In the intro to this book, the editor discusses Flaubert's passion for writing and his desire to have every sentence and word perfect so that he often spent days reworking a single paragraph. The work paid obviously paid off because he has succeed in creating a book so full of amazing imagery and sheer beauty of words that I was continually astounded. I don't know whether to pity or hate Emma. I certainly pity Charles and dislike Rodolphe. However, everyone seems to have a little of Emma's personality in them by wanting the things you do not or cannot have. A timeless, classic book with captivating writing - the scene where she eats the arsenic with her bare hands while they are having dinner in the other room - just amazing. That's all I can say.A couple of my favorite quotes:"A demand for money, being of all the winds that blow upon love, the coldest and most destructive.""We must not touch our idols. The gilt sticks to our fingers." ( )

Poor Emma Bovary! She wants an exciting life with instant gratification from her husband, her friends, and, not finding that--turns to lovers in a novel which survived a trial about its morality. Actually, the outline could be just about any romance novel novel today set in a "historical" period, but at its time, Flaubert was defying convention to show a life which should have been perfect--and was so very flawed. ( )

The language is beautiful in this book. And, unlike Lady whosey-whatsit's Lover, which I hated, the sexuality in this novel is subtle and tense and much more well done. It's a book about appreciating where you are and what you have, and the happiness that can come from unconditional love...and the misery that comes from pride and willfulness. ( )

Straight out i have to say that Emma is the most selfish, self-centered, delusional, manipulative, corrupt, pathetic protagonist i've ever come across. The plot is practically the template for what we know today as telenovelas, cheap entertainment and totally inane. Nothing in this book would shock us modern readers, but i do imagine the scandal it made when it was first published in the 1850s. BUT, Flaubert writes brilliantly, able to evoke clarity, depth and feeling in few words, weaving a narrative that is fast-paced but not hurried, and effectively developing characters who, while deplorable most times, rightly portray human tendencies. It is one of those rare books where the farther u get on with the story, the stupider and more histrionic the characters seem to get, but u keep on because the writing is simply flawless. ( )

Well, first let me say that I am 95% sure that I will never read this novel again. That is not to say that I'm not glad I read it, or that I disliked it particularly, more that I don't think I could put myself through it again.

* SPOILER ALERT *

It is a novel riddled with complex moral and social issues - and Emma Bovary is a complex anti-heroine. At times I felt sorry for her. She is a woman seeking something bigger for herself, something that her role as wife and mother can't offer her. But she is also a very silly character, reminding me somewhat of Catherine in Northanger Abbey in her futile pursuit of idle dreams. Every emotion coursing through her body is absolutely genuine and heartfelt - until disillusionment comes and it vapourises again. She is reaching for a love and a life that exists only in stories, a terminal case of greed, of always seeing that vibrant, greener grass on the other side of the fence, of vanity and utter selfishness. Yet have we not all occasionally felt unhappy with our lot in life? Can we not look around nowadays and see hundreds of selfish and deluded young people indulging their vanity and trying to win fame, fortune, more money, a richer partner?

Was Madame Bovary just too vain for her time? Should she have taken a long hard look at her life, at her loyal husband and little daughter, at her friends and her situation, and been content? Of course. But then, with such corruption dragging her down, could she be blamed entirely for her downfall? One of the most dreadful things about this novel is the violence of Emma's end, the torment of her descent into despair. Worse still is the fact that in the last chapter, the fairytale she has been seeking is utterly demolished: everyone who contributed to her downfall continues with their life, while those around her are ruined. While Berthe is poor, Charles dies of a broken heart and her father is paralysed, Homais is applauded, Lheureux continues to gain from others' ruin, and her two lovers walk away without so much as a word of recrimination or a twinge of remorse.

All in all, a novel that is valuable for its portrayal of society in the 19th century, including its ideas about women, marriage and adultery, religion, and about medical theories and advances. The characters are strongly drawn and as real in their complex and flawed personalities as any I've ever read. It raises questions, it provokes thought about blame and morality, it parallels certain worrying trends that continue into today's society... and despite everything, I was moved by Emma's tragic demise. But I think the repetitive nature of the novel - mistake, regret, repentence, repeat - and the unlikeable, unredeemable nature of the title Madame will stop it being a keeper for me.

* SPOILER END * ( )

Flaubert is such a good writer that his characters are appealing despite his intentions, which I think were to demonstrate the ultimate meaninglessness of their lives. (Not to mention his beautiful depictions of pastoral and small-town life.) But those intentions poison the plot, so that it becomes more of a chore than a joy to read about the heroine's ongoing degradation. ( )

It's possible to fall in love with Madame Bovary without actually liking her. She is an inadvertent seductress whose romantic fantasies make the quotidian pleasures of her life unbearably dull. At the same time, reality refuses to conform to the unrealistic pressures of her fantastic ideals. Her life, despite her desires and efforts, spirals into banality even in the midst of what she imagines to be her affairs of High Romance. A bougeois with aristocratic pretentsions, Madame Bovary both embodies and contrasts with the society Flaubert is indicting.

Een tijdje terug is op de BRT de driedelige serie "Madame Bovary" uitgezonden die in 1999 voor de BBC is gemaakt. Naar aanleiding hiervan heb ik het boek gelezen dat beschouwd wordt als een van de hoogtepunten uit de Europese literatuur.
Het verhaal is nogal simpel. Emma is een boerenmeisje van eenvoudige afkomst die trouwt met de plattelandsarts Charles Bovary. Hij is helemaal gek op haar en stelt alles in het werk om het haar naar de zin te maken. Emma verveelt zich echter, droomt van voortdurende gelukzaligheid en vindt Charles maar een sukkel. Zij laat zich verleiden door Rodolphe Boulanger die wel wat in haar ziet. Ze onderhouden 2 jaar een relatie waarna hij haar verlaat omdat ze met hem wil vluchten, weg van haar man. Vervolgens krijgt Emma een nieuwe relatie met een jongen die al lang verliefd op haar is. Ze geeft veel te veel geld uit, raakt in de schulden en wordt voor de rechtbank gedaagd. Ze kan alles niet meer overzien en slikt arsenicum. Charles is radeloos, voor hem heeft het leven geen zin meer nu hij zijn Emma kwijt is.
Zo naverteld past het verhaal zo in de Bouquet-reeks. Het is echter zeer subtiel geschreven en ook zeer onderhoudend. Flaubert heeft zich laten inspireren door een waargebeurd verhaal. Een aanrader!
Uitgelezen: zondag 26 november 2000 ( )

Lectura de grupo de 10/11/2007 ( )

I really loved this book. It has to be in my list of favorite books that I've read.I think the author wanted to make you, as the reader, dislike Emma Bovary because she didn't fit the 'ideal' stereotypical virtuous woman of the time, but I just couldn't.

Emma's trials and tribulations begin with her unsatisfying marriage to Charles the doctor.Charles, who is presented as almost a kind of simpleton early in the book, is a plain kind of man with very plain (and I think Flaubert wanted us to think, virtuously simple) tastes. He is satisfied with the life he carves out for himself and thinks that his wife is just as happy as he is.

Poor Emma, meanwhile, is miserable because she is seeking to fulfill all of the romantic fantasies she's grown up reading about. She wants Charles to be everything that he, by his very nature, cannot be. She wants the fairy tale princess kind of charmed life. She wants to be wealthy and contented. She wants Charles to show ambition and to advance their standing as a family, socially.

Emma, seeing that Charles will never change, starts to seek out adventures through affairs with different men. The problem is that they, like she, are looking to fulfill their own selfish desires and her desperate clinging ends up driving them away from her.The closest she ever comes to a real love affair is the time she spends with Leon in the city, in the little room she's spared no expense in decorating. But, as she is a married woman, this relationship can never really lead to anything but heartache.

Ultimately Emma's end is foreshadowed by her descent into utter and complete corruption. Because of the time during which the novel was written Flaubert couldn't seek out any other ending, save for the Shakespearian one that it has.I didn't really feel sorry for Charles until the very end of the book where he finds out the truth about Emma's life. He really did love her, in his own way.

This book is a romantic and generally a wonderful way to spend a few hours in another time and place.

*The ending of the Signet Classic edition that I read also includes the trial transcripts where Flaubert faced charges for the 'immoral character of the book.' If you are interested in knowing a bit more about the history surrounding it. ( )

966 Madame Bovary Background and Sources Essays in Criticism Gustave Flaubert edited with a substantially new translation by Paul De Man (read 7 Sep 1968) Somewhat to my surprise, I have just finished reading this--it marks my first reading of one of the those famous French novels which were on the Index of Forbidden Books till the Index was abolished in 1966: books such as those by Stendahl, Balzac and Flaubert. I found Madame Bovary heavy and a tour de force. It tells of a woman in Normandy who sought to fulfill her dreams in adultery, and of her failure and death. The story is not exceptional, but the telling has a power in it unmatched by most of what I've read. A sample of Flaubert (how I wish I knew French!): "As on the return from Vaulyessard, when the quadrilles were running in her head, she was full of a glowing melancholy, of a numb despair. Leon reappeared, taller, handsomer, more charming, more vague. Though separated from her, he had not left her, he was there, and the walls of the house seemed to hold his shadows. . .The river still flowed on and slowly drove its ripples along the slippery banks. They had often walked there listening to the murmur of the waves over the moss-covered pebbles. How bright the sun had been! What happy afternoons they had known, alone, in the shade at the end of the garden!" A masterpiece! ( )

Madame B er en rigtig god gang litteratur. Bemærkelsesværdigt så ens folk opfører sig gennem mere end 150 år. Jeg både tiltrækkes og frastødes af madame. Beskrivelsen af hendes nøgne (!) fod i den lyserøde satintøffel med svanedun - hendes hyrdetimer i øvrigt med Rodolphe og den unge elsker, står i brutal kontrast til hendes opmærksomhed mod lille Berthe og hendes mand (stakkels, sølle) Bovary. ( )

This was a surprisingly good read. I should have known this, of course, seeing as it is an acknowledged classic, but I was afraid it was going to be a classic romance - a book with more feminine appeal. As it turned out it was a fairly biting criticism of the notions in those very books that I dislike. This is a story about romantic notions, unrealistic expectations, destructive behaviours and where these things lead.

One strength of the book is the way the characters are so carefully drawn from an every day experience that could be us. We can all see bits of ourselves mirrored in the lives of one or other of the characters in this book - and the reflections we see are unflattering.

The writing style of this book, to my mind, was a little too highly narrated. A more modern work would probably make greater use of dialogue. And indeed, where there was dialogue it was sometimes the case that I felt I was missing its intent, and I had to reflect upon it a little more. However, considering that this is not a modern book, it was highly readable - and it would be unfair to expect modern conventions in writing to be adhered to in a book of this age.

The story, however, is timeless. The message is one that needs to be heard again and again, and it will certainly sit on my recommended books list. ( )

Writing is very good, it manages to be sensual without being vulgar. ( )

I have heard a lot about this story an couldn’t wait anymore to get to it.

Emma Bovary is a woman who can’t sit still and settle down. It’s a story about adultery and emptiness in Madame Bovary’s life and how despite it all her husband sticks by her side and loves her.

In the beginning, the reader feels the story is going to focus on Charles, as he is all we hear about, until he meets Emma and suddenly the book takes a turn and we find the true meaning of the title.

It really is a piece of work and Flaubert does a magnificent job creating this character in Bovary that is unexpected and likable despite her faults.

What could I possibly say about Madame Bovary that has not already been said? However, having read both this and the Norton edition, I would point out that the Steegmuller translation is infinitely better.

Madame Bovary is just one of those novels that will eternally be considered a classic, in both French and English. The precision of language, the well-developed characters...this is a novel worth reading many times over.

It's rare that I hate a main character and simultaneously really like the book, but that's the case for this book. Seeing the world through such a selfish person's eyes as Madame Bovary the way Flaubert writes it was a wonderful experience. ( )

This is a classic that reads like a contemporary novel. I won't get into the plot since there are already a million reviews that do so, but I will say how much I enjoyed this book. The characters are all seriously flawed, and many of them are not the least bit likeable, but they are honest and realistic and worthy of both sympathy and contempt. Even if you hate them, you are still interested in what happens to them.

Fantastic book! ( )

Da den unge legen Bovary etter et mislykket ekteskap som ender med enkemannsstand, gifter seg på nytt med den skjønne Emma, tror han at han har sikret seg lykken for resten av sitt liv. Men aldri har vel noen kvinne vært ham fjernere enn nettopp hans egen kone. Fru Bovary har forlest seg på romantiske romaner og drømmer om et liv med mye selskapelighet og med seg selv i sentrum. Liivet med Bovary ute på landsbygda kjeder henne nærmest til døde, og han når på ingen måte opp til hennes standard om en mann hun kan beundre. Hun vemmes av sin bondske mann, som ikke har fine manerer eller et romantisk sinnelag. Dessuten er han ikke en gang rik. Jo mer mannen hennes jobber for å tekkes henne, jo mer trekker hun seg vekk i avsky.

I stedet forelsker madame Bovary seg i den kyniske kvinnebedåreren Rodolphe, en mann som vet å hviske de rette ordene inn i hennes ører og som dessuten har skjønt hvordan man behandler en kvinne. En mann som allerede før kurtisen settes inn på å vinne madame Bovarys gunst, har planene klare for hvordan han skal bli kvitt henne til slutt. Da han etter en tid dropper henne, tar hun nesten sin død av det. Helt til skriveren Leon dukker opp ... I mellomtiden oppfører madame Bovary seg som om mannen hennes var rik, og hun pådrar familien etter hvert en uoverkommelig gjeld. Ikke bare styrter hun selv i avgrunnen, men hun drar hele familien sin med seg.

Da boka kom ut på midten av 1800-tallet, vakte den moralsk forargelse og forfatteren ble trukket for retten.

Jeg opplevde boka som nydelig skrevet. Selv om historien som sådan er temmelig banal, er dette litteratur på høyt nivå! Jeg ble også sittende og fundere over hva virkelig stor kjærlighet egentlig er. I denne boka stilles den kyniske utnyttelsen av en kvinne med pasjoner fra en kald kvinnebedårer opp mot et rimelig kjedelig hverdagsliv, men hvor mannen dog er der for sin kvinne hele tiden ...

Boka er filmatisert:
http://no.librarything.com/work/83250... ( )

Classic

es considerada según algunas encuestas como la segunda mejor obra lingüística de la historia.
Emma vuelve a caer enferma del alma, tal como lo hiciera por primera vez en Tostes. Imbuida de frustración y languidez conoce al señor Rodolphe Boulanger de la Huchette en el cual Emma ve reflejados sus ensueños románticos ( )

How could a book in which nearly every character is contemptible be so compelling? Two reasons: it is faultlessly constructed, and it is heartbreakingly true. Easy to see why many people call it the perfect novel. (PS: Francis Steegmuller's transaltion is very good, being unobtrusive but not bland although it may be, as Clive James has quipped, that this novel loses very little even when it is translated into Japanese.) ( )

I know this book is a classic, but I can't say I enjoyed it. I despise the main character and found almost no character in the book to admire. I do admire its realism, and the weaknesses and pettiness of human nature which it illustrates are more than applicable to today. I know this book was controversial in its time for its frank treatment of adultery, but the desipcable nature of those involved and the horrific ending would seem to make it more of a morality tale to a modern reader. This type of book just does not appeal to me. ( )

This was a book that I avoided reading for a very long time based on a lack of knowledge of the plot. When I finally picked it up a couple of years ago, I was surprised by how engaging and heartbreaking this story was. Emma Rouault is a young woman who dreams of romance and chivalry while living the life of a farmer's daughter. When she has the opportunity to leave her life for one she believes to be more compelling, that of a doctor's wife, she finds reality to be far from what she desires. In an attempt to remedy this, she recklessly overspends to have a home above her station and has extramarital affairs in a search for those things she craves. She neglects her child and embarasses M. Bovary, her husband.

http://webereading.com/2009/04/book-v... ( )