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Context: Developed a terrible infection from a mosquito bite on my left leg while I finished this off. Doesn’t look much but it took a week in bed to get rid of it. Nearly had to have surgery!
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REVIEW
Not read any Zola before so I was glad to find this a terrific read. Can’t really tell you much about the plot without spoiling it all for you. Suffice to say that we are in the hands of a master story teller here.
Have you ever read Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton? If you have, imagine the same kind of story but with a bunch of characters who you basically despise and who, rather than control who their demise occurs, fall prey to forces of human nature which leave them helpless and doomed. Sounds fun don’t it!
Anyway, from the very opening line you know that this is a novel washed with darkness. It’s everywhere. From the clothes to the locations and to the people themselves. But there are glimpses of light: the crucial scene on the river takes place in brightness and clarity. Nice contrast.
I’m sure more sophisticated readers than me will be able to wax lyrical about character development and symbolism and other reasons why this novel made the 1001 list. For me, it was just a great story with great characters.
| OPENING LINE |
At the end of the Rue Geunegaud, coming from the quays, you find the Arcade of the Pont Neuf, a sort of narrow, dark corridor running from the Rue Mazarine to the Rue de Seine.
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| 99TH PAGE QUOTE |
This far into the book, a lot of the plot is revealed. If you want to see the quote, click show
When the two murderers were extended under the same sheet, and had closed their eyes, they fancied they felt the damp corpse of their victim, lying in the middle of the bed, and turning their flesh icy cold. It was like a vile obstacle separating them. They were seized with fever and delirium, and this obstacle, in their minds, became material. They touched the corpse, they saw it spread out, like a greenish and dissolved shred of something, and they inhaled the infectious odour of this lump of human putrefaction. All their senses were in a state of hallucination, conveying intolerable acuteness to their sensations.
The presence of this filthy bedfellow kept them motionless, silent, abstracted with anguish. Laurent, at times, thought of taking Therese violently in his arms; but he dared not move. He said to himself that he could not extend his hand, without getting it full of the soft flesh of Camille. Next he fancied that the drowned man came to sleep between them so as to prevent them clasping one another, and he ended by understanding that Camille was jealous.
Nevertheless, ever and anon, they sought to exchange a timid kiss, to see what would happen. The young man jeered at his wife, and ordered her to embrace him. But their lips were so cold that it seemed as if the dead man had got between their mouths. Both felt disgusted.
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| CLOSING LINE |
This is a bit of a giveaway so click if you want to show
Madame Raquin, rigid and mute, contemplated them at her feet, overwhelming them with her heavy gaze, and unable to sufficiently gorge her eyes with the hideous sight.
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RATING
Key: Legacy | Plot / toPic | Characterisation / faCts | Readability | Achievement | Style Read more about how I come up with my ratings
