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| Madame Bovary: A Story of Provincial Life (Penguin Popular Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Gustave Flaubert
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Category: Book
List Price: £2.00
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £1.99 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 14629
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 4.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 0140621792
EAN: 9780140621792
ASIN: 0140621792
Publication Date: September 27, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-10 of 10 | | « PREV | | |
 Yawn! April 4, 2004
4 out of 56 found this review helpful
Garden-variety romance - even more tedious than Austen or Bronte. Suitable only for teenage girls.
 Some moments of brillliance...but otherwise just boring September 26, 2003
3 out of 26 found this review helpful
I bought this book on the recommendation of my friend, who had read about it and thought that we should try to read it over our summer vacation. My mother had already read it, and had thought that it was not that special, but quite good.
Firstly it took AGES to get past all the description in the beginning. Then it dragged on for AGES AND AGES AND AGES. It blamed Emma's passion for literature on her string of love affairs. Occasionally there were flashes of brilliance, such as the conversations between her and Leon in the hotel, and moments when I as a reader sympathised with Emma Bovary, especially after she was deserted by Rodolphe. In general, however, I was counting the pages until the end! I can see why it was deemed a milestone in literature, but as my friend put it, it is essentially, 'nineteenth century porn!' (This said after watching the TV adaptation).
 Very good, but dated May 31, 2003
3 out of 22 found this review helpful
Flaubert's style is delightful. It is simple like Maupassant's (who may have been his son, as he had an affair with his mother), whom he taught, and yet analytical too, as say Balzac. The translations are fine you find in England, Emma is a wonderfully drawn character, so real, and we judge everything and everyone in this novel by actions that we witness - an interesting method, as there is little interior action. The story is tragic and the characters supply a broad sample of humanity for Flaubert to make us give judgement to. The only thing is that like Wuthering Heights for example, this novel reads quite dated now. If you read Bel Ami, it could have been written by Sartre, if you read Lost Time, it could have been written by DeLillo (only perhaps not), what I mean is that those novels are timeless examples of what Bovary is. They utterly transcend any definition of time, whereas Bovary (like the Brontes) is an archetypal synecdoche of 'a time'. It does read dated. Yet as Proust teaches us one can document an era without resorting to over-detailing or cliche or anecdotes. That said, Flaubert is amongst a handful as the one of the best writers of the 19th century, but I don't think this novel is one of the greats. I keep seeing it on 'must read' lists like Julian Barnes's, and to have this novel and not Proust's is just nonsense.
 Rewarding if you reflect, otherwise just boring... December 21, 2002
9 out of 18 found this review helpful
Being one of the most famous works of literature, despite the fact that many professional literature criticisers has referred to it as one of the most boring books throughout time it must be admitted that it probably involves some relevant ideas and aspects of human conduct. When I read this book I found it tremendously boring and wished that it wouldn't be so long... However, since then I have found many aspects of the book which are very interesting and applicable in many areas. Besides it is a must for everyone interested in literature history since it was really the first book to introduce the naturalistic perspective in literature.
 A fantastic book June 27, 2000
6 out of 40 found this review helpful
The book had a good story line and abrilliant finish
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