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Ben Loory's Reviews > La Bête Humaine
La Bête Humaine (Les Rougon-Macquart, #17)
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i avoided naturalism for a long time, i always thought it was going to be really dry and boring stuff, social criticism and whatnot, stories about people reduced to poverty by unfair labor practices who then get caught stealing shoes or something and get executed in the town square... but these zola books are the exact opposite, all the conflict is coming from inside the characters, everyone's bursting with hatred and jealousy and nebulous urges to kill and maim and destroy; everyone in this book is on the verge of killing someone, and most of them actually do! though sometimes the wrong people... it's basically like a bret easton ellis novel except everyone's good too, they are human as well as human, they're not all just a bunch of sociopathic morons... anyway, this thing MOVES like crazy and it's just one white-knuckle suspense sequence after another, it's kind of incredible really. reading this, the thing that pops into my head is, "oh, and then everybody just copied this for another 120 years??" i don't really see a lot of advancement from here. things went interior and got a little more high-falutin' i guess... but there's not really much to be improved upon in this... it's pretty much perfect i think.
Clenching his teeth, he pursued her without a word. There was a brief struggle and she was back by the bed. She shrank away, desperate, defenceless, her nightdress torn off.
"Why, oh God, why?"
He brought down his fist and the knife nailed the question in her throat.
Clenching his teeth, he pursued her without a word. There was a brief struggle and she was back by the bed. She shrank away, desperate, defenceless, her nightdress torn off.
"Why, oh God, why?"
He brought down his fist and the knife nailed the question in her throat.
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Finished Reading
December 31, 2012
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Adam
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Dec 31, 2012 04:51PM
I really need to read Zola. Tom Wolfe always has such interesting things to say about him.
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Oh I have this book for three years now. Your review is telling me that this should be my priority for 2013! Thanks.
I read The Belly of Paris when Dennis & I went there last year and LOVED it, but have yet to read Zola's other works. I am looking forward to this as my second one! ^_^
Onward with Zola! He deserves the attention.
Zola's topsies on my list to get to--I've read some of his non-fiction about experimental fiction. In one he says something like, "Hey, people used to think medicine was an art. That's how little we know about fiction today." He was bent on thinking of writing as a science and I COMPLETELY agree with that methodology. It's brilliant stuff. I may have to start with this book you've reviewed, Ben. It sounds great!
