Thérèse Raquin

Starts out like The Postman Always Rings Twice and then turns into a nightmare. Goes on forever.

That took forever to get through. I've never read Zola before and I can't say as I'll be in any kind of hurry to read anything by him again.

As a classic, it was ok. I guess. There wasn't a single likable character. Usually that's not a problem for me - I can hate everyone in a story and still like the story. It's all about the execution. That's where this one falls apart for me. Everything - from the characters themselves, to their actions, to the overall narrative felt very passive. Like I was watching the story take place from a distance while squinting to see through a dirt smeared, yellowed glass window pane. There was nothing to draw me in. Adding to that, there huge chunks of narrative that just dragged. I got that the main characters were emotionally stunted, insane, and guilt ridden. Got that after 2-3 pages. I didn't need 40 plus pages rehashing it again and again. In a book that's only around 200 pages, where paper real estate is a premium, you'd think there would be other, better things to include in that space. Either that or this story would have been better served as a novella or short story.

Not terribly good. The prose is solid and strong, but the story is boring and drawn out. It reminds me a lot of The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. What Poe did in a short story has been extended to a full-length novel here. Sort of a waste, but will consider Zola again, only upon recommendation though.