Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert BOOK REVIEW

[@somethingsisee]

I have read around 50 serious novels since becoming seriously interested in literature, including all the Bukowski novels. I mention this because I don't fancy flowery prose at all. I also don't possess a natural inclination to search out books with female main characters. It was multiple independent references to this book that converged on me, prompting me to read it. And I crammed it in 3 days, having decided to give it to my mom for xmas, which I did and now somewhat regret. And yet, I have never read anything so good in the style of descriptive prose as Madame. I don't see how there could be any consensus problems with the story, the themes, the characters. The only criticism of the book I would even entertain is the prevailing issue with the "boring description". And I disagree with this claim entirely. The detail is not only essential to represent the lived reality of Madame Bovary, and of a time and place that was boring, it also creates the feeling of the book, where the description itself builds up a framework capable of carrying such a heavy load of emotion that it floors the reader at every turn. I consider it a perfectly constructed novel in its entirety, and argue that the stylistic decision is as inseparable from the thematic decisions, the characters and the story itself. All these things go together with absolute coherence and consistency in a 400 page, 3 part novel with a bow on it. Flaubert is a master of prose, and I think that many people are not able to grasp this, either because they don't like literature, are forced to read this book in school, or they pick it up at random and are misled (like my mom, perhaps) by seeing a nice looking female lead on the front cover of a 19th century novel that doesn't meet their expectations at all. For me, Flaubert's decision making, where he takes you in between the written lines, in the construction of his story, is where I can feel a true master at work. It was way ahead of its time and definitely not in the category of boring realism, in my opinion. Journey by Celine was my favourite book of all time, and I consider Madame to be just as magnificent a piece of artistic literature, and perhaps without equal in the genre. I look forward to putting this to test in my future reading.

[@echoedwordsreviews]

Agree wholeheartedly. And what makes Madame Bovary even that much more astonishing is that, if you're like me, you've only read it as a translation and yet it *still* is demonstrably perfect prose, so hats off to the translators. Though I do wish I knew French well enough to read the original text. Thanks for watching!

[@Tolstoy111]

I would call it the best novel ever written that isn’t inordinately long. The only competitors are the best Jane Austen.