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Madame Bovary (Bantam Classics) (平装)
by Gustave Flaubert
| Category:
French Literature, Classic, Fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 88.00
MSL price:
¥ 78.00
[ Shop incentives ]
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
MSL Pointer Review:
There are novels of greater structural complexity, or of a broader social canvas, or of more stylistic dash Madame Bovary still stands as the most controlled and beautifully articulated formal masterpiece in the history of fiction.
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AllReviews |
  1 2 Total 2 pages 12 items |
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Vijay Kumar (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-09 00:00>
Emma Bovary, the most audacious adulterer in all literature, has lot of company, Anna Karanina, Lady Chatterley to name few. But as we at times feel sympathy for the other famous protagonists, there is a strong dislike at times revulsion for Madame Bovary for her outlandish behavior at the expense of not only her cowardly husband but also her lonely, helpless daughter. She would sacrifice anything, anybody to have her way. Consequences be damn. When somebody asked Flaubert who was the model for his famous heroine he replied "That Bovary woman is myself!"
Madam Bovary is bored with her boorish, uncouth husband and longs for romance, gaiety , excitement, music, dance, theater, everything a intellectual Parisian woman would have. She wanted to be a bourgeois! She falls headlong into disaster. She would not even destroy the love letters which were stashed away in the attic. Emma despised her husband to such a degree that she shuddered to think of his forgiveness which she knew she would sure to get after he found out of her infidelity.
She is no doubt one of the most fascinating characters even penned. One can just imagine the reverberations the book must have caused in Victorian England in mid 19th century not to mention America.
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Marianne (MSL quote), USA
<2007-03-09 00:00>
The language of Madame Bovary lingers on the tongue long after the final page has been read. It is true poetry. Madame Bovary is an entertaining book mixed with adultery, secrecy and arsenic. The two main characters, Emma and Charles, are true opposites. Charles represents a mind based solely in reality, lacking imagination. He is a dimwitted country doctor who remains happy as long as he makes everyone else happy. He has no desire for riches and merriment. His wife, though - Emmma Bovary - contradicts him. She embodies a romantic, head-in-the-clouds soul. As the book carries on, her soul flickers like a flame, and every time she catches a glimpse of finery, that flame conflagrates; every time she attends a dance or visits Paris, that flame builds inside her - hungry, wanting more. She reads romance novels and believes that is how life really should be. When she commits adultery, it is not about the adultery to Emma. It is about the fantasy she believes she is fulfilling. But, to Emma, it seems that no matter what she does, she cannot feel fulfilled. That flame just rises and rises in her and she cannot control it with any amount of trinkets and satin curtains. She is tragic because she is destined to be unhappy; her dreams are too high out of reach. Her only option is to be engulfed in a flame she cannot squelch. In the meantime, Charles is increasingly upset by her as well. After all, he only wants to make others happy, and his dearly-loved wife is not happy. This book truly represents two worlds at odds: reality versus fantasy. It is fascinating and I would truly recommend it.
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1 2 Total 2 pages 12 items |
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