On the back cover of Madame Bovary, the nature of this novel is described very well: "A brilliant psychological portrait, Madame Bovary searingly depicts the human mind in search of transcendence." But this isn't by any means a conventional search for transcendence. It's a very romantic, depressing search, where false optimism and dreams turn into pessimism when the main character, Emma Bovary, has to confront what she can't cope with, reality. In a constant struggle to break away from the ordinariness and mediocrity of her life, Emma reads provokative literature, ostrasizes herself from her husband, spends money lavishly, engages in passionate yet unsteady affairs with other men, and places more faith in religion late in the novel. Ultimately, however, none of her efforts are successful, and she kills herself, abandoning her loving, innocent husband, Charles, and her neglected young daughter, Berthe, in the large financial debt that she got them into. As Emma is dying, she looks into the eyes of her husband, who she has hated for so long, and realizes that the true love she was searching for over the years, was in his eyes, in her very own home.
It's hard to find a book that goes so deeply into the mind of a character as Madame Bovary. So, for readers who enjoy wonderful, descriptive prose (even though the original version is in French the translation is great writing) and "psychological potraits," this is the book to read. Plus, it's classic novel, and a personification of romantic literature. On the downside, Emma's constant stream of far-fetched yearnings get tiring to hear after a while, even to the point where it's easy to dislike her. She whines about what her life can't offer, but the real problem is what she can't make of life. Perhaps Emma was asking for too much, or maybe just suffering from clinical depression. The ample descriptions allow little room for an action-packed plot, so despite the three hundred pages, the book has very little excitement.
In conclusion Madame Bovary is a novel about a woman's search for happiness, a vague and dreamy happiness which even Emma herself probably can't define. The story makes the reader think, "What is the source of happiness that Emma lacks, that drives us, and prevents us from tumbling into her state of hopelessness?"
8/19/00 By Pouya Rebek