Right now I feel like four stars is the more accurate rating, but I can easily imagine myself reading this again years later and giving it a full five.

I presume Flaubert wanted the reader to dislike almost all the main characters, or at least to consider their motivations for their dislikeable behaviour. I mean, that's just what I have gathered from some reviews I've stumbled upon sporadically over the years. I hate to admit it, but I found Charles infuriating at times. Depicted as a mediocre country doctor, he isn't particularly talented and is completely oblivious of her wife's character. It wasn't the personality of Charles, or the fact that he was absolutely incapable of being firm, but I think it was the whole lifestyle he represented.

I would wither away if for the rest of my life, I was chained into a person who would be completely satisfied of leading a quiet life and doing the same things every day, year after year. There isn't anything bad in a life like that per se, but I can completely understand why Emma wanted to get away from it. Imagine the moment when you realize that for the rest of your life you are trapped, and the only way to escape it once and for all is to either run away or die.

In this sense I completely adored Flaubert's way of handling the problems of women of his time. It is completely believable that Emma is the voice of countless of unhappy 19th century women, who felt utterly desparate. Then again, the character of Emma herself was by no means likeable. She behaved erratically and was selfish to a point of egomaniac. She found opportunities to take her sexuality into her own hands, but she was never satisfied to anything. She searched constantly for new experiences, but we all know that can never happen. There are bound to be quiet days and the eventual settling of emotions. You cannot live on the top of the mountain forever.

I won't go to the matter of other characters, because as unlikeable they were, I have really nothing to say about them. The writing, however, was gorgeous. There were moments when I just had to stop and take it all in. It felt surprisingly modern for an 1857 novel.