Henry Avila's Reviews > Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
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really liked it

Emma is a rather silly, very passionate ( too much so) bored, uneducated to the reality of the real world young woman, who believes in the romantic novels she reads, moonlight walks, eerie, forbidding castles, dangerous flights into unknown, and strange lands always trying to escape their frightening captors... brave, handsome men, that are faithful to their beautiful virtuous women, fighting the evil, monstrous, corrupt but attractive libertines and the hero rescuing them in the nick of time...Emma lives on a farm in mid nineteenth century France, the widower, a remote still gentle father, Monsieur Rouault anxious to get rid of his useless daughter, and though he enjoys the work, is not very good at it, ( farming) but a considerably better businessman; being an only child, she wants excitement. Hating the monotonous country, dreaming about the titillating city, Paris and the fabulous people and things there. Yet meeting and marrying the dull, common , hardworking good doctor, Charles Bovary who fixed her father's broken leg, he adores his pretty wife, life has to be better elsewhere she thinks, so agrees to the marriage proposal. Moving to the small, tedious village of Tostes , Emma regrets soon her hasty marriage. Even the birth of a daughter, Berthe who she neglects, not a loving mother the maid raises , has no effect on her gloomy moods. She craves romance, her husband is not like the men in her books, ordinary looking, not fearless or intelligent, words do not inspire coming out of his mouth, he lacks the intense feelings she wants. After moving to another quiet village, Yonville (Ry) clueless Bovary thinks the change of scenery, will lift his listless wife out of her funk. The local wealthy landowner Rodolphe Boulanger, sees the pretty Emma, senses her unhappiness and seduces , a veteran at this sort of thing, he has had many mistresses in the past. At first the secret, quite perilous, thrilling rendezvous behind the back of Emma's house, clandestine notes, reckless walks in the predawn mornings to his Chateau, reminds Emma of her novels... but everything becomes routine, no better than married life. Rodolphe gets annoyed, unexcited, he also doesn't feel like the beginning, sends a letter breaking off the affair. The emotional Emma becomes very ill, her husband fears that she may die, puzzled at the sudden sickness. A slow recover ensues, Emma still has the same husband, starts another affair with a clerk, shy Leon Dupuis, younger than she more grateful too not like the previous lover, the erratic Madame Bovary is in control. In the nearby town of Rouen in Normandy they meet every week, until this also becomes uninteresting, the spendthrift woman behind her trusting, loving, naive , husband's back drives them to ruin through her unreasonable buying sprees . Emma Bovary learns much too late, that the only person who loves her, is the unremarkable man she married. What can I say, love or hate this , it remains a controversial classic , the crowds flock to.
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Reading Progress

August 6, 2014 – Shelved as: to-read
August 6, 2014 – Shelved
May 3, 2015 – Started Reading
May 12, 2015 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-25 of 25 (25 new)

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Petra It's a year now, still in a dark place This is a book I felt so passionately towards.


Henry Avila Flaubert puts one right in a scene, you feel like a witness, his greatest strength but also maybe weakness.People still want the extraordinary, Petra, in reading.


Carol She's So Novel ꧁꧂ Henry, between you & Renato I'm going to have to reread this one! I read so many books when I was too naive/young to understand them!


Henry Avila This book I now know why , is still read . We want to find out, what happens to Emma.


Dolors I have re-lived Emma's tragic story through your racing prose, Henry. The last sentence is as huge a truth as I have ever seen.


Henry Avila Sometimes people are blind to the obvious, Dolors.


Petra It's a year now, still in a dark place But love that is not returned from a person who frustrates you, is not love you can accept either.

This book had a funny effect on me. There were parts of it I didn't like. Like a lot of the wordy classics, it dragged at times, so it was like 3.5 stars. But I couldn't get Emma Bovary out of my head and still can't. So 5 stars. My review was all about emotion and reaction, rather than a clear analysis as yours. I wonder if the difference is because we are different genders?


message 8: by Henry (last edited May 13, 2015 08:37PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Henry Avila I think so,Petra, it effecs men and women differently.


Aditi Excellent review Henry :-)


Henry Avila Thanks, Aditi. quite a book, it remains with you, for a long time.


message 11: by Lynne (last edited May 16, 2015 08:39AM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Lynne King Henry, I read this book at university and I actually found it very silly, although in all fairness beautifully written.

I recall that Emma rips off her corset with one of her young men when she's travelling around a park? My lecturer got really excited when he discussed this but that was many years ago and the brain becomes addled! Who was that with?


message 12: by Henry (last edited May 16, 2015 08:34PM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Henry Avila Emma and Rodolphe went horse back riding in the woods, outside Yonville, their clothes get tangled during the scrimmage, but that's about it, Lynne...In Rouen, Emma rips off her corset, in front of Leon, angry at him, for being late for her piano lessons.


Lynne King Thanks Henry. Perhaps I should reread the book!


Henry Avila Henry wrote: "Emma and Rodolphe went horse back riding in the woods, outside Yonville, their clothes get tangled during the scrimmage, but that's about it, Lynne...In Rouen, Emma rips off her corset, in front of..."
I think you might reread the book, Lynne, you missed the jokes about piano lessons and scrimmages.


Henry Avila Jeremy wrote: "The 'cracked kettle/cauldron' paragraph when Rodolphe tires of Emma is one of the most fantastic passages in literature, where the cultured clever man misses the genuine expression of love because ..."
It is indeed a very well written novel, Jeremy.


Henry Avila I see now how it took him so many years , to get just the right words, for this.


Melinda Even the ending sentence fragment is enough of an example of his incredible wordsmithed prose to express deep meaning. " ...you must, he thought, beware of turgid speeches masking commonplace passions; as the souls abundance does not sometimes spill over in the most decrepit metaphors, since no one can ever give the exact measure of their needs, their ideas, their afflictions..." People just don't write like this any more.


Henry Avila Yes that is true, but the passing of centuries things and words change, Melinda, it will always be so.


Henry Avila Yes quite an interesting classic, thank you.


Henry Avila A classic book and want to see that film.


Henry Avila Thank you, it look good...


message 22: by [deleted user] (new)

Genius nrration Thank you Henry


Henry Avila Thank you my friend, a genuine classic...


Melcat I really liked your review Henri. I had the chance to read this one in French so I have no idea how much is lost in translation. But it stayed with me for a long time, and I will never forget the feelings I had reading it. To me Mme Bovary is the character I've read that embodied the most the concepts of ennui, delusion and unrealistic expectations.


Henry Avila Yes a brilliant novel. ..


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