From the Bookshelf of Reading the Classics…

“But the denigration of those we love always detaches us from them in some degree. Never touch your idols: the gilding will stick to your fingers.”

A caged bird captured in marriage, discontented Madame Bovary dreams of opulence, sophistication and depth. Disillusioned by the tedium of provincial life and her dedicated yet simple-minded husband, she pursues an exquisite and unattainable love, achievable at any cost. Consumed with frustrated suffering, she turns to exaltation in the purchase o

“But the denigration of those we love always detaches us from them in some degree. Never touch your idols: the gilding will stick to your fingers.”

A caged bird captured in marriage, discontented Madame Bovary dreams of opulence, sophistication and depth. Disillusioned by the tedium of provincial life and her dedicated yet simple-minded husband, she pursues an exquisite and unattainable love, achievable at any cost. Consumed with frustrated suffering, she turns to exaltation in the purchase of lavish fabrics, yearning objects of desire, fantasising of spectacular socialite balls and escaping in romantic literature, sinking uncontrollably deeper into hedonistic narcissism.

Feeding the unsatisfied demands of her soul, she is dragged from objectification and submission to domination and religious repent as she buckles to the strength of reckless obsession. Chronicling her decline from naivety to corruption, she clutches at the tatters of a dwindling affair whilst her helpless spouse watches on, bewildered at her increasing erraticism.

An astute observation of compromised ideals, this book was difficult to read in parts. Characters are flawed, ambiguous and at times amoral, if measured against standards of conventional society. And yet oxymoronically, her stimulus is mere fulfilment; a portrayal of a woman seeking to control her destiny in an implicitly misogynous world. Written with decedent excellence, this is the ultimate expression of adultery, a loss of innocence and the descent of the fallen woman. Exploring the complexity of the ego and the contrary necessity of human attachment, the pungent novel reveals the conceded reality of our chaotic loves and lives.