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What Members Thought
If Wuthering Heights met Crime and Punishment ... in a damp place .... you would get this book.
This is just abject misery and putrescence and a little bit of monotony, all rolled up into a book. I liked the story, or the idea of the story, but the writing got pretty dull (even listening to the audio), and I can't say I particularly enjoyed the experience.
Some of the word choices are odd and off-putting, and I don't know if it's just archaic usage or the way Zola wrote or the fault of the transla ...more
This is just abject misery and putrescence and a little bit of monotony, all rolled up into a book. I liked the story, or the idea of the story, but the writing got pretty dull (even listening to the audio), and I can't say I particularly enjoyed the experience.
Some of the word choices are odd and off-putting, and I don't know if it's just archaic usage or the way Zola wrote or the fault of the transla ...more
Somehow Emile Zola is one of those classic authors that I've almost entirely missed. I saw that this one was one of the most famous and considered by some to be one of his best books, so it seemed as good a place to start as any other.
The book is great at building tension and an overall sense of dread. And it's almost shockingly racy and vivid in the details of the evils. Published in 1867, the book feels like its part of a conversation with Madame Bovary (1856). Interestingly, it also has overt ...more
The book is great at building tension and an overall sense of dread. And it's almost shockingly racy and vivid in the details of the evils. Published in 1867, the book feels like its part of a conversation with Madame Bovary (1856). Interestingly, it also has overt ...more
Jan 17, 2008
Anne
marked it as to-read
Jan 21, 2008
Debbie
marked it as to-read
Mar 10, 2009
Nicole Oswald
marked it as to-read
Jan 05, 2014
Amelia
marked it as to-read
Feb 27, 2015
Sarah
marked it as to-read
Jul 21, 2015
Adrienne
marked it as to-read
Dec 22, 2015
Sana
marked it as might-someday
Jun 29, 2018
Idit
marked it as to-read
Oct 25, 2021
Lucy
marked it as to-read
