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Madame Bovary

Name: Madame Bovary
Rating: 5 (8 reviews)
Author: Gustave Flaubert
ISBN: 9780007420308

Gustave Flaubert · 2004 · 432 pages

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'...for her, life was as cold as an attic with a window looking to the north, and ennui, like a spider, was silently spinning its shadowy web in every cranny of her heart.'

Married to Charles, a provincial doctor, Emma Bovary yearns for a more glamorous life. Disenchanted with her husband and seeking an escape from their dull marriage she is soon tempted into a brief romantic liaison with another man. Although short-lived, she remains desirous of passion and the finer things in life and embarks on another affair, destroying her reputation.

Considered scandalous at the time, Emma Bovary's superficial and immoral behaviour shocked readers and caused moral outcry. Flaubert holds up to ridicule not only Madame Bovary herself, but the society that dares to judge her.

recommended by 8 people

sourced from public statements

Emily Ratajkowski
“I read this book my senior year of high school. It was one of those books that people were always talking about, but it had never been assigned to me. I can’t remember why I actually picked it up, but I immediately became obsessed with it when I did, and read it in three days. I remember sitting on a bed—it was actually my boyfriend’s bed—and sobbing when I finished it. He came in and was like, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ I think it’s one of those books that should be required reading for young women. The problems that Madame Bovary faces are actually modern, existential questions of how you feel in your body as a woman, about hope and love and the idea of a Prince Charming. I don’t think men are taught they should look to romance to figure out who they are—that still seems true today. And the main character—who at points you can’t stand and at other points you have so much love for—is one of the best of all time.”↗
Kim Gordon
“The first feminist character in a novel. I love this period of French lit, reflecting the life of a bored wife trapped as a woman in a ‘suitable’ marriage as a way to maintain her inheritance. It was seen as introducing realism and the modern narrative.”↗
Paul Theroux
“Emma Bovary, married to a good-hearted drudge, has a healthy libido, a shopping addiction, and an unhealthy sense of romance. Flaubert’s landmark work is both a romantic novel and a critique of romantic novels, and in its writing and observation it is modern and memorable.”↗
Martin Amis
“Madame Bovary is a masterpiece. Flaubert paints a picture of a woman who is vulgar, weak and stupid, but he manages to make her likeable and that’s why we love the novel so much, Flaubert’s unique style makes that possible. I also like Stendhal’s On Love a great deal, even if we lose a lot in translating a text. How can you faithfully translate Flaubert or Kafka? Translating without betraying the original text to some extent, is impossible.”↗
Lena Dunham
Esther Perel
Ernest Hemingway
Frank Chimero