Many Pageturners rated Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary in the high 3s and 4s out of 5. While some Pageturners found the descriptions boring and the story a bit tedious it made for an interesting discussion. Madame Bovary was described by one reviewer as the “first desperate housewife” because of her adultery, love of shopping and self-absorption.
The group talked about the translation, poverty and wealth, the ‘weaker’ sex, expectations of men and women, gender divide, being pigeon-holed, the characters, lower, middle and upper classes, her lovers and that carriage ride.
Comments included “beautiful language, description of interiors and the Norman countryside; full of farce and tragedy; in depth commentary of the era; she needed to get a grip; very sad, too many descriptions, she didn’t make the most of her opportunities, and painted a picture of a small town.”
Join in the thought provoking discussion about the Miles Franklin Literary Awards longlist on Wednesday 12th July from 5.30pm – 7pm. Please RSVP to 6393 8132 or via eventbrite.com.
The Longlisted books are:
Steven Amsterdam: The Easy Way Out
Emily Maguire: An Isolated Incident
Mark O’Flynn: The Last Days of Ava Langdon
Ryan O’Neill: Their Brilliant Careers
Josephine Wilson: Extinctions
Kristen Tranter: Hold
Inga Simpson: Where the Trees Were
Phillip Salom: Waiting
Josephine Rowe: A Loving, Faithful Animal
