Thérèse Raquin in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 17, 2012 Steve rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: pulp, crime-mystery-noir, fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Therese Raquin is not a very good novel. It does, however, have some very interesting parts. If you are a fan of noir fiction, you will easily pick up on some classic elements of the genre: two loser-lovers, a weak and whiney husband, a cast of additional characters that you also don’t like, and an increasingly oppressive atmosphere that blinks No Exit.

For the first half of the book, all these elements mix nicely (or nastily). Therese Raquin, who is part north African, is, as a child, abandone ...more

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Oct 04, 2016 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: wouldnt-normally-read, f-ed-up, oh-unlikeable-you, women-on-the-edge, audio, classic, era-victorian, 1001-books, psych-psych-psych

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

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Feb 03, 2009 Suvi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: _france, _book-shelf, novels, cities_paris, _favorites, 1800s

"There was fear deep down in their hearts. Their desires shuddered. They were leaning on each other, in a way, as though above an abyss whose horror enticed them; they hunched together over their existence, clinging on speechless while a searingly voluptuous vertigo made their limbs droop and gave them a crazed sensation of falling."

Le Figaro described this as "putrid". I know they meant it as a negative, but it's a perfect description and wouldn't deter me. The Vintage cover is such a great ...more

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Feb 21, 2019 Karen rated it liked it

Shelves: travel-the-world, 1001, travel-2019

2.5 stars really. Luckily this book was short. I didn't love the book, although the writing was fine. I found that I couldn't connect with the story or the characters. I decided to read this first before I stepped my toe into his Rougons-Macquart cycle. ...more

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Sep 07, 2013 Kent Winward rated it liked it

This 19th Century tome reminded me a little of Crime and Punishment without Fyodor Dostoyevsky's much more intricate delving into the mind of a murderer. This played out more like a morality play -- Zola's realism is feeling its age. ...more

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