First LoT book club discussion: Madame Bovary

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I finished the book today. I was wondering how everyone else is doing.

Here's what I thought. Spoilers, of course, so don't read until you're done.




I liked the writing style, the metaphors and allusions, which is why I finished it, even though I found the story very boring. Nothing happened for ages, and when it did happen, it wasn't exciting at all. I guess it's boring to read about people that are bored, then doing things that have obvious conclusions.

After reading all of Emma's dramatic inclinations, when things really did get dramatic it just seemed more of her manufactured crap. I couldn't figure out if Flaubert was writing Emma's dramatic tirades as "here is the irony due to her wishing for drama but now she really has it" or "see, even when things get serious she still acts like she's in a romance novel" or "this is how people always act in these situations". My unfamiliarity with the era/style was a hinderance, and I really don't feel like looking up an explanation.

This really wasn't my type of story - people with huge flaws who blunder their way through life and end up screwed. I can't say I enjoyed it.

The scandalous parts didn't feel fun or exciting either, even while Flaubert was telling me it was fun and exciting. I felt disconnected from the characters' experiences, merely looking in a window at the story. Leon was the only character I related to at all, and when he came back into the story he was as distant as the others. Perhaps Flaubert was too successful in his attempt to make Emma insensitive and selfish. She seemed inhuman.

I did find Homais somewhat entertaining as the humbug blowhard...but after the incident with the clubfoot that was funny no more. Yeech.

Oh, and I also found it completely unbelievable that this tiny town would not have figured out Emma's adultery and completely ostracized both her and Charles.