Madame Bovary

Oh look! A "classic"! Or maybe the biggest waste of time ever! This book, although well written and an easy read, made me so angry that I wanted the main character to die almost from the moment she was introduced. Although I understand what the author was trying to do by having such a character, he kind of over does it for the sake of dramatics and the you close the book with a "whaaa?".

The story focuses on Emma Bovary, the farm raised wife of a small town doctor, who, raised on romance novels and songs of love, is utterly dissapointed when her own life does not turn out that way. She is a spoiled brat who throws fits whenever she wants, does whatever she wants bc it fits her image of what her life should be, and never once thinks about what may happen to her, her husband or her daughter.

At the start, I see that the author is trying to show us what life was like for a non-working woman. Her husband would be gone all day, and she would have nothing to do but walk around the garden and (surprise!) read romance novels. She takes her boredom out on her husband and begins to hate him, and when she finds that motherhood is also not all that is is said to be, she begins to push her daugher away as well, or use her to assuage her guilt when she momentatiry comes to her senses.

The story snowballs from here, lovers, debt, double dealing, prostitution, she does it all. By the end, you feel no sorrow for her, no sympathy. She is pathetic and I hate her. What kind of statement was the author making? Women who do not work are bad? Wives who do not love and adore their husbands are punished? If you are not content with your lot in life and strive for more you will be ruined? I am not sure. The end of the book, which I skimmed as fast as I could so I could never have to look at it again, might shed some light on his message as it related to the other characters. I will have to reread it once I have recovered from the book itself.