Earth (Oxford World's Classics)

This novel created a stir when it was first published for its barbaric depiction of agrarian life. It definitely is brutal with all kinds of callous outrage and sexual assault. I only got half way through before I was worn out by the constant rage going on between the characters. Since I didn't finish the book I can't say if there was an underlying point. In terms of the writing quality, I have to say it is exceptionally descriptive. The depiction of the landscape is the one source of serenity in the story of hostile engagement. You can tell the beauty of nature is always present, and it makes you wonder if that beauty is only an illusion since nature is by far more brutal than what humans can do.

I've read that The Earth is one of Zola's "finest works" I've read Zola for many years and I agree. This is a great story which leaps out at you along with great characters, colorful imagery and plenty of scheming and evil deeds. There's plenty of sex if you want that. I can't recall a story with such hateful and greedy characters. I really loved this book. The language flows along easily with a refreshing translation. The shortcomings in the translation do not mar the comprehension of the story or the pleasure of the characters. At points the story gets a bit slapstick, but maybe that seems so because the humor has been imitated and dragged through drama and literature for so many years. Read the book!

the price.

It is next to impossible to read such small print.

I am a Zola’s fun

Another great book by Zola!!! Like all his work, the reader feels like he’s actually in late 19th century France! Loved this book!

Now I know what life was like on farms in the 1800s—grueling and highly odiferous.

Zola considered Earth as his best novel: he was probably correct. The novel paints a graphic portrait of the French peasant, and of his fanatical connection to the soil. There is family conflict, although ultimately loyalty wins the day. There is human sexuality which entwines with the fecundity of the earth and farming itself. But finally the passionate desire to possess land and make it fertile transcends everything. The novel has a multitude of characters and contains epic descriptive passages.

I'd been putting off these rural Zola's and re-reading the moneyed Parisian ones, but spent lockdown catching up on the Rougon-Macquarts. I'm glad I did read this, it took my breath away. So vivid, so brutal and heartless. The rhythm of the seasons, the love/hate of families. At one point I was in tears, and the ending just left me horrified.