Zola is/was a I seem to recall briefly hearing of in the past but I'd not checked out any of his books. Until now. As a book put on a set reading list for uni I was expecting an amazing read. However, when I read the blurb which happened to mention "Adultery, murder and madness" I knew this would be my type of novel.
SPOILERS FOLLOW
We're introduced to a bored married woman who initially hates her husband's best friend until, one fateful day, he kisses her and a whirlwind romantic affair soon begins. As with all of these type of affairs we have the man sneaking up to his wife's bedroom for passionate love-making (something which today may be known as "hard, rough sex" - something which I seem to be able to hear from my roommate's room right now). As time goes on, the man and his lover conspire to murder her husband so the lovers can finally get married.
However, as one may or may not expect, things go wrong and they move their seperate ways until a year and a half later when the marriage is finally on the cards again. Cue a disappointing wedding and a chain of events to create an unhappy and abusive couple and you have Therese Raquin in a nutshell.
For a piece of 19th century literature this was a novel written in simple English with no 'classic' words often used in those days. For a book with such violence and anger it has a surprising lack of swearing, although this may just be due to class and time etc.
After reading the blurb I expected something good and something good is what I got.
I doubt I'll be picking this book up again any time soon but it will be one to remain sat on my bookshelf waiting in anticipation to be read again.
If you're a fan of literature with a dark side to it and easy-to-read language, Therese Raquin is certainly a book worth picking up sometime.
Rating: 3.7/5
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