cloclo185's review against another edition
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
chairmanbernanke's review against another edition
4.0
Zola has a clear talent for description and presentation. Varied characters interact in society.
5lise's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lucy_qhuay's review
3.0
This book started out in a very interesting way, with the origins of the Rougon family.
I enjoyed seeing how certain traits passed from parents to children and grandchildren, particularly the ambition and thirst for power.
I liked even more to get to know a little bit about those poor souls like Pascal and Silvere who had the misfortune of being born decent individuals in an awful family.
However, there were long passages and even full chapters about an already discussed/known issue, which turned the book a bit boring.
All in all, a solid read. I will eventually continue with the series.
sashshearman's review
4.0
The Fortune of the Rougons lays the foundation for the Rougon-Macquart series, 20 novels about various characters from one family living in France during the Second Empire (1852-1870). The story begins with Silvere, a 17 apprentice wheelwright, self-educated, idealistic, whose, “complete ignorance of mankind, kept him in a dreamworld of theory, a Garden of Eden where universal justice reigned”. Silvere is intoxicated by Rousseau and his 13 year-old-sweetheart, Miette. They meet each night in a disused cemetery and Zola begins and ends his story in this spot, which, “gorged with corpses for over a century, exuded death”. Zola can be wonderfully morbid and having the young lovers meet amongst disgorged bones and toppled, mossy tombstones is suitably gothic for the dark events that follow.
The story follows Silvere and Miette as they join a growing band of insurgent republicans, then segues to introduce the reader to Silvere’s uncles, the failed businessman Pierre Rougon and his illegitimate half-brother, Antoine Marcquet. Both are egoists, cynically manipulating the civic disorder in their small town resulting from Louis Napoleons coup, for their own ends. The plotting which follows is suspenseful and anticipates, in a crude way, later political thrillers.
Zola’s characterisations are not as well-rounded as in some of his later novels and his symbolism can be a bit heavy-handed at times, but overall The Fortune of the Rougons is a well-paced, engaging read.
The story follows Silvere and Miette as they join a growing band of insurgent republicans, then segues to introduce the reader to Silvere’s uncles, the failed businessman Pierre Rougon and his illegitimate half-brother, Antoine Marcquet. Both are egoists, cynically manipulating the civic disorder in their small town resulting from Louis Napoleons coup, for their own ends. The plotting which follows is suspenseful and anticipates, in a crude way, later political thrillers.
Zola’s characterisations are not as well-rounded as in some of his later novels and his symbolism can be a bit heavy-handed at times, but overall The Fortune of the Rougons is a well-paced, engaging read.
cony612's review against another edition
3.0
je vacillais entre ennui et intérêt pour le livre, et ceci est du au nombre incessant de détails qui me paraissaient parfois inutiles. Quand on y pense, c’est 400 pages de lecture pour une semaine d’événements (avec des retours en arrière bien sûr). Je l’ai lu parce que c’est un classique de la littérature française, mais j’ai besoin de faire une pause avant de plonger dans d’autres Rougon-Macquart!
fairywren's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
marie314's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
anti_formalist12's review
4.0
Like most French novels of the 19th century, it meanders a bit around the middle. But the ending lands with such force and violence that it makes the whole enterprise worth it.
franderochefort's review
2.0
The first installment in Zola's family epic roman-fleuve, Les Rougon-Macquart, La Fortune des Rougons was, as others have warned, a difficult place to begin even if a natural one. I ended up getting bogged down for a while which may be why it took me the longest it's taken for a while to finish a novel in French but at the end of it all, even if it's quite a scrappy and exposition-heavy origin story, I have to admire Zola's achievement with this book. Contained in this novel is a full accounting of the roots of an entire family*, their dreams, ambitions, personalities, feuds and schemes; the fall of the Second Republic and the birth of the Second Empire in its wake, buttressed by the most grasping social climbers of the French middle classes; and two plots both of which intertwine and contrast to give a full portrait of an era of revolutionary change.
If it's not a great novel as such it's still an enjoyable one, especially if you understand the politics and society of France at the time - the Rougon-Macquarts are already demonstrating themselves to be quite a brood of vipers by the end of this first chapter in their story, and there's enough betrayals and plots to keep the intrigue in this novel even if the number of sympathetic characters so far is low (how easily political allegiances shift and transform according to outside circumstance and convenience alone is an enjoyably cynical part of Zola's perspective on the petit-boureoisie milieu of the tale).
* I ended up having to keep an improvised family tree by my bedside to keep track of things and will probably continue to update and expand it as I work through these novels - recommended if you're crazy enough to try and do this project too.
If it's not a great novel as such it's still an enjoyable one, especially if you understand the politics and society of France at the time - the Rougon-Macquarts are already demonstrating themselves to be quite a brood of vipers by the end of this first chapter in their story, and there's enough betrayals and plots to keep the intrigue in this novel even if the number of sympathetic characters so far is low (how easily political allegiances shift and transform according to outside circumstance and convenience alone is an enjoyably cynical part of Zola's perspective on the petit-boureoisie milieu of the tale).
* I ended up having to keep an improvised family tree by my bedside to keep track of things and will probably continue to update and expand it as I work through these novels - recommended if you're crazy enough to try and do this project too.