Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

Black Beauty is an autobiography of a horse, written from the horse's point of view. The story begins when Beauty is born in good circumstances. He is well-bred and raised by his mother, Duchess, a well-mannered and wise horse who teaches him how to behave properly. Beauty then grows up at Birtwick Park, where he is taken care of by John Manly and treated kindly by Squire Gordon and his family. He lives happily there and learns that good treatment makes a horse trust and respect his owner.

However, his peaceful life changes when he has to leave Birtwick Park and move to Earlshall. There, he experiences different treatment and begins to understand that not all humans treat horses with kindness. He later goes through many difficult experiences and changes owners several times. He becomes a London cab horse and sees how hard and exhausting life can be for working horses, till he finds a peaceful and caring final home where he can live comfortably for the rest of his life.

Beauty has many friends and meets several horses who tell him about their experiences, such as Ginger, the short-tempered horse; Merrylegs, the lively pony; Captain, the old war horse; and poor Seedy Sam, a cart horse who is often overworked and forced to carry heavy loads. Through their stories, Beauty learns about the different ways horses are treated by humans.

There are so many of Anna Sewell's share criticsm, but I love to higlighted this with a quote, she criticize about fashion over animal welfare :

THE OLD HORSE: “Of course it is,” said he, "to my mind, fashion is one of the wickedest things in the world. Now look, for instance, at the way they serve dogs, cutting off their tails to make them look plucky, and shearing up their pretty little ears to a point to make them look sharp, forsooth! ............. They healed in time, and they forgot the pain, but the nice soft flap that of course was intended to protect the delicate part of their ears from dust and injury was gone for ever. Why don’t they cut their own children’s ears into points to make them look sharp? Why don’t they cut the end off their noses to make them look plucky? One would be just as sensible as the other. What right have they to torment and disfigure God’s creatures?”

about overworking and sufferig London cab horse :

JERRY BARKER: “Yes, sir, that is true, and I am grateful for all favors, I am sure, and anything that I could do to oblige you, or the lady, I should be proud and happy to do; but I can’t give up my Sundays, sir, indeed I can’t. I read that God made man, and He made horses and all the other beasts, and as soon as He had made them, He made a day of rest, and bade that all should rest one day in seven; and I think, sir, He must have known what was good for them, and I am sure it is good for me; "

When the horse pull overweight cart: 

I got along fairly till we came to Ludgate Hill, but there the heavy load and my own exhaustion were too much. I was struggling to keep on, goaded by constant chucks of the rein and use of the whip, when, in a single moment —I cannot tell how—my feet slipped from under me, and I fell heavily to the ground on my side; the suddenness and the force with which I fell seemed to beat all the breath out of my body. I lay perfectly still; indeed, I had no power to move, and I thought now I was going to die. I heard a sort of confusion round me, loud angry voices, and the getting down of the luggage, but it was all like a dream. I thought I heard that sweet pitiful voice saying, “Oh! That poor horse! It is all our fault.”

The author making the horse feel like a person with thoughts and feelings. this is interesting because this is not merely children fiction, but social criticsm that Anna Sewell  gives a voice to a creature that cannot speak. Besides telling the story of how horses are ill-treated, Black Beauty also shows us how to be a good person through the way we treat animals. Sewell suggests that kindness, patience, responsibility, and empathy toward animals are signs of good character.

“My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.”

Rating Ruang Buku Megga : ✭✭✭✭ (4/5 stars)

Title :  Black Beauty

Author : Anna Sewell

Publisher : English Classics Gramedia Pustaka Utama 
Year : August 2018  (First Published in 1877 )
Format / Pages : Softcover / 272 pages

ISBN : 9786020395173

A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemmingway

Set during World War I, when the Allies (Britain, France, Russia, Italy) were fighting against the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary) although America had not yet officially joined the war, this book tells the story of Lieutenant Frederic Henry, an American volunteer who serves with the Italian Red Cross ambulance service. The novel does not describe the war through large battles or military strategies, but focuses more on the people living through the war and how it affects their lives, relationships, and choices.

The story was no doubt partly based on Hemingway’s own experiences as an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I. One of the similarities is that Frederic is seriously wounded by a mortar shell at Fossalta di Piave, just as Hemingway was in real life. Hemingway was also deeply in love with an American nurse, Agnes von Kurowsky, while recovering from his wounds. In the novel, Catherine Barkley has some similarities to Agnes, so there are clear connections between Hemingway’s own life and Frederic’s story.

From Henry’s point of view, the war seems useless. At first, he joins the war as a volunteer and accepts his duty in the Italian ambulance service. But after seeing the reality of war, he becomes more skeptical about it. He sees many soldiers wounded and killed, the confusion during the retreat, and even his own army treating its soldiers badly. He realizes that the war is not as glorious as people say.

I agree with Henry that his life and Catherine’s life are more important than a war that he no longer believes in. However, I think the way he leaves the army is reckless. He could perhaps have tried to resign properly instead of escaping and becoming a deserter. Still, I understand why he does it. His character changes from someone who accepts the war without thinking much about it to someone who chooses his own life, love, and freedom instead.

This is my first time reading Hemingway, his style is simple and contains much more dialogue than description. Hemingway rarely explains what Frederic Henry is thinking or feeling. Because of this, I sometimes found it difficult to understand Henry's emotions and motivations. However, I realized that this is Hemingway's unique style. He lets readers understand the characters through their actions and conversations instead of directly explaining their inner thoughts. Very enjoyable to read, open my eyes differently what a war is, and I agree with Hemingway even he dosn't simply write that 'War is useless'.

"If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry."

Rating Ruang Buku Megga : ✭✭✭✭ (4/5 stars)

Title :  A Farewell To Arms

Author : Ernest Hemmingway

Publisher : Vintage Classics
Year :  2022 (First Published in 1929 )
Format / Pages : Softcover / 293 pages
ISBN : 9780099273974

 

Tarzan The Apes & The Return of Tarzan - Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tarzan of the Apes (1912) and The Return of Tarzan (1913) are classic adventure novels written by the American author Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes was first published as a magazine serial in 1912 before being released as a book, while The Return of Tarzan followed in 1913. This CloudClassics edition presents the first two of tweleve novels in Tarzan's adventures.

Lord and Lady Greystroke from England are lost at sea, and their lives change forever. Their son, Tarzan, is raised by an ape named Kala in the African jungle. As Tarzan grows up, he must fight to earn his place among the apes while learning to survive in the wild. Later, he meets a group of white explorers and a beautiful young woman for the first time. Until then, Tarzan has only known apes and the African tribes living in the jungle, so he is surprised to see people who look different from anyone he has ever met but has a skin color as his own. Their arrival changes Tarzan's life and makes him question who he really is.

I cannot say much about the second book because I do not want to spoil the story. In the sequel, Edgar Rice Burroughs moves away from his experiment, but focuses on a classic adventure story. Tarzan returns to Africa, but before that he travels through Arab lands. Along the way, he becomes involved in an exciting intrigue that includes a beautiful Russian countess. The novel is full of action, adventure, and unexpected twists. 

The novel also helped spread stereotypes about African tribes. It often describes Africa as a wild and dangerous place where the people are primitive or violent. However, these ideas came more from colonial adventure stories than from real history. In reality, many African societies were well organized and had rich cultures. Therefore, while Tarzan of the Apes is an exciting adventure novel, modern readers should remember that its portrayal of Africa is biased and does not accurately represent African people or cultures.

“If you are a man, you will return to protect your kind. You will not run away from one of your own people, because one of them has run away from you.” (D'Arnott to Tarzan)

I think one of the most interesting parts of Tarzan of the Apes is that Tarzan naturally chooses to do good things, even though nobody truly teaches him morality. He grows up in the jungle among apes, without human education or society, yet he still protects people, shows kindness, and avoids hurting humans he sees as his own kind. It feels like goodness comes naturally from inside him. Perhaps Edgar Rice Burroughs wanted to show that Tarzan is noble by nature, not because civilization taught him to be civilized. That is why many readers see him not only as a jungle man, but also as a naturally good person.

“You are free now, Jane,” he said, “and I have come across the ages out of the dim and distant past from the lair of the primeval man to claim you—for your sake I have become a civilized man—for your sake I have crossed oceans and continents—for your sake I will be whatever you will me to be. I can make you happy, Jane, in the life you know and love best. Will you marry me?”

In conclusion, I probably expected too much from this novel from a literary perspective, but the story itself is simple and enjoyable. I like the way Edgar Rice Burroughs romanticizes Tarzan's adventure. Tarzan's love letter to Jane is almost impossible to believe, it is far too poetic for someone who has never formally learned grammar or writing. However, the best way to enjoy Tarzan of the Apes is not to expect complete realism, since Tarzan is portrayed as a superhuman with extraordinary intelligence, I chose to accept it as part of the novel's fantasy. As a romantic adventure story, I give this novel  3,5 stars of Five, and I think I don't need to read the third book.  

Ruang Buku Megga Rated : ✬✬✬ ✬(3,5/5)

Title :  Tarzan The Apes & The Return of Tarzan

Author : Edgar Rice Burroughs

Publisher : CloudClassic (Canterbury Classics)
Year :  October, 2015 (First Published in 1912 )
Format / Pages : Softcover / 467 pages
ISBN :  1626864705

Review: Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood

Historical Context : based on the mysterious real-life murders of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery, in 1843, Canada. Both James McDermott and Grace Marks were also real people.

In the year 1859, Grace Marks, a convicted murderess in the eyes of the people of Kingston, is still imprisoned after eight years. She now works as a servant in the house of the prison governor as a seamstress, making quilt. Grace and James McDermott were accused of murdering Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery. In Chapter 2, the public version of the murders is presented through a poem, which portrays Grace as a jealous and manipulative woman who persuaded McDermott to commit the crimes.

However, the truth about Grace’s involvement remains uncertain. Grace herself claims that she cannot clearly remember what happened because the events took place when she was still young and traumatized. Into this mystery comes Dr. Simon Jordan, an American doctor who becomes interested in Grace’s mental condition and begins interviewing her in hopes of discovering whether she is truly guilty, innocent, or psychologically disturbed.

The difference between Dr. Bannerling and Dr. Simon Jordan’s examinations is important because it shows the contrast between the old and modern approaches to mental health, which was still uncommon in Canada at that time. Dr. Bannerling treats Grace harshly and quickly judges her as dangerous or insane, while Dr. Simon Jordan tries to understand her mind, memories, and trauma more carefully. Through their different methods, Grace Marks becomes both a mental health study case, whether she is truly insane or sane, and also a criminal case that continues to question whether she is really guilty of the murders or not. Because of Grace’s good behavior while working in the governor’s house, some people there begin to believe that she deserves justice and another chance in life and return to society.

I am enjoying this novel very much. Through this story, Margaret Atwood wants readers to see how difficult life was for women at that time. Women often became victims of men’s selfishness and social power. I feel sympathy for Nancy Montgomery and Mary Whitney though Dr. Simon Jordan himself finds it difficult to prove whether Mary Whitney was truly a real person or only part of Grace’s memories and imagination. They aretruly victims, but not completely innocent, they do not fully understand how dangerous the world is, especially for poor women at that time. They are easily influenced by men and emotional decisions.

Atwood also intentionally makes Grace an unreliable narrator, so readers can never be completely certain about what is true, Compared to Nancy and Mary, Grace seems more intelligent, careful, and better at surviving because she observes people closely and hides her true thoughts.

The novel is based on true events, and we can search what happened at the end of the real case. But, I feel bewitched by Grace. Margaret Atwood makes her mysterious and sympathetic, so it is hard not to care about her. Even though the truth is still uncertain, I feel Grace deserved a better.

I almost forgot to mention the quilt patterns. They become an important symbol throughout the whole novel.

And since that time I have thought, why is it that women have chosen to sew such flags (quilts) and then to lay them on the tops of beds? For they make the bed the most noticeable thing in a room. And then I have thought, it’s for a warning. Because you may think a bed is a peaceful thing, Sir, and to you it may mean rest and comfort and a good night’s sleep. But it isn’t so for everyone; and there are many dangerous things that may take place in a bed. It is where we are born, and that is our first peril in life; and it is where the women give birth, which is often their last. And it is where the act takes place between men and women that I will not mention to you, Sir, but I suppose you know what it is; and some call it love, and others despair, or else merely an indignity which they must suffer through. And finally beds are what we sleep in, and where we dream, and often where we die. 

Ruang Buku Megga Rated : ✬✬✬✬✬ (5/5)

Title :  Alias Grace

Author : Margaret Atwood

Publisher : Anchor Books
Year :  1997 (First Published in 1996 )
Format / Pages : Softcover / 468 pages
ISBN :  

The Woodlanders - Thomas Hardy

The novel begins with a view of the forests surrounding Little Hintock, a secluded woodland village. A barber from the nearby town of Sherton Abbas travels into the woods to buy Marty South’s beautiful hair, since poverty forces her to sell it. Soon after, Grace Melbury, the educated daughter of a timber merchant, returns home from boarding school. She reunites with her childhood friend and fiancé, Giles Winterborne, whom Marty secretly loves. Grace notices that Little Hintock has changed during her absence, especially with the arrival of the sophisticated doctor, Edgar Fitzpiers, a man from a higher social class who now lives in the district. 

The main story is the complicated love story between Grace Melbury and the humble woodlander, Giles Winterborne. Grace is often treated like property by her father. Mr. Melbury spends a great amount of money on her education so she can become an educated lady, socially above the woodland people of Little Hintock. Because of this sacrifice, he begins to think that marrying Giles Winterborne would waste Grace’s education and social advancement.

Grace is also quite capricious about her future, and I think she is similar to her father in some ways. At times, this becomes a little annoying because Grace always acts like an obedient daughter and rarely stands against her father’s wishes. When Giles loses his house, Grace finally marries Dr. Fitzpiers. She seems relieved because the marriage follows her father’s choice, even though she barely knows the doctor well.

Characters from outside the woodland, such as Mrs. Charmond and Dr. Fitzpiers, look noble and educated from the outside, but inside they are emotionally complicated. Hardy shows a contrast between the simple woodland people and the more modern upper-class people, suggests that rich or educated people are not always better than simple rural people.

The woodland is the main setting of this novel. It is full of tall trees with little sunshine, so the atmosphere feels quiet, lonely, resilient, and a little dark. The district in the woodland area is called Little Hintock. The “woodlanders” are the people who live and make a living in the woods.

After reading The Woodlanders and The Return of the Native, I think Thomas Hardy feels important today because he recorded a rural world that slowly disappeared. He captured the lives, labor, and struggles of English peasants and village communities before industrial modern life changed everything. For example, Giles Winterborne works with traditional cider-maker, Marty South strips bark from trees, and other villagers work closely with timber and forests. In The Return of the Native, the furze-cutters also show the hard life of rural workers. Hardy vividly preserved ways of life that were later erased by modernization.

I do not know how Victorian society valued Hardy’s novels at that time. If we imagine living in that era, people may have read his stories as ordinary accounts of everyday rural life, just as modern people today write about the difficulties of life in the city. But because Hardy’s novels describe a world from more than 200 years ago, it's more interesting to me, reading them today feels like a window to past time.

Ruang Buku Megga Rated : ✬✬✬✬ (4/5)

Title :  The Woodlanders

Author : Thomas Hardy

Publisher : Everyman Library
Year :  1994 (First Published in 1887 )
Format / Pages : Softcover / 400 pages
ISBN :  9780460874595

IVANHOE - Sir Walter Scott

This is an interesting medieval historical tale about bravery and loyalty Set during the reign of King Richard I, who is absent from England while fighting in the Crusades in the Holy Land of Jerusalem, the kingdom is temporarily influenced by his brother, Prince John.

Following the young Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a brave knight who has been disowned by his father, Cedric the Saxon, because of his loyalty to King Richard and his association with the Norman court. The novel begins when Ivanhoe secretly returns to England after joining the Crusades. Disguised and wounded, he soon becomes involved in a grand tournament where he must fight against powerful Norman knights. With the unexpected help of the wealthy Jewish merchant Isaac of York, Ivanhoe is able to obtain armor and a horse to participate in the tournament. 

The story is slow-paced, but it has many unique and memorable characters that make the novel enjoyable to read. Although the plot is quite simple, the characters are very interesting. The character who touched me the most was Rebecca of York because of her courage, intelligence, and exotic beauty, which make her stand out from the others. The novel shows that medieval society still saw Rebecca’s advanced medical knowledge as something strange and taboo instead of trying to understand it further. People in high ranking in Church quickly judged her as a witch while believing they were defending Christianity, even without clear reason or evidence.

Even though he is stubborn and skeptical about the Crusades, Cedric of Saxon sincerely believes in protecting the dignity and memory of the Saxons, he also shows fairness and kindness toward Jews as a marginalized group in medieval society. The novel also contains memorable villains, especially Brian de Bois-Guilbert, whose obsession with Rebecca creates much of the story’s tension, while Prince John and his followers represent greed, ambition, and corruption in medieval society.

Honestly, I felt battered reading this classics, the narration is so vivid but there are so many outdated and rarely used words, and the conversations are often overly convoluted (I am sorry that I am cheating with google translate while reading). Ivanhoe has too many characters involved at the same time, which makes the story feel crowded and sometimes hard to follow. I an little bit surprise how this book commented about the crusade in holy land Jerusalem in Palestine, through Cedric, the writer pointed out that he did not agree about crusade, how people commit bloodshed and then calle it "the will of God"? Walter Scott is partly satirizing how Europe romanticized distant holy wars while neglecting problems at home.

“Palestine!” repeated the Saxon—“Palestine! how many ears are turned to the tales which dissolute crusaders or hypocritical pilgrims bring from that fatal land! I too might ask—I too might inquire—I too might listen with a beating heart to fables which the wily strollers devise to cheat us into hospitality; but no—the son who has disobeyed me is no longer mine; nor will I concern myself more for his fate than for that of the most worthless among the millions that ever shaped the cross on their shoulder, rushed into excess and blood-guiltiness, and called it an accomplishment of the will of God.”

This novel portrays the enmity between the Normans and the Saxons after the Battle of Hastings, as well as the prejudice of the Normans toward the Jewish people. It was truly an enjoyable story, even though the setting takes place 500 years before the time when Walter Scott was writing. I have always been a fan of medieval historical fiction, so it was no surprise that I immediately connected with the novel. With its good pacing, engaging storyline, and interesting characters, Ivanhoe feels very well balanced.

Ruang Buku Megga Rated : ✬✬✬✬ (4/5)

Title :  Ivanhoe

Author : Walter Scott

Publisher : Wordsworth Classics
Year :  October 2019 (First Published in 1819 )
Format / Pages : Softcover / 464 pages
ISBN :  -

Review: Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak

The story of Doctor Zhivago is a portrayal of Russian society under the immense tension of World War I and the Russian Revolution. Through the perspective of a doctor, Boris Pasternak allows readers to witness not only the brutality of war, but also the fragmentation of human life during one of the most chaotic periods in Russian history. Set in early 20th century, Newly married Yuri Zhivago is sent to the front lines as a paramedic, leaving behind his family in order to save others amidst the devastation of war, but What Yuri finds in war completely collides with his inner life.

Yuri Zhivago, the son of a wealthy but troubled family, grows up under the care of the Gromeko family after spending part of his childhood with his uncle, Nikolai Nikolaevich Vedenyapin, whose philosophical ideals later shape Yuri’s worldview. The novel mainly revolves around the complicated relationship between Yuri Zhivago, Tonya Gromeko, and Larisa Fyodorovna (Lara). 

Larissa “Lara” Fyodorovna Antipova (née Guichard) is a teacher and nurse who moves to Moscow with her mother, Madame Guichard, and her younger brother, Rodya, after the death of her father. As a teenager, Lara becomes entangled in a secret and emotionally tormenting affair with the powerful and unsettling lawyer Komarovsky. Hoping to escape his influence, she later flees to Yuriatin with Pavel “Pasha” Antipov.

At first glance, the story may appear to be a romantic drama set during wartime, especially because many film adaptations emphasize the love story. However, the novel itself is far more political, philosophical, and deeply concerned with the fragmentation of human existence during revolution and civil conflict. The narrative first tells Yuri and Lara’s lives separately, as if they are unconnected. However, the war eventually brings them together,  Yuri as a doctor and Lara as a nurse.

The war dominates most of the narrative. Beginning with World War I, the story later moves into the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War between the Whites, who represented the old imperial order, and the Reds (the Bolsheviks). Through his brilliant and vivid writing, Pasternak exposes the horrifying brutality of war in painful detail. Many scenes are difficult to stomach because they remind readers that such atrocities truly happened in history.

Yet despite all the violence, Pasternak constantly inserts moments of humanity, love, poetry, and spiritual reflection between the battles. Yuri Zhivago is not portrayed as a heroic patriot seeking glory for his country; instead, he longs for his family, personal peace, and inner freedom. In contrast, Pasha Antipov dreams of becoming a revolutionary hero and willingly sacrifices his family for ideology and ambition. This dualism between Yuri and Pasha becomes one of the novel’s strongest contrasts.

Because I am a woman, I find myself more interested in, and perhaps romanticizing the love between Yuri and Lara. The first time Yuri notices Lara is when he helps her mother after her suicide attempt by poisoning, and from that moment I already sensed that he was drawn to her. Yuri’s love for Lara feels magical, almost beyond physical reality, something spiritual and transcendent. Lara becomes the person who awakens Yuri’s passion for poetry, inspiring him to write.  

I wonder why classic Russian literature so often emphasizes unhappy marriages while portraying “free love” as something rare and once-in-a-lifetime. Perhaps wether these writers wanted to create a more tragic and emotionally complex atmosphere, or wether the unhappy marriage is become common at that time, because it's conflicts with duty and social expectations. Knowing that Yuri’s marriage to Tonya was partly shaped by his obligation to the Gromeko family and by Anna Ivanovna’s wishes, as a way to stabilize his life and secure his social position, makes the contrast between Tonya and Lara feel even more poignant. 

And, I also wonder why many classic Russian novels often feel spiritual, and heavily philosophical. In Doctor Zhivago, this atmosphere is reflected through Nikolai Nikolaevich Vedenyapin, Yuri’s uncle, a former priest and prolific writer who later becomes connected to revolutionary ideas. He becomes one of the first major intellectual influences on Yuri, shaping the way Yuri thinks about life, spirituality, and human freedom. However, as the story progresses, Yuri seems increasingly against the violent reality of the revolution itself. I think Yuri is not completely against the idea of change or justice, but he is deeply against bloodshed and ideological violence. As a doctor and poet, Yuri values individual human life more than political ideology.

Though I did not fully go deeper into Nikolai’s philosophy, one of his quotes stayed with me:

........the idea of the free person and the idea of life as sacrifice. Bear in mind that this is still extremely new. The ancients did not have history in this sense. Then there was the sanguinary swinishness of the cruel, pockmarked Caligulas, who did not suspect how giftless all oppressors are. They had the boastful, dead eternity of bronze monuments and marble columns. Ages and generations breathed freely only after Christ. Only after him did life in posterity begin, and man now dies not by some fence in the street, but in his own history, in the heat of work devoted to the overcoming of death, dies devoted to that theme himself.  

Ultimately, Doctor Zhivago is not simply a war novel or a love story. It is a story about how history crushes ordinary people, while war becomes an obstacle separating people from their loved ones. In the middle of suffering and chaos, love and pain are transformed into poetry, and the human soul struggles to survive  while still holding on to the feeling that life has meaning despite historical destruction. 

If you have read Tolstoy, this work feels pretty similar to his novels. Pasternak follows the Tolstoyan tradition of Russian literature, combining history, philosophy, spirituality, and deep human emotions into one powerful story.

"....but now I think that we’ll gain nothing by violence. People must be drawn to the good by the good." 

Ruang Buku Megga Rated : ✬✬✬✬✬ (5/5)

Title :  Doctor Zhivago

Author : Boris Pasternak

Publisher : Vintage Classics
Year : September, 2011 (First Published in 1957 )
Format / Pages : Softcover / 544 pages
ISBN : 9780099541240

 

The Kill (La Curée) - Emile Zola

The Kill (La Curée) is the second novel in the Les Rougon-Macquart cycle by Émile Zola. The story focuses on Aristide Rougon, who changes his name to Saccard and tries to rise in social status in Paris during the French Second Empire.Aristide Rougon, who moves from Plassans to Paris to become rich. At first, he works as a clerk, but after his wife dies, he becomes more ambitious. With the help of his sister, he marries Renée, a wealthy young woman who is pregnant and needs a husband to protect her reputation. Through this marriage, Saccard gains money and social status.

Aristide is greedy, yet he remains respectable in society, much like the other Rougons, whose reputation is built on wealth and social status. Aristide is cold and distant; he is rarely at home, as he is constantly occupied with business. Even his marriage is treated as a financial arrangement rather than a relationship based on love. The family’s fragile balance begins to shift when Maxime Saccard, Aristide’s son from his first marriage, comes to live with them. His presence introduces a quiet but disturbing change, reflecting the moral emptiness of the household and gradually fallen into primitive desire.

Renée’s identity depends on being seen as rich and elegant; without that image, she loses her place in society. But inside, she feels empty and bored. She once wanted to feel alive, and in the end, she no longer knows what to want at all. Aristide, on the other hand, seems born to make money. He moves on easily after what Renée did, as if nothing happened. It feels harsh, but this is what Émile Zola calls naturalism: different people survive in different ways. Aristide follows one strong goal (a kind of monomania), and that is why he survives and still respectable in society while Renée does not.

The background of this novel is  so much interesting because we also can learn history, Set during the French Second Empire, when Paris was being rebuilt and modernized. Napoleon III instructed Haussmann to bring air and light to the centre of Paris, to unify the different neighbourhoods with boulevards, and to make Paris more beautiful. Haussmann transformed Paris by building wide boulevards, uniform apartment buildings, parks, and modern infrastructure. Before this modernization, Paris was overcrowded, with narrow streets, working-class neighborhoods, and old houses. As a result, entire districts were demolished to make way for the new city. In the novel, Aristide Saccard is essentially a property speculator. He makes money by buying land or houses cheaply before redevelopment, anticipating where changes will occur, and then selling the property later at a much higher price.

Paris after Hausman's development :

You should read The Kill If you want to explore more the world of the Les Rougon-Macquart, which gives an intense look at the Rougon side. Then you can continue with The Money, which follows Aristide Saccard’s life after this story and shows his ambition on a bigger financial scale. Each novel can stand alone, but reading more will help you see how the characters and themes connect across the series.

Ruang Buku Megga Rated : ✬✬✬✬ (4/5)
Title : The Kill
Author : Émile Zola
Publisher : Oxford World Classics
Year : July, 2008 (First Published in 1871)
Format / Pages : Softcover / 320 pages
ISBN : 9780199536924

The Conquest of Plassans - Emile Zola

At first, I told myself I’d read just one book a year from Émile Zola, but after finishing The Kill (La Curée) in a week, that plan didn’t stand a chance. I had to keep going. So I picked up The Conquest of Plassans, still within the Rougon family circle. This time, we follow Marthe Rougon, now married to her cousin François Mouret, living a quiet, orderly life with their children, Octave (The Ladies' Paradise), Serge (The Sin of Abbé Mouret), and Désirée. Zola gently introduces their domestic world, calm on the surface, but already hinting at something more fragile underneath.

Then comes the arrival of Abbé Faujas, a priest who rents rooms on the second floor. His presence is quiet, controlled, and strangely heavy, hard to read, yet impossible to ignore. There’s also something unexpectedly amusing in Mouret’s character. At first, he’s quite pleased to take in a lodger for the extra income, but almost immediately, he grows uneasy, suspicious in a way he can’t quite explain. It’s a subtle, almost ironic kind of humor. He wants the money, yet feels he may have invited something unsettling into his own home.

Who exactly is Faujas? What kind of priest is he, and how does he relate to the other abbés in town? Zola doesn’t rush to answer, but you can already feel that his role will be far from ordinary. A slow beginning, touched with irony and tension, I’m curious and a little uneasy to see where this goes.

From the glamorous life in The Kill, moving into The Conquest of Plassans feels like a shift I didn’t expect to enjoy this much. I find myself drawn to this quieter nuance. From watching the cold, ambitious Aristide Rougon, I now see Mouret as a domestic, almost gentle family man. From the vast, lonely mansion in Paris, the story brings me into a small, quiet house in the provinces. The scale becomes smaller, but somehow the tension feels closer, more intimate.

While reading this, I noticed that each main character is driven by a different kind of fear. Marthe fears spiritual failure, and Félicité fears losing status and control. But Mouret, most of all, fears being betrayed and surrounded. He loves his family and wants everything to remain orderly, just as it has always been. For him, the house with its beautiful and peaceful garden, also becomes a symbol of the stillness and stability he tries to protect. In contrast, Faujas and the Trouches seem almost fearless, which makes them even more dangerous in how they take control.

Zola shows that fear can grow into paranoia and eventually turn into aggression or violence. He also suggests that inherited tendencies can shape a person’s behavior. However, this raises a question: if someone lives a normal and peaceful life, might those impulses stay hidden instead of turning into madness?

Extras:

The fictional town of Plassans is generally considered to be based on Aix-en-Provence, where Émile Zola spent his childhood until about the age of ten. In 1858, the Zola family then moved to Paris.

Aix-en-Provence now

Ruang Buku Megga Rated : ✬✬✬✬✬ (5/5)
Title : The Conquest of Plassans
Author : Émile Zola
Publisher : Oxford World Classics
Year : September, 2014 (First Published in 1874)
Format / Pages : Softcover / 307 pages
ISBN : 9780199664788

Middlemarch - George Eliot

Middlemarch is an important landmark in nineteenth-century English literature. It shows the everyday life of people living in a provincial town in England and highlights their struggles and hopes. Through different characters from various social classes, George Eliot presents multiple points of view, helping readers understand how complex society and human relationships can be.

"Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress. Her hand and wrist were so finely formed that she could wear sleeves not less bare of style than those in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to Italian painters; and her profile as well as her stature and bearing seemed to gain the more dignity from her plain garments,...."

Nineteen-year-old Dorothea Brooke, a woman steadfast in her principles, astonishes all of Middlemarch by accepting the proposal of a forty-five-year-old man, the somewhat ill-bred scholar Rev. Edward Casaubon. This choice suggests that Dorothea’s feelings are not based on physical or romantic attraction. Instead, she idealizes the intellectual and religious qualities of the historian, seeing him as a kind of role model and believing that supporting his work will give greater purpose to her life. But, when Dorothea saw Will Ladislaw (the cousin of Casaubon), she felt the feeling like she never felt before.

Alongside this, another set of relationships develops around the Vincy family, whose members share a desire to improve their social position. Rosamond Vincy, who never imagined marrying a man from Middlemarch, becomes interested in a visiting doctor, Tertius Lydgate. Meanwhile, her brother Fred Vincy is lazy, fond of gambling, and deeply in debt, though he hopes to inherit his uncle’s estate. Fred wishes to marry Mary Garth, but he is still uncertain about how to deal with the responsibilities and difficulties of life. At first, the stories of the three main characters remain separate, each following its own path. However, the author gradually intertwines them, since they are all residents of the small town of Middlemarch and encounter one another on various occasions.

“If youth is the season of hope, it is often so only in the sense that our elders are hopeful about us; for no age is so apt as youth to think its emotions, partings, and resolves are the last of their kind. Each crisis seems final, simply because it is new. We are told that the oldest inhabitants in Peru do not cease to be agitated by the earthquakes, but they probably see beyond each shock, and reflect that there are plenty more to come.”

George Eliot hints at the unhappy marriages of both Casaubon and Lydgate. It seems that Dorothea and Rosamond both find married life different from what they expected. Dorothea is treated coldly by Casaubon; although she is eager to help him with his book, The Key to All Mythologies, he believes she is incapable of assisting him. Holding a religious position does not automatically make someone humble and empathetic, this the author hints Edward Casaubon seems very cruel to her cousin and Dorothea, because of his jelousy, he makes a will that Dorothea will not inherit Lowick Manor if she marries Ladislaw. 

On the other hand, Rosamond appears to be a cheerful wife, but she has been raised to think that a wife’s role is mainly to please and entertain her husband. She does not fully understand that medical work requires long-term effort and dedication. When Lydgate is absent, she seeks attention and distraction elsewhere. Because of this, many readers tend to dislike Rosamond, as her actions create further problems in their marriage. 

I really like the quote from The Maid's Tragedy by Beaumont and Fletcher that Eliot spills on the first chapter:

‘Since I can do no good because a woman, Reach constantly at something that is near it,’

because it strongly resonates with George Eliot as a woman, and with Dorothea Brooke herself. It reflects the limitations placed on women, but also their desire to still do something meaningful. After becoming a widow, Dorothea wants to turn her ideals into real social improvement, such as her donation for the hospital and  especially through estate management, which was unusual for a woman. With the help of Caleb Garth, she plans to build better cottages for the tenants. This also connects back to the first chapter, when she designs model cottages. In the end, she finally achieves what she wanted, as marriage is no longer a limitation.

How much can one intelligent, idealistic individual actually change a whole community? The way George Eliot describes the town is interesting because Middlemarch almost feels like a character in the story. It is a traditional provincial town where people strongly follow old customs and are suspicious of new ideas. People still gossiping and prejudice, they are not ready for the changes medicine that Lydgate brings from London. Many villagers still think doctors are similar to quacks. Lydgate, however, represents a more modern doctor who studies the human body to improve medical knowledge. In one part, he examines a dead body for research, but the people of the town think this is disrespectful. This shows how the townspeople do not understand new scientific methods and prefer to hold on to their traditional beliefs.

This book is nearly one thousand pages long, and at times it can feel quite verbose. However, Eliot’s ‘verbosity’ often works as a kind of intellectual commentary on human life. Eliot’s narrator often feels thoughtful and philosophical. It's different from what I read before,  The Mill on The Floss, in Middlemarch, Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) really wanted to show off her high education and her interested in mythology, classical philosophy and earlier literature which appear in both the narration and the characters’ conversations.

In the end, reading Middlemarch feels like taking a long train journey: the destination is far, but the changing views along the way keep it engaging, and by the time you arrive, you see things from a new perspective. I like the way this book ending with justice for Ladislaw and the happines for Fred and Mary. Five Star for Middlemarch !

“If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.”

Ruang Buku Megga Rated : ✭✭✭✭✭ (5/5)
Title : Middlemarch
Author : George Eliot
Publisher : Penguin English Library
Year : 2012 (First Published in 1872)
Format / Pages : Softcover / 923 pages
ISBN : 9780141199795