Her change in attitude comes shortly after marriage, when she and her husband are invited to a party with a local Marquis. She enjoys their decadent lifestyle and is in awe of the libertines she meets (though nothing Sadean happens in this book). Later, she falls in love with a young man, who also loves her. They never express it, however, and when he leaves for Paris she descends into near-madness. This is approximately the first one-hundred pages of the book.
I am torn as to my opinion of the book so far. Flaubert is a bit like Hemingway, in that he does beautiful descriptions of setting. The characters, aside from Emma, do not seem to develop much, but I believe that is a bit of the point. Occasionally Flaubert makes stark breaks in point-of-view. You see something through Emma's eyes, then suddenly it is some other character without segue. While I can't say exactly what it is, something compels me to keep reading.
1 comment:
This is a book I've got in my library here at home, but I've never read for some reason.
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