Like some I believe that this book was overly detailed. Although Flaubert's style is unique to a certain extent, he wastes too much time filling the pages with unnecessary detail. What is unfortunate is that I originally thought Flaubert's sarcastic wit would play off nicely in Madame Bovary. However, he continuously takes three pages of description to relay one humorous line. By the time I make it to the funny part, I am already bored out of my mind. This is not the only problem I had with this book. The protagonist Emma came off as a snobby, wannabe elitist. Just because as a child she read a few fairy tales doesn’t mean that she should base her life around finding this “passionate love.” This is completely opposite of the feeling I derived from Jane Eyre. At least Jane was an independent, strong woman who didn’t need to depend on men for happiness. I feel like Jane Eyre flowed better. In Madame Bovary time was a huge obstacle for me; everything took forever to happen and my eyes would close as soon as I opened the book. Take the death scene for instance. It takes at least twenty-five pages for Emma to die. After the first two pages I understood the tragic, romantic illusion. Twenty pages later I felt like praising Shakespeare, (and I can barley understand his language) because it only took like five pages for Romeo and Juliette to die. By the time Emma died I was thankful because my brain was so exhausted by description. I felt no attachment to Emma and was almost angry because of how she so irresponsibly drove her legacy into debt.
The ending pushed this book over the edge and just made me want to put it down and never pick it up again. Between the long drawn out scenes and the dry, detailed passages I was ready for this book to be over.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I can understand your frustration with this novel (though, I hope to hear a few examples of what you terms Flaubert's sarcastic wit). My hope is that, by reading Barnes' novel, you'll be able to develop an understanding of what Flaubert, the realist, was after with all of this description--if not an actual appreciation of it.
(Thanks for sticking with it--I'm pretty sure you'll find the rest of the semester's readings a lot more engaging!)
Yeah but Madam Bovary was written by a man. Jane Eyre was written by a woman. I think what we should really be seeing here is the two very different perceptions of women. And ultimately, where this new eye opening perception of them both, will lead us...
it's exciting-- that is until you get bored of waiting for everyone to figure it out...
Post a Comment