From the Bookshelf of The Year of Reading Proust…

Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert,

Lydia Davis (Translator)

Start date: October 1, 2012

Finish date: October 28, 2012

Discussion: Preliminary Reading

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Preliminary Reading

Edmund White's "Proust"
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What Members Thought

May 08, 2012 David rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, france

Never touch your idols: the gilding will stick to your fingers.
There is something eternal about the plight of Emma Bovary. She is a foolish woman, she is insipid and shallow, she is material, and shrouds herself in her illusions about love just as she shrouds herself in pricey dresses and wraps. But, she is never quite unrealistic, her absurdities are, to a degree, universal, and so whether we read Madame Bovary as a comedy or a tragedy largely depends on the moment and our present sentiment ...more

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Oct 12, 2012 Jane Massy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Emma is infuriating, tragic, self deluding and somehow I felt sympathy. I wonder how much one is influenced at the age you read it. And of course, at this stage in the journey in equality for women and in an era of living life in a fantasy world (hello) means that as a women today it's hard to feel much except fury at her silliness and at the same time sympathise with the impossibility of her achieving her romantic fantasies in a world where women have no rights except those awarded to them by t ...more

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Jan 02, 2012 Nick rated it really liked it · review of another edition

True, the dumb bitch Bovary annoyed me (who shall henceforth be referred to as Bo-Bo). However, I did feel had for Charles. At first I didn't understand why the book started out with him, since the titular character is in fact the Madame, but I get it now. What made it truly enjoyable were the parallels Flaubert establishes without shoving it down your throat: the pharmacist versus the priest, the Homais versus Charles, try considering the book more of a comedy, and I think you'll find it much ...more

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