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A review by whooperswan
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
3.0
Never has a book torn me so much. I want to give it five stars for its audacity, vivacity and density. For its poignant story line and excellent characterisation, writing and translation. Yet I gave it three stars for I will not ever read it again. Madame Emma Bovary invoked in me the same feelings as Bellatrix Lestrange and Cersei Lannister. Feelings of absolute hatred. As Bellatrix and Cersei she is one of the few women in literature I would have slapped and punched were I to meet them in real life.
Throughout the story I felt nothing but absolute pity for Doctor Bovary which evaporated at his puny acceptance of fate, for not fighting against what he was left with. Homais who is the writer's mouthpiece at certain occasions is as unlikeable as Emma. While I agreed with his criticism of religion and his veneration of science the rest of him repelled me. I would not say I enjoyed the story but I did turn the pages. I could not wait to finish reading, I did not abandon it half way through.
Throughout the story I felt nothing but absolute pity for Doctor Bovary which evaporated at his puny acceptance of fate, for not fighting against what he was left with. Homais who is the writer's mouthpiece at certain occasions is as unlikeable as Emma. While I agreed with his criticism of religion and his veneration of science the rest of him repelled me. I would not say I enjoyed the story but I did turn the pages. I could not wait to finish reading, I did not abandon it half way through.