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A review by amomentofmusic
La Faute de l'abbé Mouret by Émile Zola
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Of all of Zola's Rougon-Macquart cycle, this one appears to be the most polarizing, with some finding the prose overly descriptive and the main biblical allusions a bit too on the nose. It also, along with The Dream, one of the least Zola-like books in the series with some passages flirting with surrealist tendencies. Because of that, I would hesitate to recommend this book to a Zola newbie. All that being said, out of the 13 I've read so far, this was one of my favourites.
Yes, you will drown in pages of painstaking botanical and ecclesiastical descriptions. Yes the allegories and themes are far from subtle. But for me, this was one of the most tightly crafted of his novels, with adept exploration of the dualities of light and dark, man and woman, life and death, sin and salvation. The plot is similarly highly streamlined, with a distinct three part structure, which helps balance the meandering prose. Couple all of this with a bitting critic of the Catholic Church and one of the most poetic death scenes in all of literature and to me, this feels just as effective as some of his bigger novels like Germinal and Nana.
Yes, you will drown in pages of painstaking botanical and ecclesiastical descriptions. Yes the allegories and themes are far from subtle. But for me, this was one of the most tightly crafted of his novels, with adept exploration of the dualities of light and dark, man and woman, life and death, sin and salvation. The plot is similarly highly streamlined, with a distinct three part structure, which helps balance the meandering prose. Couple all of this with a bitting critic of the Catholic Church and one of the most poetic death scenes in all of literature and to me, this feels just as effective as some of his bigger novels like Germinal and Nana.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content and Suicide