomes increasingly difficult and upsetting.

However, Zola does create the perfect balance when he wrote that absolutely wonderfully macabre and ironic ending—the juxtaposition of that room, the ladies, the men and those celebratory shouts of the Parisians for the coming Franco-Prussian war. Yet amazingly, even though the ending on a surface level may seem overly dramatic—a typical Romantic style of ending—Zola manages to maintain his cool, scientifically precise tone that’s true to his design.
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Jun 22, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Zola is an author who can entrance you one moment and then slip in a line about the death of a major character which zings the support out from under you the next. He is descriptive and brutally honest about the ugliness of reality. He has no sympathy for his characters, sparing them nothing. He is equally willing to bless and to murder. And he is magnetic in his ability to storytell. All of his stories have some sort of political, social, philosophical, or historical statement to make through e...more

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Oct 16, 2010 emily rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Wolfie

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 14, 2010 Joanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was so outrages in parts, it was hard for me to believe it was written in the 19th century.
Lots of detailed descriptions, which fits with it being a realistic novel.
Nana is one of those heroines, who has many faults, and who conducts herself very badly most of the time, but you still can't help liking her. A poor, young woman in a man's world who managed to conquer a little corner for herself by using those rich men who put her (and her family) down in the first place.
The book ends dr...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Graham rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century, literature

A terrific story. NANA starts off slow and slightly confusing, introducing pretty much the entire cast over the course of a couple of chapters and leaving the reader reeling and trying to keep. As the novel progresses, though, it becomes more and more involving, the pace increases and the momentum builds until the last 100 pages leave you feeling breathless. It's like a rolling stone descending a hill before dropping off a precipice, perhaps not delivering the gut punch of GERMINAL but it certai...more

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Feb 14, 2013 Ioannis Savvas rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: Γάλλοι-λογοτέχνες

Η Νανά δεν είναι μια κοινή πόρνη. Είναι μια κοκότα πολυτελείας, που καταστρέφει άντρες, φυσικά (αυτοκτονούν για χάρη της), χρηματικά, ηθικά, συνειδησιακά. Γνωρίζει τη δύναμη της σάρκας της και την εκμεταλλεύεται στο έπακρο. Μπαίνει στην υψηλή κοινωνία της Γαλλίας με το «έτσι θέλω» και την κατακτάει. Μια κοινωνία βέβαια σάπια. Κάποια στιγμή, μέσα στη ματαιότητα της ζωής της αρχίζει να φοβάται το θάνατο. Όχι τον ίδιο, αλλά την καταστροφή της ομορφιάς της που αυτός θα επιφέρει. Και η ζωή της τελειώ...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Wosny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: french-classics

This was an impressive book. The heroine, Nana, is an actress at the Varietés, who has achieved fame because of her sensual voluptuousness, and we are drawn to her childish good nature. However she is very young (somewhere between 15 and 18...) and already has a son, she has worked the streets and made her way up to being kept by a rich lover.
Nana is a survivor, she reminds me of Becky Sharpe from Vanity Fair, but without Becky's intellect. I think this book shows very clearly how difficult and...more

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About Émile Zola

Émile Zola was an influential French novelist, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France.

More than half of Zola's novels were part of a set of 20 books collectively known as Les Rougon-Macquart. Unlike Balzac who in the midst of his literary career resynthesized his work into La Comédie Humaine, Zola from the start...more Émile Zola was an influential French novelist, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France.

More than half of Zola's novels were part of a set of 20 books collectively known as Les Rougon-Macquart. Unlike Balzac who in the midst of his literary career resynthesized his work into La Comédie Humaine, Zola from the start at the age of 28 had thought of the complete layout of the series. Set in France's Second Empire, the series traces the "environmental" influences of violence, alcohol and prostitution which became more prevalent during the second wave of the Industrial Revolution. The series examines two branches of a family: the respectable (that is, legitimate) Rougons and the disreputable (illegitimate) Macquarts for five generations.

As he described his plans for the series, "I want to portray, at the outset of a century of liberty and truth, a family that cannot restrain itself in its rush to possess all the good things that progress is making available and is derailed by its own momentum, the fatal convulsions that accompany the birth of a new world."

Although Zola and Cézanne were friends from childhood, they broke in later life over Zola's fictionalized depiction of Cézanne and the Bohemian life of painters in his novel L'Œuvre (The Masterpiece, 1886).

From 1877 with the publication of l'Assommoir, Émile Zola became wealthy, he was better paid than Victor Hugo, for example. He became a figurehead among the literary bourgeoisie and organized cultural dinners with Guy de Maupassant, Joris-Karl Huysmans and other writers at his luxurious villa in Medan near Paris after 1880. Germinal in 1885, then the three 'cities', Lourdes in 1894, Rome in 1896 and Paris in 1897, established Zola as a successful author.

The self-proclaimed leader of French naturalism, Zola's works inspired operas such as those of Gustave Charpentier, notably Louise in the 1890s. His works, inspired by the concepts of heredity (Claude Bernard), social manichaeism and idealistic socialism, resonate with those of Nadar, Manet and subsequently Flaubert.

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More about Émile Zola...

Books by Émile Zola

L'Assommoir (The Dram Shop) (Les Rougon-Macquart, #7)

La Bête humaine (Les Rougon-Macquart, #17)

The Ladies' Paradise (Les Rougon-Macquart, #11)

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Quotes from Nana

“All of a sudden, in the good-natured child, the woman stood revealed, a disturbing woman with all the impulsive madness of her sex, opening the gates of the unknown world of desire. Nana was still smiling, but with the deadly smile of a man-eater.” — 2 people liked it

“He [Muffat] experienced a sense of pleasure mingled with remorse, the sort of pleasure peculiar to those Catholics whom the fear of hell spurs on to commit sin.” — 1 person liked it

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Nana (Les Rougon-Macquart #9)

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