Madame Bovary

Written by Gustave Flaubert

Narrated by Imogen Stubbs

One of the great novels of nineteenth-century France, Flaubert draws a deeply-felt but sympathetic portrait of a woman who, having warned a country doctor and found herself unhappy with a rural, genteel existence, longs for love and excitement. Her aspirations and her desires lead her into a tragic spiral downwards.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks
• Release date: Aug 13, 1999
• ISBN: 9789629545314

Gustave Flaubert

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) was a French novelist who was best known for exploring realism in his work. Hailing from an upper-class family, Flaubert was exposed to literature at an early age. He received a formal education at Lycée Pierre-Corneille, before venturing to Paris to study law. A serious illness forced him to change his career path, reigniting his passion for writing. He completed his first novella, November, in 1842, launching a decade-spanning career. His most notable work, Madame Bovary was published in 1856 and is considered a literary masterpiece.

Reviews for Madame Bovary

[lindseyrivers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A relatable character whose issues transcend the generations since the book was written. A long story but worth the read.

[cranmergirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I enjoyed the writing and was entertained by the story, I could not relate to the protagonist of this classic novel in any way. If Flaubert was truly Emma Bovary, as he famously said, that is quite sad for him! There was not much to like about her. She was shallow, pretentious and totally self-absorbed. Some reviewers have pointed out that Emma Bovary was trapped in a bad situation due to her gender and the social conventions of her time. While that may be true, there was nothing noble or sympathetic about the character of Madame Bovary. She continually and selfishly pursued her self-destructive quest for "love" while ignoring what was right in front of her the whole time, a husband and child who truly loved her.

[calavari · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read for college. I didn't so much enjoy it as much as I appreciated it existence. Bovary is not a likeable character for me, but I understood where she was. She is one of those characters that make me wonder about the lives of women back when they were written and how many would have been better off had they been allowed to make their own way in the world.

[clanky_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is supposed to be a classic, but I believe the only reason it was popular back in its day was because it was so scandalous compared to anything else published. The book dragged on and on and the lead character was simply not all that like-able. Sometimes, a person gets what they deserve. Other times they don't. This book exemplifies this, only it takes way too long to do it.

[leandra53 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ein ganz großer Roman, sicher. Und eine abgeklärte und für ihre Zeit provokante Gesellschaftsanalyse. Aber mir war es dann doch zu sarkastisch, zu kalt, zu sehr "von oben herab". Wenn ich mich mit keiner einzigen Figur auch nur ansatzweise identifizieren kann, dann fällt es mir schwer, durchzuhalten. Spätestens ab der Szene, die (Achtung Spoiler!) den einzigen Zweck erfüllt, dass Madame Bovary weiß, wo genau der Apotheker das Arsen verwahrt, wartete ich nur noch darauf, dass sie es endlich benutzt und dem unwürdigen Schauspiel ein Ende bereitet.

[booxforme · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Perhaps the best novel ever written? I'm afraid its critique of the romantically inclined woman still rings awfully true...

[richardderus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

BkC153) Flaubert, Gustave, [MADAME BOVARY] (tr. Lydia Davis): Classic novel, deathless. Sorta like a literary zombie. Rating: 3* of fiveThe Book Description: As if one is really necessary. Well, here it is:A literary event: one of the world's most celebrated novels, in a magnificent new translation.Seven years ago, Lydia Davis brought us an award-winning, rapturously reviewed new translation of Marcel Proust's Swann's Way that was hailed as "clear and true to the music of the original" (Los Angeles Times) and "a work of creation in its own right" (Claire Messud, Newsday). Now she turns her gifts to the book that redefined the novel as an art form.Emma Bovary is the original desperate housewife. Beautiful but bored, she is married to the provincial doctor Charles Bovary yet harbors dreams of an elegant and passionate life. Escaping into sentimental novels, she finds her fantasies dashed by the tedium of her days. Motherhood proves to be a burden; religion is only a brief distraction. In an effort to make her life everything she believes it should be, she spends lavishly on clothes and on her home and embarks on two disappointing affairs. Soon heartbroken and crippled by debts, Emma takes drastic action with tragic consequences for her husband and daughter. When published in 1857, Madame Bovary was deemed so lifelike that many women claimed they were the model for its heroine. Today the novel is considered the first masterpiece of realist fiction. Flaubert sought to tell the story objectively, without romanticizing or moralizing (hence the uproar surrounding its publication), but whereas he was famously fastidious about his literary style, many of the English versions seem to tell the story in their own style. In this landmark translation, Lydia Davis honors the nuances and particulars of a style that has long beguiled readers of French, giving new life in English to Flaubert's masterwork. My Review: Realism à la Balzac gets a hefty infusion of Romanticism. The novel will always be very important for this reason. It was Flaubert's trial for obscenity, due to his authorial refusal to explicitly condemn Emma Bovary for adultery, that opened the floodgates of “immoral” realistic fiction. If anyone needs any further reason to read the book, it's also got some juicy Faustian bargaining in it. Plus everybody dies. (Srsly how can anything about this famous book be a spoiler? Don't complain to me about it.)So the review is really about this translation by Lydia Davis. She's alleged to have done a fabulous, marvelous job.Uh huh.Then, in sudden tenderness and discouragement, Charles turned to his wife, saying:“Kiss me, my dear!”“Leave me alone!” she said, red with anger.“What is it? What is it?” he said, stupefied. “Calm yourself! Don't be upset!...You know how much I love you!...Come to me!”“Stop!” she shouted with a terrible look. (Part II, ch.8)Literal translation isn't always the best. Can you, like me, hear the nails and smell the sawdust as this wooden edifice is erected? Can you, like me, feel the uncertain sway of the uneven floorboards as we ascend ever farther up Flaubert's towering if creaky scaffolding?A well-furnished mind has Bovary in it. Unless you want to slug through the mannered 19th-century French, or have a high tolerance for sawdusty English prose, I'd say do the Cliffs Notes and call it good.

[rbtwinky · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I want the last two months of my reading life back, please. This is the absolute worst book that I have read in a decade or more. Emma, the main character, is a terrible woman who makes terrible choices, and who I just do not care one bit about. This book is like listening to your much prettier younger sister whine for roughly 300 pages. I didn't feel pity for Emma in the slightest, nor did I enjoy one thing about this book except for the characterization of Charles Bovary.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Let me begin with saying sometimes it’s hard to read classics because there are so many references to their plots mentioned in other books and movies, that when you finally read them you find out that you already know too much.I started Madame Bovary already knowing the ending and much of the plot, which is unfortunate. I can only imagine how powerful this novel was for people who had no idea what was going to happen, especially when it first came out. That being said, I knew very little about the first half of the book and was surprised by quite a bit of the plot.At the beginning we meet a sweet farm girl, Emma. Charles Bovary is married to a horrible woman and he falls for the lovely girl. After his wife passes away, Charles marries Emma, making her the title Madame Bovary (not to be confused with his first wife or his mother, both of which are frequently referred to as Madame Bovary).Emma is infatuated with the idea of love, but neither she, nor her husband, actually understand what real love is. Emma expects something like the passionate affairs she’s read about in books. Charles’ version of a marriage is a simple relationship with little interaction beyond basic marital relations and discord. He expects very little from his wife and in return he gives her very little.Soon Emma is completely disenchanted with married life. As a newlywed she wonders what will happen to her bridal bouquet when she dies. Later, feeling completely numb and emotionally dead, she burns the bouquet herself, demonstrating just how detached she’s become.SPOILERS: The following comments discuss aspects in the Part II and III of the novel.Emma is searching for something to save her from her boredom and she falls for a young man, Leon, with whom she has wonderful discussions. Soon he leaves, because she’s married, and she sets her sights on Roldolphe, a local bachelor, instead. He has decided he’ll take her as a mistress and sees their relationship as a casual one. She, on the other hand, sees him as her salvation. She’s miserable and hangs all of her hopes on him. When they decide to run away together she thinks of her daughter as a mere afterthought, she’s so wrapped up in her affair. She becomes more desperate and reckless as she feels her lover slipping away from her.The scene at the opera was incredibly poignant to me. Emma watches the love affair unfold on the stage just as her own did, while her husband sits next to her, never comprehending what his wife is thinking.The book begins and ends with Charles, which is fitting. He is completely oblivious to most of what happens in his wife’s life and she passes in and out of his life before he even knows what happened. He only lets himself see what he wants to see. He pictures Emma as an innocent doll, incapable of intentionally doing anyone harm. He’s both a victim and enabler in this tragic story. He does love his wife, or at least the idea of her, but he never really gets to know her, which just increases her isolation.The real victims in the story are all of the people left behind when Emma is gone. Her daughter’s story was particularly sad. She’s no more than a footnote in most of the book and then at the end, she’s orphaned and alone in the world. Her selfish mother was never willing to put her daughter’s happiness before her own.Even though, in the end, Emma proves herself to be self-absorbed and immature, I still loved the book. It was a wonderful portrait of a woman who begins with a romantic vision of love in her mind and is heartbroken by its realities. Instead of choosing to find meaning in her relationships and give them depth, she flits to other lovers hoping to find that illusive “romance.” She looks to wealth, spending money like she can buy happiness. She thrives on lies and the thrill of getting caught. She seeks only momentary pleasure and in doing so she ruins not only herself, but her whole family. Flaubert’s talent is obvious, because despite all of those things, we still care what happens to her.One note on the translation:I can't compare all of Lydia Davis' new translation to previous ones as this is my first time reading Madame Bovary. I did read a few of the same passages I’d highlighted in Davis’ translation in another copy of the book and found them to be very similar. But Davis certainly has an elegant way with words, which enhanced my experience with the book.

[alcracka · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm still working out a review in my head, but for now: this book is perfect.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this in college and again in 2009. I didn't review it? Hard to believe but my thoughts include; I really did not like Emma but then I did not like her husband either. It is a classic however.

[k8_not_kate · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is remarkable if only because Flaubert never lets up on his characters--Charles is spineless, Rodolph is sleazy, Leon is just an awkward kid, and Madame Bovary is naive and frivolous. There is no hero, only a protagonist (certainly an anti-hero novel), which sometimes leaves you feeling desolate as you read. The tragic ending, so melodramatic for the unsophisticated Emma, tops off Flaubert's mood perfectly.Despite having all of the hallmarks of a serious downer of a book, Madame Bovary is saved by its many uncomfortably hilarious scenarios and farcical overtones. Flaubert writes the scenes of Emma's extra-martial encounters especially well, inviting the reader to both roll their eyes and be swept up in the same nonsense Bovary is swept up in. A wonderful read, whether you're assigned it or just want a novel with superb character depth.

[leahhenderson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A true classic. Everyone should read this once. Romantic yet a thriller. Authors today just don't write with this much depth to their characters. (quite racey, as well!)

[jvioland_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An immoral wife sleeps around to escape the hum-drum of existence. Ho hum. Who cares? Still, well written.

[wonderperson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Flaubert is flawless as a writer. It was Nabokov in his tome on Russian Literature which led me to discover him.
This is world reknowned famous story of the tragic lives of Madame Bovary and her husband Mousier Bovary, a double tragedy where unbeknowns to either of them their losses are reflected in the ways their lives end up in a state of tragic self-destruction. Well worth the read and I will definitely read more Flaubert.

[xieouyang · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Emma, the young daughter of a widowed farmer, is asked to marry the country doctor who's recently helped her father fix his broken leg. She has a romantic, unrealistic view of married life that contrasts with the reality of being married to a commonplace country doctor. Charles, her new husband, leads a boring life. Although he adores her, she finds his conversation mundane. She tries to love him but he does not fit the images she likes of a dashing husband, always attentive to her.They get invited to a ball at the house of the Marquis d'Andervilliers (hey! thanks to the Nook I can find this guy's name- don't you go and think that I'm so smart to memorize it while I was reading the book) and she and her husband Charles spend a few days at the Marquis's chateau. At the ball, while Charles watches a few guests plays card games, she spends the night waltzing with a young Viscount that matches her romantic images. After they return home, Emma spends her time daydreaming about the ball, the house, the Viscount and everything else she was exposed to during those few days. Her life is totally changed as she becomes more disaffected with her current life.After this time, she starts picking up lovers, one after another, and becomes engulfed in a world of passion based on lies and deceit. Her husband is totally ignorant of her adulterous behavior and, in fact, in one case facilitates her weekly rendezvous with her lover by encouraging her to take piano lessons in the town of Rouen. She spends her time in idyllic weekly encounters with Leon. All this time she is borrowing money to purchase clothes and signs bills of credit putting her husband's finances at risk. All the while he continues to be unaware of her infidelities and his financial difficulties.In the end, she faces the reality that all their belongings are put for sale to cover her debts and that Charles will find all out. Desperately she takes her life.

[brandie_14 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm glad I read it. I did enjoy the book, but I guess I'm not a very deep reader, as I guess I don't understand why this book is held in higher regards than other books published from that time period. I will say, the story could have happened today - well the plot anyway - with a few adjusts for modern conveniences, but I did like it. The only bad part was in the introduction (which I read without thinking) they gave away pretty much everything that happened in teh book. So despite having never read it before, I knew exactly what would happen. For the most paI'm glad I read it. I did enjoy the book, but apparently I'm not a very deep reader, as I guess I don't understand why this book is held in higher regards than other books published from that time period. I will say, the story could have happened today - well the plot anyway - with a few adjusts for modern conveniences, but I did like it. The only bad part was in the introduction (which I read without thinking) they gave away pretty much everything that happened in teh book. So despite having never read it before, I knew exactly what would happen. For the most part, I believe the book led to you figuring it all out before it happened, but I would have appreciated not reading a synopsis of the story as part of the foreword!

[ahgonzales · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It was very detailed writing and the story line should have been interesting, but I could not get invested in the characters. Particularly the title character. Very frustrating read. I kept expecting something to happen and even when they did, I could have cared less. Maybe it was just me, or just my view of the genre, but I found it slow and tedious at best.

[klayman-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I started the book only because I suddenly ran out of books to read, but the first few chapters grabbed me and brought me on an exciting, as well as unexpexted, ride.
I was expecting a corny romance and I found myself in the obscure and a bit scary depths of a woman's mind.

I can't say I could sympathise with Madame Bovary herself, but the book has been a real thrill.

[eesti23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Madame Bovary is the story of Dr. Bovary and his unsatisfied wife. Unhappy with the quiet, non-luxurious life that they live, she embarks on two love affairs and spends money that the couple do not end. When the money owed is called in, Madame Bovary chooses to go down a path that brings an end to her 'suffering'.I really quite enjoyed this book, although there is a moment in the book when the couple move to their new home that dragged a bit. Once you make it past this bit the story becomes quite enjoyable.

[shanetierney_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Language was not as absorbing as I'd heard to expect from Flaubert. Try another translation.

[tess_schoolmarm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Madame Bovary was a slog and a bore. It is the ageless, timeless story of a woman who is seeking fulfillment in "love." She has romanticized love and will never be happy. Emma tries multiple affairs and spending large amounts of money to make her happy, but no cigar. This was scandalous when it came out in 1856 but would be mild today. Since the story line was blase I looked for great prose; but found little. 384 pages 2 1/2 stars

[bookomaniac-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Slap begin, met oninteressante Charles als hoofdfiguur. Pas vaart na ontmoeting met Emma. Geleidelijke opbouw van het thema van de door romantische ideeën tot waanzin gedreven vrouw. Nogal vrijmoedige acties voor die tijd. Prachtige stijl: het midden houdend tussen klinisch-realisme en romantische lyriek. Bitter einde, puur cynisme. Zeer grote roman, vooral door beeldkracht, minder door verhaal en visie.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Perhaps I've been reading too much classic literature lately, but I didn't find Madame Bovary all that special -- it probably didn't help that I read another novel with an affair of a similar nature in it, Anna Karenina, just now. In terms of characters, I found it quite realistic: I could believe in all of the characters. Emma, unable to find any satisfaction, quickly getting bored; Charles, a little dense, boring, loving; all the more minor characters. The descriptions of their lives felt realistic, too. But I found it hard to get absorbed in the story: probably because, despite recognising her as a well-written, realistic character, I don't identify with Emma Bovary at all.

[soylentgreen23 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A classic. What else can one say? Oh yes, it's actually an enjoyable read as well as being supposedly one of the best books in history.

[dee_kohler_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Had to find out what all those references to Emma was all about. When I first read it I was young married, may judge Emma differently today.

[missizicks · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

What a selfish, charmless woman. There is nothing about her to recommend her.

[dele2451 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Perhaps I'm not cynical enough to fully appreciate Flaubert's work. It's beautifully written, yet I found the majority of the characters unworthy of my, or any other reader's, sympathies (excluding Berthe, the poor child). I'm giving it a 4 because of the eloquent wording and the construction of the setting and people rather than any sort of literary "entertainment value." Probably wouldn't recommend it to everyone, and I surely wouldn't lend it to anybody about to get married, but it is a decent read as long as you're not hooked on happy endings.

[nosajeel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The first time I read Madame Bovary I neither enjoyed it nor particularly liked it. The issue was probably my expectations, the lack of any particularly sympathetic characters, a moral resolution, or the large canvas one gets with something like Anna Karenina.

This time, however, I I found it stunning: beautifully written, fascinating shifting of perspective, some of the most vivid and memorable scenes in just about any book, and a relentless logic that drives the entire book forward. This translation by Lydia Davis is excellent, although I don't have the Francis Steegmuller translation I read last time to compare the two.

[2percentmilk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to punch Emma in the face throughout the entire book. Flaubert's writing made me continue the novel though. I enjoyed the novel, not because of the plot but because of the fact it was a realistic novel.I'm pretty sure I am the only person who actually cackled when Emma's death was painful. She is so dumb.