(I read the books out of order - oops! Silas Marner is being read as we speak, don't worry!)
As I started reading Madame Bovary, I thought I understood Emma well. I, too, am constantly searching for genuine emotional experiences. I understand the want and need to feel passion, wild, like the world is somewhere I belong. I hate being bored. And I can only imagine what it would be like to be stuck in a marriage with a person that didn't invoke those feelings in me. So I felt like I understood where she was coming from.
Ah, but then Rodolphe! The secret love for Leon - that I got, the forbidden connection, the hidden love. But Rodolphe? Really, truly? Dear Emma, You win the bad judgement contest.
The farther I got into the book, the more I felt myself distanced from Emma as a character. The crazier and more emotionally unstable she became, the more frustrated I was (which was probably not a coincidence on the author's part, huh?)
Truly, the only person I connected with throughout the whole novel was Charles. Poor, silly Charles, content to just be a country doctor, enamored with his silly, deceitful wife.
Although, I did love Homais. What a fantastic character.
3 comments:
Your post makes me want to read Madame Bovary again and revisit Charles because I hardly remember the book. It is fun to connect with a character who is not the "main" one. :)
I haven't read Madame Bovary. Should put it on my list.
This is a fascinating kind of book review, very unique, shows your true voice. I love it.
I know! I felt the same way about Charles, although I did want to slap him senseless when he found out about Emma's affairs and didn't sober up. I wanted him to get angry, get over her, and take care of Berthe, which of course, would have killed some of the romance in the story but so the realist in me would have had it. :) I found myself really wanting to like Emma but never really able to fully commit to doing so after the end- and I loved your comment about Rodolphe! I felt the same way!
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