The host of this April Madame Bovary read-along are Juliana at Cedar Station and C.J. at ebookclassics. | Another catching up post for the Madame Bovary Read-Along from April. I didn't finish part three until a few weeks ago, but I did finally make it. As with my Part Two update, I will concentrate on answering the questions put forth by Cedar Stations to keep moving forward on getting things back on some reasonable track. Discussion Questions from Cedar Stations post for Part 3: 1. Now that you’ve finished the book, how do you feel about Madame Bovary as a whole? Do you think the book’s ending was appropriate? If not, how would you have preferred to see the novel end? Overall as a novel, the story was well written and I did find myself still wanting to read to find out what debacle Emma would land herself in next. I can't say I loved the book as I didn't really find myself rooting for any character, with the exception of their poor daughter, but she played such an insignificant part in the story. |
As for the ending, I think Emma took the easy way out and I would have actually rather seen her truly pay for her actions by losing all her fine shiny baubles and living with the despair she created for the family. Charles was a poor casualty who seemed to have truly died of a broken heart, just gave up because he wasn't ambitious enough to keep fighting. It would have been nice to have Charles rise to the occasion and pull up his boot straps and raise his daughter to become a fine young woman. When Charles exits the picture those with a hand in Emma's spiral should have stepped up and provided some sort of financial security for the poor daughter. Even though she was not theirs, they had a helping hand in the child becoming an orphan.