Book Review - "The Ladies' Paradise" by Emile Zola

This is novel #11 in the Rougon-Macquart series and was the 6^th one in the series I had read so far (all selected at random). It so happened that all six are set in Paris. The Ladies’ Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) is one where Zola is unwontedly light-handed with his prescription of human misery.

This novel tells how a country girl Denise tries to settle in the glamorous city of Paris and courageously confronts all the mishaps and humiliation that her job as a junior saleswoman in a prestigious department store entails. She witnesses how the innovative business model allows the establishment to grow from strength to strength under the management of the shrewd and handsome owner Octave Mouret, who is a young widower and womanizer. Her strong common sense, integrity and strength of will become her only tools of self defense in the material world filled with degrading temptations, to which most of her co-workers succumb. The worst trial comes when she realizes she has fallen in love with Mouret who, tired of his own dissolute private life, is deeply attracted to her.

As the backdrop of the story, Zola paints a living picture of how the business of a luxury department store is run on a daily basis in mid-1800s Paris and how a rapacious expansion plan is carried out in tandem with the city’s ambitious massive infrastructure development. Beneath all the glamour though, there is a strong undertow that grieves the inevitable demise of small business shops and afflictions of their owners. The story also gives a realist’s glimpse into the lives of the average salesman and saleswoman employed in high-class department stores.

This novel is said to have been inspired by the development of Les Grands Magasins du Louvre in the Place du Palais-Royal of that era.

As with other novels in the R-M series I’ve read, Zola shows the same mastery in this one with his descriptions of minutiae. What I liked even better though, was still his keen insight into the human psyche and interpersonal relationships, and how he captures the social paradigm shift of the times. I feel that at heart he was very much a democratic socialist.

I’m giving this novel 4.5 stars, rounded up.

Other R-M novels I had read:-

L’Oeuvre (The Masterpiece) – 4 stars

Le Ventre (The Belly of Paris) – 4 stars

L’Assommoir (The Dram Shop) – 5 stars

La Curee (The Kill) – 5 stars

Nana (Nana) – 4 stars

Non-R-M novel I had read:-

Therese Raquin – 3 stars

Book Review - Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

I had picked up this novel at a library book sale several years ago and finally got to reading it. I am not a huge fan of WWII novels. This particular novel attracted my attention mainly due to the fact that the author had lived through the war in France.

The novel consists of the first two parts of a planned five-part epic, which the author was never able to finish as she was arrested shortly after completing those two parts and taken to Auschwitz to be executed.

Part One (The Storm) is a chronicling of events that took place during the German invasion of Paris in the summer of 1940. We meet a spectrum of French nationals ranging from an aristocratic family headed by a museum curator, a famous writer and his mistress, a wealthy hedonist, a banker, to a working class couple and their soldier son, a priest and a whore. The author presents her piercing observation of their differing mentalities and worldviews, mostly dictated by their social status and possessions. In their individual struggle to survive, they are collectively forced to endure physical and emotional upheavals that the war inflicts on them.

Part Two (Dolce) tells the narratives of three families in the village of Bussy during the German occupation from spring to July 1, 1941. The three families represent three different social classes: the aristocrats, the middle-class and the peasant class, and each holds its own values and attitude towards the enemy – the Germans. Through depicting their interaction with the Germans, the author shows us the aristocrats’ pomposity and hypocrisy, the middle-class’s down-to-earth pragmatism and the peasants’ self-righteous effrontery. Woven into this are two thwarted love affairs.

Perhaps this quote captures what in essence was the author’s view on human nature:

Important events – whether serious, happy or unfortunate – do not change a man’s soul, they merely bring it into relief, just as a strong gust of wind reveals the true shape of a tree when it blows off all its leaves.

Overall, Part One was episodic in style, while Part Two was slow-moving and overly descriptive. The two parts read like two separate novellas. Nonetheless the author has keen insights into the human psyche. It’s unsettling to think of the author facing death herself shortly after the writing ends. I’m giving it 3.4 stars. 

Book Review - "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas, pere

Whew, I finally finished reading this much acclaimed French classic. While satisfied that I can now count myself among its readers, I do have mixed feelings about this epic story of one man embarking on a revenge trajectory after being dealt a harsh blow of egregious frame-up which entails fourteen years of imprisonment and the loss of his betrothed.

The novel is one large web of intricate and inter-linking plots, apparently woven with much care and passion and sprinkled with suspenseful and emotional moments. My investment in the convoluted plots did not wane throughout the novel, although some major twists lean a bit towards fantasy and some of the minor turns appear unnecessary. Still, I loved the author’s beautiful descriptions of scenery in various parts of France, and his occasional insights on human nature spelled out in the narrator’s witty observations. I especially like the moral message that a person who exacts retribution and hurts the innocent in the process will end up with more pain than satisfaction.

As much as the portrayal of the key characters enabled me to have a good grasp of the motives and reasons behind their actions and reactions, I found that they still neatly fall into either one of two distinct categories - good and bad – with very little nuance. The good stay good, the bad stay bad, throughout. But I guess that's one way of  looking at human nature.

All in all, this was an enjoyable read and I am giving it 3.4 stars, rounded down.

Book Review - "The Iron King" by Maurice Druon

This is the first book in The Accursed Kings series which inspired George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones.

I have always wanted to learn more about the Capetian dynasty of France. In this novel, the leading character is Philip IV, also known as Philip the Fair owing to the king’s handsome looks. But his rigid and icy personality also earned him another nickname, which is “the Iron King”.

On the whole, the novel is episodic but doesn’t lack suspenseful moments. Some descriptions of the cruel methods of execution and torture are quite graphic. Apart from being entertained on the royals jockeying for power and the royal women’s love affairs, one also gets a peek into the period’s morals, superstitions, politics and religious and territorial conflicts. One of Philips IV’s more notorious deeds is his brutal annihilation of the Order of the Knights Templar and confiscation of its wealth. He also directs much of his effort towards wrestling power from the Holy Empire. Generally, character development is not very well executed.

It is interesting to note that the demise of the Order of the Templars gave rise to construction guilds and secret institutions that eventually became the origins of Freemasonry, a fraternal organization known for its secretive initiation rites.

I’m giving this novel 3.7 stars, rounding up to 4. I’m undecided as to whether I will read the sequels (including this one, there are seven books in the whole series).