The Belly of Paris (Oxford World's Classics)

Florent Quenu “espoused an ideal of pure virtue and sought refuge in a world of absolute truth and justice” and “became a republican, entering the realm of republican ideals as girls with broken hearts enter a convent; and unable to find a republic where sufficient peace and kindness prevailed to soothe his troubled mind, he created one of his own.” His delusional, Christ-like (his brother being his only disciple) naiveté feeds and nurtures the petty intrigue of the families who inhabit the Parisian food market, Les Halles. The result is one of Zola’s more masterful stories filled with intricate subplots that cause the reader to have ever-changing allegiances and impressions about the characters.Zola was a master of descriptive writing. In The Belly of Paris he creates scenes that the reader can see, feel, taste and, most impressively, smell the market, all of which are integral to the story. As in many of his stories, hypocritical, vicious gossip does much to drive the narrative. The highlight in this novel is a scene in which Zola intertwines the voices of the women at the market with the stench of the cheeses surrounding them as their chattering sets off the events that lead to the inevitable conclusion. As the “great explosion of smells“ combined, “The stench rose and spread, no longer a collection of individual smells, but a huge, sickening mixture. It seemed for a moment that it was the vile words of Madame Lecœur and Mademoiselle Saget that had produced this dreadful odour.”Unlike many of the other novels I’ve read in the Rougon-Macquart cycle, the first part of the story is filled with sympathetic characters. Reading on, it was like a being in a constant, unbalanced state and compelled me to keep reading. The Belly of Paris would be a great starting point for anyone interested in learning about Zola’s writing.

Emile Zola’s “The Belly of Paris” is the third novel of his epic cycle, Les Rougon-Macquart. I thought long about how best to sum up the novel, but concluded Brian Nelson’s excellent introduction could not be surpassed. He wrote:"…The Belly of Paris (has) a high degree of ideological ambiguity. There is no equivocation, however, in Zola’s satirical critique of the bourgeoisie and the ‘high’ capitalism of the Second Empire. The last words of the novel – Claude’s exclamation ‘Respectable people…What bastards!’ – deplore the triumph of the ‘Fat’. Beneath the outward ‘respectability’ of the bourgeoisie there is a venality and brutality that Zola portrays as monstrous. Marjolin, the young woman in the pink bonnet, and above all, Florent are sacrificed on the altar of bourgeois greed.”“The Belly of Paris” holds many lessons applicable to our times. Read it and you may see the same story transferred to New York or Houston in 2013 – as Professor Nelson noted “the bourgeois triumph repeatedly over the workers; political idealism goes nowhere.” Just replace “bourgeois” with “job creators” and “workers” with “takers” and the statement is relevant today.

I usually like Zola's writing but could not really find the center of interest in this novel. His protagonist returns to Paris after a long absence and his brother has taken over the bakery and married a dominant wife. The protagonist is not in himself interesting. HIs surroundings are interesting. I have to finish the book and hope I do. I got a little depressed at the lack of life in the main character.

Classic book. An addition to any good collection.

No one will ever mistake this for 21st century literature. An outstanding book.

A great description of Les Halles in the mid-19th century. Zola has a poetic knack for juxtaposing descriptions of the various foods and flowers in the market with the character's actions. I thought this would be more like the Jungle, but it is nowhere near as troubling; or Germinal, where life in the coal mines is far more awful.Mostly, the Belly of the Beast is about human cruelty

I’m a big Zola fan, but I skipped large parts of this book. The repetitive, over-the-top descriptions, together with a collection of unlikeable characters, made this book one of my least favorite Zola novels.

This book was a fascinating read about the time of Paris 1850s made real by the fictionalized account of Florent Quenu who was unjustly deported, escapes, and returns to a Paris he barely recognizes. It has everything from the radical and the indolent along with those just trying to survive and how so much revolves around food.

I enjoyed reading this book but felt it was just not in the same class as some of Zola's other books such as L'Assomoir and Germinal. If you are new to Zola I think you would be best to start with one of his "classics". This story is about the newly built Les Halles market in Paris and follows the fortunes of Florent Quennu a thin pale young man who was imprisoned on Devil's Island after inadvertantly getting caught up in a violent riot. He has managed to escape and has made his way back home where he finds his brother running a thriving butcher's shop and married to a plump, pretty woman who instantly dislikes Florent. The situation isn't helped by the fact that their business has been funded by an inheritance that should have gone to Florent or that Florent begins to teach the son of his sister - in -laws arch enemy. Florent becomes the Fish inspector at the market, a job he detests and also gets caught up once again in revolutionary activity which leads to tragedy.Like all Zola's there are also a host of sub characters and their stories featured. Where this book is more unusual is in the long descriptions given about the market and its smells and sounds which although well written became a little tedious. I also found the characters were not as well developed as in othe Zola's I have read and so I felt less empathy for and insight into their situation. However, I still enjoyed reading this, it just was not his very best.

This is one of the more descriptive novels in Zola's "Les Rougon-Maquart" novels. There isn't much of a plot and Zola is really interested in describing the decadence of Second Empire France as characterised by the abundance of food for those with the means in contrast to the poverty of the many. You really get a feeling for the sights and smells of the market of Les Halles, where the book is mainly set. The descriptive passages are truly wonderful.If you are working your way through the series this is essential.

One of the most vividly atmospheric books I've ever read. From the opening lines - where the fugitive Florent returns to Paris hidden in a vegetable cart after escaping from Devil's island - the reader is plunged into the world of Les Halles, the city's covered food markets.Zola's descriptions of the meat, fish, fruits and vegetables on display have the symphonic richness of a prose poem, symbolically equating their decorative abundance (and fly-specked corruption) with the excesses of the French Second Empire against which Florent has rebelled.Unfortunately, his fascination with the markets and the gossipy, upwardly mobile petit bourgeoise traders who inhabit them, does detract from a not-too compelling central story. Florent is a weak dreamer, whose attempts to live under a new identity with his butcher brother and organise a new insurrection against the government always seem doomed to failure.He's constantly manipulated by his upwardly-mobile sister-in-law Lisa, who despises his politics and is keen to get rid of him, and her great rival La Belle Normande, a fish trader who sets her cap at Florent to gain revenge on her snobbish former schoolfriend. They're both far more compelling characters and in the end Florent's story is swallowed up in the recreation of a grubby, acquisitive world that Zola clearly finds appalling and fascinating at the same time.The novel is an early entry in the Rougon-Macquart cycle and there's a definite sense of Zola introducing characters who will be more significant later, and experimenting with the form his "naturelle et sociale" history of the Second Empire will take.All of this makes it less successful and rewarding than some of his works(Therese Raquin has a taut, utterly compelling plot yet is still steeped in atmosphere) but worth it for the experience of a master stylist evoking a lost world (the markets were demolished in the 1960s) and creating an Orwellian atmosphere where the authorities keep the masses enslaved by encouraging them to acquire a bit of money and social standing - and betray even family members to keep it...It's an excellent edition, too - solid introduction, illuminating background notes, very extensive bibliography and a translation that captures Zola's earthy, worldly tone - so different to what Dickens was producing at roughly the same time but sharing all his reforming zeal and rich humanity.

Zola continues his appraisal of Second Empire France by a painterly description of Les Halles in all its glory and bestiality. The plot is simple, but the relationships among the market workers is brilliantly depicted. There is much symbolism and significant sexuality. The translation is superb.

Zola's 'naturalist' depiction of the excesses and deprivations of Parisians living around the city's markets is one of the most evocative descriptions of Paris in the late nineteenth century. A wonderful translation that immerses us in the backstreets and alleys of Zola's Paris.