This is the story of Emma Bovary, a woman who longs to leave her home in the countryside and live in Paris, where she can be free as a bird and live life luxuriously. However, when she realizes that being married to Charles Bovary, a an uninteresting simpleton of a doctor, will never allow her to live the life she wants, Emma decides to make a few adventures of her own. But her scandalous decisions ultimately lead to tragedy.

I was first exposed to this book for my literature class, I'll admit, but I enjoyed it a great deal. Therefore, this book is good both for academic and casual reading.

While this is an English translation, I was in love with Flaubert's language and vivid descriptions. I also found the plot to be intriguing.

Yes, I'll admit that I felt a little sad by the end of this book, but it made me think, as well as gave me some insight on what life for women like Emma was like

Madame Bovary caused such a scandal that Flaubert was actually put on trial for this book because of its then "racy" subject matter.

Aside from being a highly political and now historical work, Madame Bovary is also an entertaining read! Why, with all of the English translations that are continually being released, it made me wish I knew how to read French!

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Created Oct 27, 2010 at 7:45pm • Submit your own review...