Madame Bovary in Around the World in 80 Books

Nov 01, 2010 SarahC rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: france, 19th-century

The emotions rendered by a novel not only make the novel challenging, but, I believe now, make it difficult to write a review of the novel. I do see why Madame Bovary is known as a heavy-hitter in literature. It is a unequivocal portrait of life and individual self-absorption that is very recognizable and quite timeless. There are many things to like about this book. The narrative framework is beautiful, so that this intense story of Emma Bovary builds at a good pace and the story unfolds rather The emotions rendered by a novel not only make the novel challenging, but, I believe now, make it difficult to write a review of the novel. I do see why Madame Bovary is known as a heavy-hitter in literature. It is a unequivocal portrait of life and individual self-absorption that is very recognizable and quite timeless. There are many things to like about this book. The narrative framework is beautiful, so that this intense story of Emma Bovary builds at a good pace and the story unfolds rather than being sprung upon you in a sensational manner. The reader first learns some things about the elder Bovary’s and about Emma’s background as well. Much is found within the back stories, but especially that of parents on both sides crossing the line to see that their children succeed and marry well.

Of course, the Flaubert’s setting of provincial France is depicted to invoke many thoughts on how the characters lived. The atmosphere, the way people made a living, the way they dealt with the boredom of rural surroundings, and the existence of narrow thought are well written. And within the smaller life there, Flaubert writes more of ambition among the characters who surround Emma Bovary. The town pharmacist acts outside the law to practice medicine. He coerces the less savvy Charles Bovary, a health officer of the state, into dangerous medical practices, so that these rural men may be on the cutting edge of something!

Emma Bovary herself proves the most astounding portrait in this novel that has no heroes, but is, instead, a gradual story of the pain and destruction of living within ourselves and our own obsessions. She is a woman railing within the confines of provincial society and the restrictions of women of the era. As a reader, I asked, “who or what is the true villain of the story”? And Emma can never answer that question herself either. She is a self-absorbed creature. She is a chilling creation actually, and she fails to triumph or even begin to fight to find one fine moment to be truly living and in community with life in some way. ...more

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