Son Excellence Eugène Rougon by Zola, Émile
French
Novel
16 chapters
126,546 words
1,647 views
Uploaded by daniel
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What did I like?
This book was very easy to read, probably due to the fact that I’m reading many books written by the same author . You learn his vocabulary which speeds up the reading.
This was a book that sounded very boring, politics. It took me time to appreciate it. Zola was able to show us his imaginative writing in these memorable scenes: imperial baptism in Notre-Dame, la curée at Louis Napoléon’s chateaux and the moment Eugène Rougon admitted defeat in front of his rival Clorinde Balbi.
I‘ve learned when reading Zola, you must look for the hidden clues. In this book Zola introduced the title of his following book, La Curée, and its symbolism. ( chapter 7 pg 289-292)
The best part of the book:
Chapter 13 pg 523-529
Clorinde has waited a long time for this moment. She put herself in Eugène’s shadow ( pg 300 se mettait dans son ombre avec une humilité pleine de cajolerie), married for a social position, seduced the emperor. Now her moment has come. “Revenge is a dish best served cold”.
What did I not like:
I missed the beautiful descriptions of nature and the surrounding countryside. Zola is confined to the colors and images of interiors, drapes, carpets, ladies ball gowns, offices and a few flickering candles in De Nôtre-Dame de Paris. This book has a very limited sense of place:
Conclusion:
Not every Zola book is a “home run” . There are better books in the Rougon-Macquart series, but this was well worth reading once you know what to look for. Clorinde Balbi was a wonderful character that surprised me! Eugene Rougon was a politician “sang-froid”.