Book Review: “Madame Bovary” by Gustave Flaubert

Earlier this year, I reviewed an essay collection by Karl Ove Knausgaard titled <a href="https://zachary-houle.medium.com/book-review-in-the-land-of-the-cyclops-by-karl-ove-knausgaard-8341fc268a6a" rel="noopener">In the Land of the Cyclops</a>. That book features an essay on the mid-19th century French novel Madame Bovary, which Knausgaard called a “perfect” book. (I recently read a review of Madame Bovary online in The Toronto Star, which seemed to indicate that this wasn’t the first or only time that the book was called “perfect.”) Based on that assertion, I got curious and picked up a translation by American novelist Lydia Davis that is now in its 20th printing. (So, I’m guessing that it’s a good translation as a result.) However, I’m a little chaffed at Knausgaard because he wound up spoiling the ending of the novel in his essay — but I suppose that you can’t spoil a 167-year-old blockbuster, especially when it has been as oft-filmed as this book has. Still, you must be careful and put in spoiler alerts where necessary at the risk of ruining something for other people. After all, if you want someone to read a “perfect” novel, why ruin the ending? <a href="https://zachary-houle.medium.com/book-review-madame-bovary-by-gustave-flaubert-20a16f91ef06">Visit Now</a>