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Summary: You won't forget this EMMA!
Review: I must agree with the reviewer below: even in high school, Emma Bovary made me crazy to the point of wanting to slap her! It will be worth the "re-read" (many many years later!) to see if I can get past the frustration to the "larger message." Flaubert must have intended (or hoped!) that his readers would have that reaction; even though it is hard for us to believe that an author would create such an "inhumane" character, they do exist in the world! Emma will make you crazy, but this book is well worth the read.
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Summary: A true Classic is never old, no matter what its age
Review: I don't think I'm the only one who hesitates when they pick up a so-called "Classic". After all, high school ensured that that word is forever associated with 'boring'. And if I had never read the book becuase of that hesitation, I would have missed out on one of the best novels I have ever, ever read.This novel, once started, is hard to put down. It captures your attention, it makes you want to read more. What more can you ask for? But the real beauty are the characters, specifically Emma. I have never come across a better portrait of a character in any novel. True, she is cold, and very selfish. But I don't believe you have to love a character to appreciate a book. The fascination here is not some desire for a romantic modern ending. The desire here is to become another person, completely different from yourself, for the length of time you read the book. And after all, isn't the point of a good novel to make you escape and to show you a different world? If you want to read a book you can't put down, with fresh and fascinating characters, then add this "Classic" to your library.
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Summary: Emma Bovary -- A Classic Tragic Heroine
Review: Madame Bovary is a wonderfully tragic and passionate novel. Emma's passion for romance is portrayed candidly, realistically, with no sloppy sentimentalism. Her disillusionment and downfall are brought about by her own actions, fired by her own flaws. Flaubert is very frank in his portrayal of her affairs. He is truthful about their emptiness and their consequences. This is the quality that elevates the book from a supermarket romance novel to a classic. Flaubert is quite avant garde in his sympathy for the plight of women in Emma's time period. He recognizes their lack of freedom and the social restrictions placed on women that are not placed on men. Yet he does not excuse Emma because of this injustice. She is still held accountable for her actions. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good tragedy. It is easy to relate to Emma Bovary, for everyone knows what it is to have high ideals dashed. I found the story rather slow in the beginning, but as the pace of Emma's life quickens, so does that of the novel. If you enjoy action packed plots, you may not enjoy this book. Those who enjoy satire and dark humor would also like Madame Bovary. Flaubert has a wonderful dry, cynical wit. One notices this in his descriptions of characters, especially the minor ones. He is a dark Jane Austen. I am a student at Mercy High School in CT, and I read this novel as part of the Advanced Placement curriculum. I would recommend this book to other AP students; it is entertaining, and a valuable novel to be familiar with.
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Summary: the unsurpassed pearl of French lit, or...
Review: so Nabokov's father said. And I suppose he was right. This is a work with a simple plot - a beautiful farmer's daughter yearning to bust out of a boring marriage - that can be read on innumerable levels, which is one of the marks of genius. Emma Bovary appears differently to everyone who reads about her: as a brutal narcissist, an artist without a medium, an early feminist, a clueless provincial, a great romantic, a unique lover. Perhaps the only thing that she could not be is a good wife and mother. I have read this novel many times, both in ENglish and French, and its layers and themes continue to peel away, always revealing something richer. The langugae is simply exquisite, perfectly articulated and as descriptive as Nabokov, yet spare and full of despair. It is a snapshot of one of the most realistic and complex characters in early modern lit. A must read.
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Summary: For my money, the preferred translation of Flaubert's novel
Review: When I was teaching World Literature we began class each year reading Gustave Flaubert's "Madame Bovary." Unfortunately, this is the one novel that most needs to be read in its original language since Flaubert constructed each sentence of his book with the precision of a poet. As an example of the inherent problems of translation I would prepare a handout with four different versions of the opening paragraphs of "Madame Bovary." Each year my students would come to the same conclusion that I had already reached in selecting which version of the book they were to read: Lowell Bair's translation is the best of the lot. It is eminently readable, flowing much better than most of its competitors. Consequently, if you are reading "Madame Bovary" for pleasure or class, this is the translation you want to track down. Flaubert's controversial novel is the first of the great "fallen women" novels that were written during the Realism period ("Anna Karenina" and "The Awakening" being two other classic examples). It is hard to appreciate that this was one of the first novels to offer an unadorned, unromantic portrayal of everyday life and people. For some people it is difficult to enjoy a novel in which they find the "heroine" to be such an unsympathetic figure; certainly the events in Emma Bovary's life have been done to death in soap operas. Still, along with Scarlett O'Hara, you have to consider Emma Bovary one of the archetypal female characters created in the last 200 years of literature. "Madame Bovary" is one of the greatest and most important novels, right up there with "Don Quixote" and "Ulysses." I just wish I was able to read in it French.
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Summary: Human, All Too Human
Review: One of the first great 'novels', Madame Bovary is the simple story of a petty-bourgeoisie woman, her loves and passions, her trials and tribulations, her lost dreams, and her ultimately empty life. Our poor protagonist is the victim of a miseducation in the realities of love, Emma Bovary is a girl who has hidden all her vestiges of hope in the fantasies she is fed from her novels. Discontent in her life, she turns to dreams of true romance, dreams which are so incredible they could never be attainable, and in grasping so far, she sets herself up for a terrible fall. Flaubert's strength (or rather, one of his exceedingly many) is his ability to paint such vivid, realistic characters. This is the very antithesis of those novels he so obviously mocks and disparages in this book, it is no story of swelling passions set free to rage through the soul, but a story of absurd passions leading to misery, full of human faults and unfortunate circumstance. No, Flaubert's Madame Bovary is a story wherein the end is writ at the beginning of the book; it must end the way all such foolishness ends, and we see that from the outset. It is not a book of mystery, but it is a book of such depth and character that one cannot help but cherish it immensely.
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Summary: When a woman married a wrong man¿
Review: But it is not so simple. Emma lived in the time, when somebody should be happy to get married to such a nice man as Charles was. He was educated and earned enough money for comfortable life. And what was the most important, he loved Emma. In his way. Majority of women living in the first half of 19th century would be satisfied with such a life. But Emma was not. At the beginning she seems naive and too romantic, unable to live in a "real world". Very soon we realise that she was not an ordinary woman. She was looking for higher goals in life. She was not satisfied with ordinary, shallow life; she wanted from life something more and something special. And this was infinite love. Unfortunately, she could not find it. Neither with the husband, nor with her lovers. It is in some way expectable that she at the end ruined her and her family's life. We - nowadays women - fortunately, live in different world, but our hopes and expectations are very much the same. Wonderful book, which touched me deeply.
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Summary: A multidimensional exercise in superb writing
Review: Classics are classics because they have this characteristic: they say many different things to many different people throughout time. Otherwise, they become dated and then forgotten (although there are works of art unjustly -wrongly- forgotten). "Madame Bovary" can be read from different perspectives (i.e. it might be worth reading it more than once). For other reviewers, like Gabrielle Renoir, it is "a romantic novel about the dangers of reading romantic novels", which is an original and witty remark. But it is also, as other reviewers have noted, a pure exercise in style. The legend around this novel includes the fact that Flaubert was bored with the story and the main character, certainly an unlikable woman. Supposedly, Flaubert tried to write a novel "about absolutely nothing", so that style and wording would be all in the book. It is these things and many more: a novel about life in the province; a novel about the delusions of a bored small-town housekeeper; a novel about infidelity; a novel about nothing but pure grammar; and a novel about human nature. The plot is well known, so I won't summarize it. Reviewers who read French insist in saying that it should be read in the original. I'm looking forward to do it, as my French advances. Anyway, there is no way to stop recommending this masterpiece. It is not boring at all, although the story and the characters might be. That is genius.
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Summary: If at first you find it boring, try, try again.
Review: It took me three tries to read this book. The first time I tried to read it was in English and I found it hopelessly boring. Then a professor told me that the only way this novel could be truly appreciated was in its native tongue, so I bought a French copy and made another go. I still couldn't get into it. A year passed and then I picked up my French copy again. I again found it slow going, but at the same time I was riveted. It took me a month to read, and the whole time, I couldn't wait for the book to be over so I could move on to something else. Yet when the book was finished I felt an immense sense of satisfaction and was extremely glad I had read it. I don't know how to explain what happened the third time, except to say that something clicked and I was able to sort of surrender to the novel. What makes this book so fascinating (and also what can make it seem so stultifyingly dull) is its exacting realism. We get to know Emma Bovary intimately. However, we aren't treated to any psychological deliberations on her part. This is a woman who simply does as she must do, without reflection or concern for the consequences of her actions. Flaubert masterfully lays out her whole life as if it were a painting; everything that happens to her is the inevitable result of what has gone before. Along with the realism, this book posesses mordant wit and an almost shocking sensuality. The way Flaubert describes Emma's gestures, expressions, and appearance makes it abundantly clear why she is so desired by first the doctor who marries her and then the two men who become her lovers. Most novels are eloquent and expressive on the subject of desire itself, within the heart of the beholder, its agonies and hopes and longings. But this is the first book I've read that makes felt so unambiguously the _desireability_ of a character. It is almost an objective rendering of desireability, if there can be such a thing. This is no mean feat, and Flaubert pulls it off impressively. If you're reading this book with the expectation that you're going to be swept away & carried along by the plot, you won't enjoy it. The plot is complete and not unsatisfying, but it is only a vehicle for Flaubert's wit and his keen observations about human nature. If you can get into the right frame of mind, you will admire Flaubert's novel for the skill with which he skewers human character and the way he makes an unsatisfied provincial woman in an unremarkable provincial town seem almost tangibly real. I feel like I should give this novel 5 stars -- after all, it is a "great" novel and who am I to judge Flaubert? I've certainly never written anything as good as this. I give it four stars because it's just not as enjoyable or readable as some of my personal favorite "classics" such as Persuasion or Room With A View. It's a difficult read. But still, in the end, rewarding.
Rating: 
Summary: OK it's a classic, but it bored me to tears
Review: This is one of those books where I can see why people consider it a classic, at the same time that I wish I'd never been forced to read the silly thing. Some classic books are hold your breath reading. This is smother your yawns reading. The grammar and prose are not enough reason to read the tale of a silly woman and her boring husband. Though if Emma were real she'd be a hot candidate for the Darwin award. If Flaubert was so bored by his story and subject, why should I be interested in them?
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