Customer Reviews
A Masterpiece - By: Xena, 11 Aug 2008 
This book is probably a masterpiece. One woman's desperate quest for freedom, & the fatal futility of it as she venturesin a wrong direction. It's a tragedy of the human race: too great to live by rules, too small to be free. Overgrown for crude conventions, dwarfed by the challenges when you break them.
Madame Bovary can't bear her mediocre existence. She loathes her role of the wife of a village doctor; she has no regard for her womanly duties; she cares little about public opinion. She breaks free from it all, & how? In the most conventional way: she takes lovers. Her affairs bring her no love & only fleeting moments of satisfaction. She eventually incurs debts & poisons herself on the day bailiffs raid her house, unable to take the shame.
Could she be blamed for this amateur attempt to make some sense of her life? What other avenues could she explore? There hardly were any opportunities open to women those days to establish themselves professionally. She certainly lacked guidance to become a scholar (she did try to read philosophers, but it didn't take off). She also lacked imagination to make something special of her life, & she didn't find any worthy cause.
She was a product of her class, her upbringing & her society, who dared to question its norms. She thought she was breaking free from those norms, butin reality she was reinforcing them. Norms are not imposed externally. They are within you. They are the building material of your psychic, they guide your actions, & this is the tragedy. But it was still a courageous quest.
The author deserves admiration for being so non-judgementalin this sensitive situation. A woman who cheats on her devoted husband, meanwhile squandering his wealth. She, who selfishly drives her child to the life of an orphan & a pauper. But you close the book feeling only sympathy & sadness at the ways of the world. There's not a trace of moralising here, just a human story.
This book is not an entertainment, not a recreational read. At times the prose becomes too heavy, too crowded. It appears to bein want of finer editing. Do read it if you're prone to think. Don't read it if you want to kill your time.
Beautiful - By: Mrs. D. L. Cox, 13 Mar 2008 How does a man write as though he were a woman?
This was well written, knuckle bighting beautiful stuff.
I read a little of how this book has been recieved before I opened the book. I laughed at all the people who claimed that they were Madame Bovary. But to my dismay I too am her! This book has taught me so much about myself.
I find it very hard to get emotionally involvedin a book written by a man I just don't feel that they ever understand the mind of a woman but Mr Flaubert sure does.
This book is highly reccomended by my good self. The advice I give you is to put a weekend aside & read thisin one huge chunk, it's much nicer that way. I have a memory now of an amazing weekend of self discovery & some of the finest fiction I have ever encountered.
Surprisingly modern writing - By: Wynne Kelly, 11 Jul 2007 I can well understand how controversial this novel was when it was first published. Overall it is a vicious portrayal of small town France. Most of the characters are revealed to be self-seeking & vain. At the heart of the story is Emma Bovary - & Flaubert is, I feel, ambivalentin his attitude to her. He sometimes describes her very favourably & at others as selfish hard-hearted. And we as readers share this ambivalence - is she a cruel temptress who cares little for her own child or is she a victim of the social mores & unable to act independently? Certainly the book highlights how women of the time could only find happiness & fulfilment through a male partner.
The ending is prolonged & horrific. Was Flaubert hoping to attract our sympathy for the hapless Emma or was he ensuring that she was suitably punished for her infidelities?
The writing is splendid - surprisingly modern & beautifully descriptive. I am sorry I let this book sit unread on my bookshelf for so long?
Yeah but No but Yeah but... - By: booksmart, 11 Jul 2007 I've always maintained that one shouldn't review a book they've studied there are many outside influences bearing down on your reading of the text: enjoyment of class, attitude towards school/teacher, & not least what you're being TOLD to think by teachers, notes & so on. Nevertheless I thought I'd just comment briefly here to clarify the last reviewer's point.
It is my opinion that although Emma is the original footballer's wife (or at least wannabe since by no stretch of the imagination could one ever equate Charles with a Beckham) Madame Bovary is NOT the original trashy novel.
It is no secret that Flaubert was aware of "betise". He thought people were stupid, their words worthless, their feelings fickle & their actions silly to the point of danger (Yes says the pharmacist let's see if we can't cure this man's club foot...). What is unclear is whether the reader, especially the reader who sees this, is includedin the generalisation or even whether Flaubert considered himself to be guilty of "betise". And if not why not? This complex thematic point, as well as Flaubert undeniable mastery of language (particularly his pitiless satire of cliche), drags MB from the pastel pink dustcover of (help me with some names here) the average chick lit & into the gentlemanly(/womanly) company of the classics.
This was clearly understood by the previous reviewer but may not be understood clearly, if you understand what I clearly mean?
Also enough with giving Emma all the gip, Homais was a fool (one of a sea of fools) too. If she is Coleen McLoughlin then Homais is who? Jeremy Clarkson? Someone who claims they know a lot, all, the best but really just believes what they readin the papers. Oh wait that's Bono.
The original trashy novel!! - By: Ms. L. Waller, 14 Apr 2006 It is amazing that this book was written by a man because it appeals so well to the woman's senses. It appears a universial fact that women love Holby city & trashy soaps, well this novel is the two genres combined into one. Emma Bovary is the ultimate footballer's wife, spending lashiously & flirting seductively. With Flaubert's amazingly presise language this book is as enjoyable as devouring a whole chocolate cake without the calories!
