4.75 STARS

Quite dull and fairly depressing. Reminiscent of Stoner

A little dull in places but it reveals an interesting slice of life from the time period.

Felicidade me lembrou Macabéa, tanto pelo que ela é (ainda que existam suas diferenças), mas sim pelo que ela passa. É uma tremenda ironia uma protagonista com esse nome passar por tanta infelicidade. Tudo que lhe foi mais caro foi tirado dela, suscessivamente, mas ela se manteve mesmo depois de tudo. A escrita do Flaubert é de um primor que julgo até excessivo, perfeccionista, mas este é o estilo dele e ele o mantém com maestria nessa história curta.

A Simple Heart was, apparently, a challenge undertaken by Gustave Flaubert to write a character antithetical to his extremely popular Emma Bovary. As with most writing undertaken as an experiment this short story is technically precise and well written, but lacks the love and enjoyment that writing done for the love of it possesses. The main character, Felicite, is unremarkable protagonist, but that is likely the point. Flaubert did not name the story A Simple Heart for nothing. However, one wonders if he there is a double edge meaning to the term "simple". On one hand, it appears clear that he means simple in the classic way; plain and uncomplicated. On the other hand, it can be argued that simplicity in this case is used as a euphemism for stupidity.

My argument for this stems from the fact that Felicite, despite being mistreated and forced to work for others throughout her entire life, is too simple to ever aspire to anything more. Perhaps this is because aspiring to more would be recipe for heart ache, but she seems often oblivious to the fact that the rest of the world is not as kind of a place as one would hope.

Before this, I had not read anything by Flaubert, though his famous Madame Bovary is next on my list, so perhaps I am missing some contextual significance to this sort story. Perhaps I lack the analytical prowess to see this story for the masterpiece it is, or else only the most dedicated fans of classical French literature even bother to pick this up. Regardless, I seem to be alone in my mediocre rating of this story. Perhaps if I return to it again at some later date, I will understand the amplified ratings by others.

The first of three stories in "Three Tales". Close to 4 stars. The story was interesting at times, at times a little bit boring, writing style, what I didn't expect from Flaubert, dragged, and was bland. Those are the reasons why I have to give it 3 over 4 stars. Rating: 3.5 stars.


PS I like the parrot.

A bittersweet little tale. Wish I had read it in French, I'll have to remember to do so some later time as I really love Flaubert's writing style in his native language.

I thought I was supposed to be disillusioned with realism as a result of the book, but I felt more pity and appreciation for Félicité and her persistence through an unremarkable life. I found it a beautiful little book, regardless of authorial intent.

Review in English | Reseña en Español

2.5 out of 5 stars.

This book was a bit… meh. I was disappointed as I had expected a great story from Flaubert, something along the lines of the short story tradition of the 19th century and even more so as this is French literature. I was thinking probably of Maupassant. And it is not that the writing nor the premise are bad… is just that the story is boring and I could not connect at all with the main character, Felicité. A Simple Heart is the story of her life, which was full of grief and loss but regardless of her situation, Felicité was most of the time happy and thankful.

Orphaned at a very young age, she served in different houses where she was mistreated; she met a man who tried to seduce her and then married another one to secure his economic well-being; at 25 she entered the service of Madame Aubain, a widow with two children whom Felicité took care of and then lost… and so it goes.

I know Flaubert is known for portraying real life as accurately as possible and, having read some of his works, I know he did so masterfully. Unfortunately, this story did not work for me. Felicité was just too plain and too simple for my liking (and yes, I know there are plain people everywhere) but… I am not sure I liked to see this in a book. And even so -there are lots of characters everywhere in literature who lead sort of a dull existence and yet their lives are interesting by the world the author builds for them (I can think of Jane Eyre or Griet from Girs with a Pearl Earing. I simply did not feel this happened in this story.

For example, the opening paragraph says something along these lines: “Felicité was the envy of all Madame Aubine neighbors for almost fifity years”. Obviously, my expectations were high as I thought I’d get a glimpse into the life of a 19th century maid which, at some point and even for a brief time, lived something extraordinaryamidst her routine . But there was nothing of it -Felicité’s life is a summary of losses and deaths, a life without love. While it is true she didn’t complain and certainly embraced her situation with the best attitude, I never felt she had a voice -she was just gray. And then comes the anecdote of the parrot, which she adopted and cared for as if it were a child. What was that for?

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2.5 de 5 estrellas.

Este libro me decepcionó bastante debido a que esperaba una obra maestra de Flaubert, en línea con la tradición del cuento del siglo XIX francés. He de reconocer que quizá esperaba algo similar a Maupassant, que nunca decepciona, pero… no fue así.

Y no es que la escritura o incluso la premisa de la historia sea mala… es solo que es aburrida y en ningún momento pude simpatizar con el personaje principal, Felicité. Un corazón sencillo Es la historia de su vida, la cual estuvo siempre llena de dolor y pérdida y a pesar de lo cual, Felicité fue la mayor parte del tiempo, feliz y agradecida.

Habiendo quedado huérfana desde niña, trabajó en distintas casas en donde la trataron muy mal; en su juventud conoció a un hombre que intentó seducirla, pero luego se casó con otra por conveniencia; a los 25 entró al servicio de Madame Aubain, una viuda con dos hijos a quienes Felicité cuidó y después perdió… y así de manera sucesiva.

Sé que Flaubert es conocido por retratar la realidad de manera fiel y, habiendo leído otros de sus libros, sé que lo hace de manera extraordinaria. Desafortunadamente, esta historia no funcionó para mí. Felicité fue demasiado plana y demasiado simple para mi gusto (y si, gente aburrida existe en todo el mundo y en cualquier época) pero no me convenció ver esto en un libro. Y es que, aunque hay muchos personajes en toda la literatura quienes llevan una existencia plana, aun así su vida es interesante por el mundo que el autor construye a su alrededor (pienso en Jane Eyre, o en Griet de La Joven con el Arete de Perla). En esta historia, esto sencillamente no existió.

Por ejemplo, el párrafo que abre el libro indica algo similar A: Felicitié fue la envidia de los vecinos de Madame Aubain por más de cincuenta años”. Con una introducción como ésta, obviamente mis expectativas fueron muy altas, pensando que tendría un vistazo interesante en la vida de una sirvienta del siglo XIX quien, en algún punto y aunque fuera por un tiempo breve, viviría algo extraordinario, dentro de la cotidianidad. Pero no hubo nada de esto -la vida de Felicité es un listado de pérdidas y muertes, una vida sin amor. Y si bien ella nunca se quejó y aceptó su situación con la mejor actitud posible, no llegué a conocer su voz -era gris. Y cuando llega la anécdota del loro, el cual adoptó y cuidó como su fuera un niño… realmente me pareció algo sin chiste.