Madame Bovary (Penguin Classics)
by Gustave Flaubert
List Price:
Our Price: $4.69
You Save: $8.31 (64%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.78 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Gustave FlaubertEditor: Geoffrey Wall
Translator: Geoffrey Wall
Introduction: Geoffrey Wall
Preface: Michele Roberts
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-12-31
ISBN: 0140449124
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of Madame Bovary (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: A Compelling, Complex, Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
"The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is ''What does a woman want?'" Sigmund Freud
This is one unforgettable classic! I don't even know how to begin describing it, mainly because of the complexity of the main character Emma Bovary. When I finished this novel (almost in tears, for the ending is both tragic and very distressing) I walked away from it feeling extremely fortunate to be born in a time and place in which I have complete freedom. For, in a nutshell, what plagued our heroine throughout her entire life was the simple fact that she was trapped being a woman in a man's world (the novel takes place during the mid 19th century in Normandy). You see, Madame B. is no common, run-of-the-mill mademoiselle. On the contrary this gal is blessed with it all - beauty, brains, passion, etc... You name it, she's got it! She is the true embodiment of femininity - possessing style, grace, and a keen eye for artistic beauty, on top of also being a great cook, excellent piano player, having a knack for home-decor, sewing, drawing, etc... There is seemingly nothing she can't do or isn't good at.
Her tragic mistake (which is usually the case with many talented people throughout history) is that she marries the wrong person. Her husband Charles Bovary is a man who 'knew nothing, taught nothing, desired nothing' the complete antithesis of his enlightened wife Emma. Flaubert further defines him early on in the novel: 'Charles's conversation was as flat as any pavement... rousing no emotion, no laughter, no reverie. He had never ventured to the theatre... he couldn't swim, or fence or shoot...' In other words, he's boring as hell, and although he absolutely worships the ground his wife walks on, she, on the other hand, slowly begins to resent this servile, supine, sappy simpleton she finds herself tied down to. To complicate matters even further, she ends up pregnant and giving birth to a girl, Berthe (of course Emma was hoping and praying for a son, for 'a man, at least, is free...'). Depressed and engrossed with the eternal ennui, which inflicts so many women who marry men they feel no passion nor love toward, Emma embarks on her own personal crusade to find that happiness which always seems to be eluding her. A self-indulgent quest that in the end, only leads to catastrophic consequences for both her and her family.
What makes this masterpiece "Madame Bovary" such an interesting read is how totally modern this story is. Emma, desperately seeking an escape from being a lonesome, unfulfilled house-wife and mother, soon becomes a shopaholic, racking up debt all over town. When she is not shopping and spending money, she's having adulterous liaisons with men who... well, you shall have to see for yourself. While I was reading this, I kept thinking to myself, I know women like this! I see them all the time in the area (Silicon Valley, Northern California) in which I live. Beautiful women, who married their far from beautiful husbands for money and security. They don't work, have nannies taking care of the kids, while they cruise around in their new Mercedes or BMW shopping all day and hopping in the sack (although, like Emma, very discreetly) with one man after another. They hang out at upscale bars/restaurants with each other bitching about how difficult their lives are, how much they despise their husbands, their next trip to Europe, etc... while sipping on hundred dollar bottles of wine and comparing plastic surgeons. Talk about a sad, pathetic life... Just like Emma, these cougars are completely empty inside. They can find no happiness from within, and the more material things they possess, the more their insatiable appetites go unfed... There is no price that can be placed for love. No one material item or one night of unbridled, erotic passion can ever replace the true love of a spouse or child.
The first part (there are three parts in all) of this novel was a bit slow, but once you get to part two, be prepared to be totally enraptured with this beautiful story. I am so happy, after all of these years, to have finally read this excellent classic. Truly worthy of five stars!
Classics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Classics Books
Native sonby Richard Wright
Perennial Library; Published: 1987; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Native Son: And How Bigger Was Bornby Richard Wright
Perennial; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $60.00
Raphael and the Noble Taskby Catherine Salton
Harper; Published: 2000-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Island (Perennial Classics)by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
A Tree Grows in Brooklynby Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.89
Price in other shops:
The Great Divorce CDby C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.17
Price in other shops:
Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Black Coffee (Poirot)by Agatha Christie
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $68.32
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s)by Joan Didion
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.25
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
War and Peace (Vintage Classics)by Leo Tolstoy
Vintage; Published: 2008-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.66
Price in other shops:
A Spinoza Reader: The Ethics and Other Worksby Benedictus de Spinoza
Princeton University Press; Published: 1994-02-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.99
Price in other shops:
Perpetual Peace, and Other Essays on Politics, History, and Morals (HPC Classics Series)by Immanuel Kant
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 1983-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
The Origins of Totalitarianismby Hannah Arendt
Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich; Published: 1973-03-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Language, Truth and Logicby Alfred J. Ayer, Sir Alfred Jules Ayer
Dover Publications; Published: 1952-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.55
Price in other shops:
Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Moralsby David Hume
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1975-06-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.97
Price in other shops:
Faust: Part One (Oxford World's Classics) (Pt. 1)by J. W. von Goethe
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-07-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.56
Price in other shops:
Critique of Pure Reason (The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant)by Immanuel Kant
Cambridge University Press; Published: 1999-02-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.75
Price in other shops:
Remembrance of Things Past: Volume I - Swann's Way & Within a Budding Grove (Vintage)by Marcel Proust
Vintage; Published: 1982-08-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.49
Price in other shops:
Labyrinths (New Directions Paperbook)by Jorge Luis Borges
New Directions; Published: 2007-05-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.62
Price in other shops: