Finally...another
masterpiece from Zola! One of those that blow your minds.
The Conquest of Plassans follows the faiths
of Marthe Rougon (daughter of Pierre and Felicité Rougon in The Fortune of the Rougons) and François
Mouret (son of Ursule Macquart and a drunkard called Mouret—also depicted in The Fortune). They live peacefully with
their children in a little town of Plassans, almost a perfect happy family. But
one day Mouret has an idea to rent their second floor to a priest. Without
their knowing, when Abbé Faujas arrived with his mother, the faiths of the
Mourets have been sealed.
Little by
little Faujas and his family—later on his sister and brother in law also live
there—conquer Mourets household, just as Plassans being conquered by the Abbé.
It all comes gradually, subtly, but cunningly, that no one realizes it until it
is too late.
In this book
Zola played a lot in psychological field, that is the process of madness. The
seeds are already there by heredity, but it needs one trigger for it to start
the process. I wonder, if someone with hereditary madness is living always a
steady and peaceful life—thus never meets the trigger—could he or she be spared
from the madness?
This book is
very entertaining. What I like most is the way Zola patiently building the
momentum. He let us know where it is going, yet we don’t know how or where it
will end. And when the momentum came, it’s just…WOW! I savored the chapter of
the madman very slowly, reading every sentence twice, and at the end it felt
like I have had the best dinner in my life.
It was not
the last chapter though… After so satisfying a chapter, I thought the last one
would be slightly anti-climax (pardon me, M. Zola, for not trusting you
completely!). But… lo and behold, the last sentence was absolutely unexpected. That
was just brilliant! In the end I am so glad I can open this year with so nice
reading experience. Again…. merci beaucoup Monsieur Zola!
