After a prolonged absence February is THE month for the revival of The Book Stripped Bare.
Although a few select 'premium' members of the club read and thoroughly enjoyed 'The Bove'; the temptations of a mince pie and some mulled wine proved to much for many to handle. Madame Bovary is a bit of a slow starter, I enjoyed reading about French provincial life (probably watching too much of Disney's Beauty and the Beast as a child did that) and getting a feel for characters that seemed more caught up in the ideals of what life should be like rather than what is actually going on around them. For some of the group this was a bit tedious and they wanted the story to hurry up and start.
The Bove, once it gets in the flow, is a great tragic novel with a perfectly flawed heroine for the reader to love and hate in equal measure. The desperation of Emma Bovary to escape her mundane life as a doctors wife, have the wild affair and handsome prince she 'certainly' deserves makes for a great story. As age takes it's toll on Madame Bovary her fixation on her dream life intensifies; throughout the second half of the novel she is teetering on the brink of madness (I diagnosed her with bi-polar by the second chapter!). The ending, unexpected and fabulous, will stay with me forever. As you can probably tell, I liked it...A LOT.
I love finding a classic novel that can resonate so much with modern day life. Literature showing us that human emotions have not evolved; dreams, desires and wishing for more than your lot in life is as apparent today as it was in Flaubert's mid Nineteenth Century 'Masterpiece' (??you decide).
My vote 9 out of 10...the rest of the group, read it and let me know.
