kiriamarin's review against another edition
4.0
Este obra é uma das melhores da serie dos Rougon- Mcquart do Zola,deixando os ares urbanos e trazendo um drama rural espetacular em retratos humanos em seu apice de perfidia,ganancia animalesca, que movem suas vidas e atitudes por puro instinto de sobrevivencia,tal qual as antigas e primeiras civilizacoes ,vivem uma batalha sangrenta e barbara pela terra,nâo importando laços de sangue ou moralidade.
Esqueça o mito do bom campones,ignorante porem docil ,que Tolstoy traz em algumas das suas obras ou o idilio campestre,lugar de descanso em contraponto a vida citadina, aqui a vida é turbulenta e grosseira .Ainda mais quando a terra é dividida entre uma grande familia ,onde todos são praticamente vizinhas,está pronto o inferno na terra. O intruso neste casulo familiar è Jean Mcquart, irmão da pobre Gervaise,outra personagem protagonista de 'A taberna' , tambem um pobre soldado que abre e fecha a narrativa desta estoria,que busca a tal serenidade rural e se insere no meio destas familia enorme :Os Fouan.
Uma passagem no livro que que sumariza a questao da terra e as constantes tensoes entre burgueses,nobres e plebeus é quando Jean faz a leitura em voz alta pra a familia Fouan de The Misfortunes and Triumphs de Jacques Bohomme',um panfleto ficticio mas baseado em um real pessoa nestas guerras por terras desde a era medieval ate a epoca bonapartista,onde os camponeses sempre levaram a pior na divisao de terras,com fome e morte acompanhadas. Os Fouan são geracoes de familias que cresceram e morreram por essa terra,de lavrar,colher,seu orgulho e sobrevivencia,sua independencia de servos desde a revolucao.
Esta obra podemos ver o extremo do naturalismo de Zola, de uma vaca parindo um bezerro em paralelo a um parto de um bebe indesejado, de incestos familiares,personagens alcoolatras e dominados por paixoes vulgares e boas familias hipocritas que escondem seus negocios sujos...Não hã felicidade ou pessoas boas aqui,apenas como sempre uma brilhante descricao de vidas do interior agricola frances por Zola,que nao poupa o leitore muito menos os seus personagens do pessimismo de viver e morrer por algumas moedas.
Entre tantos personagens fascinantes destaco a tia Mariannne Fouan 'La grande',que já coloco na minha lista de 'mulheres más' favoritas. a unica pessoa que posso dizer que teve alguma satisfacao do inicio ao fim desta estoria,com sua peculiar egotistica e mesquinha personalidade.
Uma grande obra.
Esqueça o mito do bom campones,ignorante porem docil ,que Tolstoy traz em algumas das suas obras ou o idilio campestre,lugar de descanso em contraponto a vida citadina, aqui a vida é turbulenta e grosseira .Ainda mais quando a terra é dividida entre uma grande familia ,onde todos são praticamente vizinhas,está pronto o inferno na terra. O intruso neste casulo familiar è Jean Mcquart, irmão da pobre Gervaise,outra personagem protagonista de 'A taberna' , tambem um pobre soldado que abre e fecha a narrativa desta estoria,que busca a tal serenidade rural e se insere no meio destas familia enorme :Os Fouan.
Uma passagem no livro que que sumariza a questao da terra e as constantes tensoes entre burgueses,nobres e plebeus é quando Jean faz a leitura em voz alta pra a familia Fouan de The Misfortunes and Triumphs de Jacques Bohomme',um panfleto ficticio mas baseado em um real pessoa nestas guerras por terras desde a era medieval ate a epoca bonapartista,onde os camponeses sempre levaram a pior na divisao de terras,com fome e morte acompanhadas. Os Fouan são geracoes de familias que cresceram e morreram por essa terra,de lavrar,colher,seu orgulho e sobrevivencia,sua independencia de servos desde a revolucao.
Esta obra podemos ver o extremo do naturalismo de Zola, de uma vaca parindo um bezerro em paralelo a um parto de um bebe indesejado, de incestos familiares,personagens alcoolatras e dominados por paixoes vulgares e boas familias hipocritas que escondem seus negocios sujos...Não hã felicidade ou pessoas boas aqui,apenas como sempre uma brilhante descricao de vidas do interior agricola frances por Zola,que nao poupa o leitore muito menos os seus personagens do pessimismo de viver e morrer por algumas moedas.
Entre tantos personagens fascinantes destaco a tia Mariannne Fouan 'La grande',que já coloco na minha lista de 'mulheres más' favoritas. a unica pessoa que posso dizer que teve alguma satisfacao do inicio ao fim desta estoria,com sua peculiar egotistica e mesquinha personalidade.
Uma grande obra.
browngirlreading's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The end of this book made me mad as hell!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Incest
This book may not be for many. I thoroughly enjoyed it until the end.alukemartin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
la_dent_dure's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
borealis85's review against another edition
4.0
Jean from the [b:The Debacle|19216733|The Debacle (Classics)|Émile Zola|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386278798s/19216733.jpg|3522286] is in this book between the war in italy and the campaign described in the "debacle".
So vivid, so many characters... so much bitter realism..
The earth is a huge work in quality, even considered by Zola his best. Jean after the War comes with his army buddy Buteau to the country side and in the next 10 years there is a whole lot of going on in the Family of Fouan in which Jean ultimately marries in to and gets bitterly disappointed. I am giving this 4.5 stars, I would have given it five if it would have had a happy ending. Now i am bitterly confused and disgusted with humankind. Adding to that is the fact that i already know that Jean is not going to have the happiest of times in the "Debacle" either.
So vivid, so many characters... so much bitter realism..
The earth is a huge work in quality, even considered by Zola his best. Jean after the War comes with his army buddy Buteau to the country side and in the next 10 years there is a whole lot of going on in the Family of Fouan in which Jean ultimately marries in to and gets bitterly disappointed. I am giving this 4.5 stars, I would have given it five if it would have had a happy ending. Now i am bitterly confused and disgusted with humankind. Adding to that is the fact that i already know that Jean is not going to have the happiest of times in the "Debacle" either.
thornback_heich's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
La Terre is a captivating and terrifying novel of Emile Zola's, the true essence of naturalism. The atrocities of humans are cruelly depicted in this intricately crafted story and everything feels as if the incident has taken place somewhere in reality. Zola's writing, modest yet infinitely descriptive, launch numerous political debates and critics of peasant life. La Terre raises the ultimate question of how far humans can go to achieve wealth.
blueyorkie's review against another edition
5.0
Another uppercut in the total groin: Zola is in great shape. I believe a true masterpiece: The Earth, at least the one that speaks to me the most among Rougon-Macquart!
As always, old Émile has well documented, and one has almost the impression of feeling the land of Beauce under our nose. Here is an excellent tonic and documentary novel, as was the author's intention in writing the cycle of Rougon-Macquart. This tome is one of the four or five best in the sequence, if not a little better, which is saying a lot. Here, Jean Macquart (Gervaise's brother in the Assommoir), hired by the big operator of the area and mayor of the village, Hourdequin, is desperately trying to introduce new farming techniques and faces his refractory workforce.
The Fouan family is the other big pole of the book. It is reminiscent of the original Rougon-Macquart family (see La Fortune des Rougon ) with its many flaws and vices. First is the heritage of old Fouan, where we do not know who is the most stingy and the readiest to bleed his family, between the father and the children. His young son, Buteau, is a paragon of avarice, greed, brutality and harshness (well, it's true, do not look too nuanced here at Zola).
Despite Zola's resolutely polemic turn to his rural fresco, I found all the flaws and the mentality of the peasant world I encountered in my travels on literature in the early twentieth century. Of course, no baseness of this world will be spared but is it not a vision, certainly disillusioned. Indeed a slight caricature, magnified or condensed but primarily suitable, relevant, of the human in the broad sense?
Emile Zola shows us our species stripped of its frail shell of "good manners", this varnish of civilisation; it shows us rough, rough, gruff, but without fuss, a little as if you had direct access to what think those who made us smile on the surface. So I leave you to read and dig up rotten bulbs of which we are a bit prepared.
I award a Special Mention for the character of "the great", old Fouan's sister, a real old wicked woman who takes pleasure in sowing discord. (the role of "the old woman harmful" is a classic Zola and returns in many of his novels, would he have accounts to settle on that side?) and discord within his family while being as loving as an extensive dry stone.
I give another Special Mention to the "Jesus Christ" character, the eldest son of the old Fouan, a chronic alcoholic who is determined never to work, an exceptional pyromaniac who offers the author the opportunity to sign a hilarious chapter (part four, chapter 3).
As always, old Émile has well documented, and one has almost the impression of feeling the land of Beauce under our nose. Here is an excellent tonic and documentary novel, as was the author's intention in writing the cycle of Rougon-Macquart. This tome is one of the four or five best in the sequence, if not a little better, which is saying a lot. Here, Jean Macquart (Gervaise's brother in the Assommoir), hired by the big operator of the area and mayor of the village, Hourdequin, is desperately trying to introduce new farming techniques and faces his refractory workforce.
The Fouan family is the other big pole of the book. It is reminiscent of the original Rougon-Macquart family (see La Fortune des Rougon ) with its many flaws and vices. First is the heritage of old Fouan, where we do not know who is the most stingy and the readiest to bleed his family, between the father and the children. His young son, Buteau, is a paragon of avarice, greed, brutality and harshness (well, it's true, do not look too nuanced here at Zola).
Despite Zola's resolutely polemic turn to his rural fresco, I found all the flaws and the mentality of the peasant world I encountered in my travels on literature in the early twentieth century. Of course, no baseness of this world will be spared but is it not a vision, certainly disillusioned. Indeed a slight caricature, magnified or condensed but primarily suitable, relevant, of the human in the broad sense?
Emile Zola shows us our species stripped of its frail shell of "good manners", this varnish of civilisation; it shows us rough, rough, gruff, but without fuss, a little as if you had direct access to what think those who made us smile on the surface. So I leave you to read and dig up rotten bulbs of which we are a bit prepared.
I award a Special Mention for the character of "the great", old Fouan's sister, a real old wicked woman who takes pleasure in sowing discord. (the role of "the old woman harmful" is a classic Zola and returns in many of his novels, would he have accounts to settle on that side?) and discord within his family while being as loving as an extensive dry stone.
I give another Special Mention to the "Jesus Christ" character, the eldest son of the old Fouan, a chronic alcoholic who is determined never to work, an exceptional pyromaniac who offers the author the opportunity to sign a hilarious chapter (part four, chapter 3).
sjlee's review
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I was recommended Earth because I was looking for a book about rural life. There is no doubt that Earth paints a highly unromanticized portrait of life in France's countryside in the middle of the 19th century. The story centres around a village and the Beauce, and one particular family who calls it home.
The family, to put it charitably, is composed of deeply flawed individuals. Their cruelty, selfishness, malice, and pettiness defines the story and drives the conflict at its heart. However, it is clear that these are desperate individuals and their actions are reflective of those pushed to the edge, in part, by circumstance.
The story is filled with casual violence and abuse, and readers should be aware of that. The circumstances range from implied comedic to horrendous. There are also scenes of rape and sexual assault that may be disturbing to readers.
I suppose Zola ultimately created a representation of the dark side of provincial life. The people are provincial, clannish, and stubborn for the most part and well-meaning outsiders are rejected for nearly not coming from the soil of the Beauce. The story isn't pure misery though, there are comedic scenes and lines, as well as certain levity from the hard life of the farmers and townspeople.
Still, it is a challenging read. I felt like I took something valuable away from the novel, but it did leave me feeling quite downtrodden at the conclusion.
The family, to put it charitably, is composed of deeply flawed individuals. Their cruelty, selfishness, malice, and pettiness defines the story and drives the conflict at its heart. However, it is clear that these are desperate individuals and their actions are reflective of those pushed to the edge, in part, by circumstance.
The story is filled with casual violence and abuse, and readers should be aware of that. The circumstances range from implied comedic to horrendous. There are also scenes of rape and sexual assault that may be disturbing to readers.
I suppose Zola ultimately created a representation of the dark side of provincial life. The people are provincial, clannish, and stubborn for the most part and well-meaning outsiders are rejected for nearly not coming from the soil of the Beauce. The story isn't pure misery though, there are comedic scenes and lines, as well as certain levity from the hard life of the farmers and townspeople.
Still, it is a challenging read. I felt like I took something valuable away from the novel, but it did leave me feeling quite downtrodden at the conclusion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Violence
eonched's review against another edition
5.0
4,5
Un romanzo brutale e insipido, fenomenale la capacità di zola di creare un'atmosfera apparentemente tranquilla e pacata per poi immediatamente rovesciarla in un crescente vortice di disperazione e follia.
"Ma chissà: come occorrono il gelo che brucia le piante, la grandine che le trincia, la folgore che le stronca, forse occorrono sangue e lacrime perché il mondo cammini. Che peso possono avere le nostre sciagure, nel gran meccanismo delle stelle e del sole? Se ne infischia di noi, il buon Dio! Strappiamo il pane in una terribile lotta quotidiana. Eterna resta soltanto la terra, la madre da cui usciamo e in cui rientriamo, che amiamo sino al crimine, che rinnova continuamente la vita per un suo scopo misterioso, servendosi anche delle nostre vergogne e miserie."
Un romanzo brutale e insipido, fenomenale la capacità di zola di creare un'atmosfera apparentemente tranquilla e pacata per poi immediatamente rovesciarla in un crescente vortice di disperazione e follia.
"Ma chissà: come occorrono il gelo che brucia le piante, la grandine che le trincia, la folgore che le stronca, forse occorrono sangue e lacrime perché il mondo cammini. Che peso possono avere le nostre sciagure, nel gran meccanismo delle stelle e del sole? Se ne infischia di noi, il buon Dio! Strappiamo il pane in una terribile lotta quotidiana. Eterna resta soltanto la terra, la madre da cui usciamo e in cui rientriamo, che amiamo sino al crimine, che rinnova continuamente la vita per un suo scopo misterioso, servendosi anche delle nostre vergogne e miserie."
deslauriers's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, and Murder
Moderate: Incest and Ableism