3rd Reading of Germinal by Émile Zola #Zoladdiction2024

❤ Time and again I have mentioned that Germinal is my all time favorite book. I haven't yet found any other which is as compelling and eloquently written as this Zola's chef-d'œuvre - magnum opus. This was my third read (listen, actually) of it, and I still hold on to my conviction, that Germinal is the most magnificent work I've ever read.

❤ Germinal is about the life and struggles of mining workers in a small town of Montsou, where Étienne Lantier (offspring of the Macquart line, with history of drunkards in the family), is looking for a job. He serves as the outsider's point of view of the local struggles (this is Zola's usual trope - a newcomer who changes or stirs the existing ground). Germinal has quite many facets of the story, the social injustice towards the working class; their hatred to the bourgeoisie; the struggles of the bourgeoisie - sandwiched between their inferior and superior of the "bosses" in Paris. It also touches on the socialism dream, and, of course, Zola's pet topic: naturalism.

❤ The strong point of Germinal lays in, as are with Zola's other books, his vivid narration of the landscape. You'd feel suffocated just by reading about the condition in the coal mine, hundred meters below the earth, which Zola brought to life through his magnificent research and detailed description. Another strong point is the eloquent prose with which he told this drama of human nature with its raw emotion. You'd feel the characters' anguish as if you are their kin.

❤ I think Germinal is one book that has to be read, not listened to. Either the audiobook I listened to uses edition with less qualified translation, or Zola's words are more eloquent read inside my head, rather than narrated. I don't blame the narrator, though, Leighton Pugh do a great job. I have listened to his narrating The Ladies Paradise, and really liked it. Germinal is just too eloquent to be narrated, that's what I think. Other than that, I think I wasn't supposed to read this book during my current mental condition. It conveys a huge amount of sorrows and helplessness (though with a little sparks of hope of brighter future in the end), and now just isn't a good time to read about these dark elements. Thus, I decided to give Germinal a rest for at least five or ten years before taking it again for the fourth time. Or maybe.... a great book is supposed to be read not more than twice, to preserve its magnificent quality? I don't know... 

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Zoladdiction 2024