Thérèse Desqueyroux

In this brief novel boiling with tension, we see the inner conflicts of the type in Madam Bovary or Anna Karenina, but a lot more compressed and intense. Usually, I don’t like dark novels of this type, but what kept me hooked is the powerful story-telling of Mauriac, an absolute masterpiece. A deeply flawed character, Therese, keeps us engaged, because Mauriac has skillfully transferred her point of view upon us, so we are with her even if we know she is doing something unethical.

As with several recent novels I've taken on, started out quite slow but I warmed to it much more as it went on. The dark, abrupt opening starts things off on a right keel but my favourite sections came when Thérèse was finally reunited with Bernard and things become quite desperate. A portrait of a woman suffocated by provincial life, by ennui, by social custom, by her own inability to find herself in her cramped surroundings and ultimately (at least by insinuation) by her inability to realise her own sexuality apart from through her quite abstract and elusive fantasy life. Her bovarysme doesn't even let her taste the same temporary joys as Emma did, and though she ultimately gets "freedom" of a sort here it's one which promises not a show more great deal more than her previous confinement. show less

Just as soon as I want to feel sorry for Thérèse's husband Bernard, he utters a misogynistic or anti-Semitic remark. Thérèse herself is an immature brat who attempts to kill her husband. There's not one sympathetic figure in the novel yet by the last chapter there is hope after Bernard and Thérèse call an armistice and go their opposite ways. Like the rest of Mauriac's works this book can only be fully appreciated in light of Redemption.
This version includes an introduction by Raymond Mackenzie.

ספר כבד (בנושא, לא בשפה) וגם קצת מוזר על אשה צרפתיה בכפר נידח בלנד במערב צרפת שיוצאת מדעתה מנישואיה, מהשעמום מהבדידות ומחוסר התקווה ומנסה בדרך לרצוח את בעלה.

I really enjoyed this.
Following Therese's path through depression and loneliness to a position of self understanding was really absorbing and kind of helpful on my own path to self knowledge.
I will be reading this again.

Весьма невнятное впечатление осталось. Как и во многих других произведениях, часто обращаю внимание на невнятный конец. Всю дорогу грустили , под конец запели. Как-то так и здесь. Описание шло об одиночестве, хандре, непонимании, покушении на убийство, отречении от семьи и ребенка, притворстве, ценном общественном мнении и непостоянстве нашего восприятия. Довольно широкий спектр. А закончилось все show more тривиально - быть среди людей, искать близких и понимающих. Не хватило мне четкости и выраженности сюжетной линии и главной тезы. show less

Very nice and emotional. It left me a bit dissatisfied, because I think it would've included more twists. But I loved it :)