logo
Wrong email address or username
Wrong email address or username
Incorrect verification code
Madame Bovary - Jessica Hische, Gustave Flaubert, Lydia Davis
Madame Bovary
by: (author) (author) (author)
4.50 10
From A to Z, the Penguin Drop Caps series collects 26 unique hardcovers—featuring cover art by type superstar Jessica Hische It all begins with a letter. Fall in love with Penguin Drop Caps, a new series of twenty-six collectible and gift-worthy hardcover editions, each with a type cover... show more
From A to Z, the Penguin Drop Caps series collects 26 unique hardcovers—featuring cover art by type superstar Jessica Hische It all begins with a letter. Fall in love with Penguin Drop Caps, a new series of twenty-six collectible and gift-worthy hardcover editions, each with a type cover showcasing a gorgeously illustrated letter of the alphabet by superstar type designer Jessica Hische, whose work has appeared everywhere from Tiffany & Co. to Wes Anderson's film Moonrise Kingdom to Penguin's own bestsellers Committed and Rules of Civility. A collaboration between Jessica Hische and Penguin Art Director Paul Buckley,  the series design encompasses foil-stamped paper-over-board cases in a rainbow-hued spectrum across all twenty-six book spines and a decorative stain on all three paper edges. Penguin Drop Caps debuts with an “A” for Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, a “B” for Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and a “C” for Willa Cather’s My Ántonia, and continues with more classics from Penguin.F is for Flaubert. Emma Bovary is the original desperate housewife. Beautiful but bored, she is married to the provincial doctor Charles Bovary yet harbors dreams of an elegant and passionate life. Escaping into sentimental novels, she finds her fantasies dashed by the tedium of her days. Motherhood proves to be a burden; religion is only a brief distraction. In an effort to make her life everything she believes it should be, she spends lavishly on clothes and on her home and embarks on two disappointing affairs. Soon heartbroken and crippled by debts, Emma takes drastic action with tragic consequences for her husband and daughter. When published in 1857, Madame Bovary was deemed so lifelike that many women claimed they were the model for its heroine. Today the novel is considered the first masterpiece of realist fiction. In this landmark translation of Flaubert’s masterwork, Lydia Davis honors the nuances and particulars of a style that has long beguiled readers of French, giving new life in English to the book that redefined the novel as an art form.
show less
Format: hardcover
ISBN: 9780143123804 (0143123807)
ASIN: 143123807
Publisher: Penguin
Pages no: 432
Edition language: English
Bookstores:
Community Reviews
Portable Magic
Portable Magic rated it
5.0 Madame Bovary ★★★★★
Monstrously selfish woman damages everything of value in her life and everyone who loves her. I found it surprisingly modern and easy to read - I practically zoomed through it. The writing is delicious and the humor is wicked. I'm only sorry that it took me so long to get around to reading it.
Adriana Reads
Adriana Reads rated it
3.0 Madame Bovary
I understand why this book was so scandalous at the time it came out. It dared to voice the fears of many women at the time (I would go so far as to say the majority of poor and working class women). Emma, while not a likable character, was trapped by society's expectations, which to some extent m...
markk
markk rated it
4.0 The first literary victim of consumerism?
I decided to pick up this book after a friend of mine saw a television adaptation of what he said was regarded as the most perfect novel ever written. Intrigued, I offered to read it with him and we both quickly acquired copies. Now that I've finished it I question the appellation. It may be a sub...
Philosophical Musings of a Book Nerd
Philosophical Musings of a Book Nerd rated it
4.0 The Tragedy of a Failed Marriage
My first impression of this book was that it was simply about a woman that was really bored and that Flaubert was a genius in that he was able to write such an enthralling book about such a dry topic - but the book goes a lot deeper than that, and to say that Emma's only flaw is that she is bored is...
Other editions (523)
Books by Jessica Hische
Books by Gustave Flaubert
Books by Lydia Davis
On shelves
Share this Book
Need help?