Madame Bovary Final Update

Linked up at ebookclassics.

Yay, I finished! Let's talk about it. It will probably be filled with spoilers, so if you haven't read Madame Bovary, I advise you ignore this post.

Emma

Did Emma learn her lesson? I'm not sure. (I have a big thing for people learning their lessons, as you can see from the second book featured in THIS post.) She had some moments of revelation where she realized that maybe she wasn't headed in the right direction, but her desires and selfishness soon pushed those moments into the back of her mind.

Emma and Leon's relationship solidified what I said in my last update. Emma will NEVER be satisfied. She thinks once she gets Leon, she'll be happy, but even then, there are thousands of troubles that just won't go away. Emma always needs novelty, and her relationship with Leon grows old. Leon is getting tired of her continuous needs, even to the point of noticing that the other men at his office are talking about how Emma is a bad influence on him. She always wants to be in a relationship that is in that phase of passionate first love, and doesn't understand the concept of a calmer, constant love that does not always need to be manifested by grandiose romantic gestures.

Charles

Poor, poor Charles. All he wanted was to be the beloved father and husband in a happy family - is that too much to ask? He seems to have bad luck in picking out wives. His first one is too old and he doesn't really love her, and his second one is unfaithful and flighty. Emma is Charles's downfall. She spends all his money and makes him go bankrupt. She thinks she knows how to deal with financial matters, but, in the long term, she doesn't. Selfishness! UGH. My heart broke for Charles when he found out that Emma had been cheating on him. His last hope had vanished.

The end of the book seemed to drag on a bit. We get it - Emma's dead. The book could have ended there, maybe with a short Epilogue to show how everything turned out. We did NOT need all that detail afterwards. Do we care that the pharmacist got the Legion of Honor?

So, overall, a good read, though I can't exactly pinpoint how I feel about it. It was more of a character study than a story, and could have been shorter than it was (cut off a few chapters at the end, maybe?).

What did you think of it? 

~Sophia

Here are my previous updates:
Update #1
Update #2

Madame Bovary Update #2

(This post is linked up at ebookclassics)

Whooo.... Part 2 had a lot to it, for sure. This post will only give you a slight glance at all my thoughts....
Madame Bovary is developing into a fantastic character exploration, not only with Mme. Bovary herself, but also with Charles, Rodolphe, and others.

Note: May Contain Spoilers!

Emma

Emma is just getting more and more frivolous and unsympathetic as the book goes on. I said I pitied her in Part 1, and that I understood where she was coming from. Well, now she's just going a bit far. She's ignoring her position as wife and mother and acting totally selfishly. Her whole person exudes selfishness. She wants adventure, she wants romance, she wants intrigue, but she doesn't give a moment's thought to how her desires will affect those closest to her - her husband and daughter. For heaven's sake, Emma, take a minute and think of somebody other than yourself!

Because of this selfishness, Emma is always unsatisfied. She always wants the next level up. Even if she ever became a prestigious, rich lady, she would want to be queen. Emma tells herself, "If I can only reach ____ point, or if I can only get ____, I will be happy and satisfied." But of course, this never happens, because once she gets that thing, there's always the next object of desire. Emma can't make the best of what she has, or take joy in the simple things. There's this continuous search for intrigue (Rodolphe) and adventure/fame (the operation).

Charles

Poor guy. Bad luck seems to intentionally search him out and latch on to him with a vigor. Not only does he have an unloving, unfaithful wife who is going through constant mood swings, he also is going through money troubles. And to top it all off, he botches a new operation - one that apparently wasn't ever really legit in the first place, and only a Parisian fad. Poor guy.

The thing is, he really loves Emma, and daughter. He may be rather oblivious and gullible (he doesn't notice that Emma is having an affair with Rodolphe, or even that their relationship is anything other than platonic; and he also agreed to jump into doing an operation that has not yet become common practice, and the risks of which are not yet known). But despite this, he is a truly good-hearted fellow who is striving to do his best for his family and for his community.

Rodolphe

There are two ways to look at Rodolphe.
Firstly, we can see him as trying to convince himself that he doesn't really have any ounce of feeling for Emma, that she is only one of his affairs, just for fun. But there really is a part of him that does have feelings for her, and that is why he took so long to leave, when he could have just disappeared one day.

The second way to look at Rodolphe is that he really doesn't have any feelings for Emma, and the reason why he stuck around for so long was because he likes knowing that there are women out there who still wholeheartedly love him, and by leaving such a dramatic letter and all, he ensures that Emma might never see through his deception, and will continue to love him. It's a pride thing, it's a selfish thing, knowing that his "conquests" still believe in him, even though he has abandoned them and will never see them again.

The final update for Madame Bovary will go up on the 30th!

(And HERE is the first update, if you'd care to read it.)

~Sophia

Whether or not you're doing the readalong - what do you think of the development of Emma's character? What about Rodolphe and his relationship with her?

Madame Bovary Update #1

Here we go with Part 1 of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary!
This will cover two random aspects of this book, and is linked up at Cedar Station.
I've got fifteen minutes to write this, so here goes -

Emma Bovary's character

Emma is an interesting character. The reader can clearly understand her motivations, though we might possibly be a bit judgemental - she does seem a bit shallow, after all, yearning for the life of splendor and riches and material things. But my biggest feeling for her is pity. Her heart longs for the romance and whimsy that every young girl longs for at some point in her life - Prince Charming sweeping her off her feet, reading her love poems, and singing serenades. Her life, living in a farmhouse with her father, is nothing at all like the novels she read in school, and she has never had the chance to really experience true love. She thinks she loves Charles, because the love she has read about is merely butterflies and pleasant conversation, but after her disillusionment, she is stuck at the point of no return.

So, she turns to the material things in life that she hopes will make up for lack of emotional romance. So really - I pity her. I really feel bad for her because she never got the Prince Charming of her dreams. And she had no idea what true love was.

Weird Beginnings

So the story starts out with a first person narration by a classmate of Charles Bovary. It doesn't continue in first person, and sort of shifts in a sneaky way into third person without you noticing it. What the heck is with that?
I really have no idea why this is so. I must admit, however, that first person narrators do generally capture my attention more so than third person, and when I opened up the book at the library and read the first couple sentences (to determine which translation I would pick), I automatically felt my brain engage. First person does that. It throws you into the narrator's experience.
But after a while, that first person fades out. Because really, the story is about Emma Bovary (no, duh?). And Charles' classmate really did not have an intimate knowledge of the Bovary family's daily affairs - or the feelings of both the wife and the husband.
So that's really all I have about this weird point of view switch. Will Charles' experiences at the school come back at some point with greater significance? Or was that just to show his personality and give him a background and history? We shall see.

On to Part 2!

If you've read Madame Bovary (or are reading it for the readalong) - what do you think of Emma Bovary? What about the strange point of view in the opening of the novel?
(No spoilers please, if you've already read the entire book!)

Madame Bovary Readalong

Yes yes, I know I said that I would read Ender's Game next, but a Madame Bovary readalong for April popped up and I just couldn't pass on it!

Every week one of the lovely hosts - Juliana (at Cedar Station) or CJ (at ebookclassics) - will host a check-in post with thoughts and discussion questions. Here's the schedule:

Part One - April 10th

Part Two - April 20th

Part Three - April 30th

Join me, if you wish! You can sign up at CJ's master post HERE.

~Sophia

UPDATE:
Here are my three posts -
Part the First
Part the Second
Part the Third

Tale of Two Cities Update #1

(This is a part of the Tale of Two Cities  readalong that is hosted by An Armchair by the Sea!)

So I thought that getting through a third of the book in four days was going to be tough, but it was actually really quick reading and surprisingly, I'm a good 5 chapters ahead! Woot!

So far, Tale of Two Cities is pretty interesting. I adore Dicken's penchant for writing quirky characters. For example, my favorite is Madame Defarge who just sits there knitting, knitting, knitting. She's just begging to be made a pivotal plot point - but even if that doesn't happen, kudos to Dicken's for making an interesting side character.

With Dickens, what I was afraid of was long digressions. These don't happen as often as in Bleak House or Old Curiosity Shop (which, as you may remember, were my two failed attempts at Dickens), and aren't nearly as long. Though there definitely were a few lengthy descriptions, I feel as though I've read enough lengthy classic literature to at least be slightly used to them, and they did seem to move the story forward and give us a better picture of the surroundings.

It was in Book II that the action really started, though. It's five years later, and we have a situation that reminds me of Les Miserables - just a bit. A father, who was a prisoner for many years, now finally a respectable gentleman; and his daughter, the star of his life - young, beautiful, and delicate.
The first few chapters of Book II involve the trial of Charles Darnay. This was slightly confusing to me, but I got the gist of it in the end. Charles Darnay seems to be becoming Our Hero, with Lucie Manette filling the role of Heroine.  I'm willing to like Darnay, so I hope he turns out a nice Character.

I'm trying to figure out some of the connections here (though I'm sure it will all be revealed by the end of the book), and I just keep being amazed at Dicken's layers of story lines. There's the trial in England, and Darnay's secret, which is somehow connected to France and the Marquis (who was murdered by the mysterious "Jacques" - thus creating another mystery), and we don't really know Doctor Manette's backstory, which involves both France and England... I'm eagerly awaiting finding out how they are all connected.

And what's up with Jerry Cruncher? That fellow seems pretty awesome. I like his Character. :-)

Tale of Two Cities is much better that I could have hoped, and I am looking forward to reading some more!

~Sophia

The Difficulty of Dickens

On Monday I signed up for a Tale of Two Cities readalong in December with Bex at An Armchair by the Sea.

I read (or tried to read) my first Dickens book when I was about ten years old. I was obsessed with Eleanor Roosevelt at the time, and when I discovered her favorite book was The Old Curiosity Shop, I just had to read it.
I tried. I really tried. I gave it a good, concentrated effort. I had never given up on a book before - I've always been one of those people who need to finish what they start. But my mother, after hearing my complaints at yet another digression on "some random virtue," (as I consistently described it), gave me some sage advice: "You're reading this book for pleasure. If it doesn't give you pleasure to read it, you don't have to finish it."
I thought this over, and decided that yes, it was time to give it up. (Not forever, necessarily. Just for the time being.)

A few years later, I read Great Expectations. My reaction - to the plot, to the characters, to the splendid writing - can best be described in this way:

Waa!!

(In a good way, if you're wondering.)

I had to read it a half a year later for school, again, but I didn't mind. It's a spectacular book.

I think I've actually read it three or four times by now.

About a year or two later, I saw a preview to BBC's Bleak House. I, who am a staunch supporter of reading the book before seeing any sort of adaptation of it, got Bleak House from the library the next day.

Bleak House was better than Curiosity Shop. Much, much better. But the fact that Dickens was writing for serialization created natural digressions to take up column space. Good in a newspaper column. Not so much in a novel.

I eventually gave up on that one, too, though not as abruptly as with Curiosity Shop. I just sort of stopped picking it up when I needed something to read, and it quietly faded out of my life.

(By the way, I did see the BBC show. And it was awesome and now I'm considering possibly reading Bleak House  again soon.)

So this readalong is just the thing to get me out of my Dickens rut. I've been sort of avoiding him since the Bleak House adventure, but now may be the time to return.

I really, really hope I can finish Tale of Two Cities. Deep in my heart I hate not finishing books, and I've only ever done this with three (the two aforementioned Dickens', as well as Conan Doyle's The White Company, which is on my Classics Club list).

If you want to join me, you can link up to the original post at An Armchair by the Sea.

~Sophia

Update: Here are my three posts on Tale of Two Cities.
Post The First
Post The Second
Post The Third