Zola's masterpiece
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With l'Assommoir, the best novel by Zola. This story of a young courtisane who breaks all rich men's hearts is a metaphor for the revenge of the working class against the bourgeoisie. Nana avenges the poor in her own way, she never forgets her origins, and that is what will be her downfall, eventually.
I also highly recommend the TV miniseries 'Nana' with Véronique Genest, broadcast in the 80's (available on amazon.fr). You'll agree that generally, film adaptations of novels are disappointing, in that case it's not. The adaptation is brilliant and perfectly captures the novel's atmosphere; the actress Veronique Genest incarnates a wonderful Nana, very faithful to the essence of the character.
But read the novel first!
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A female rake's progress
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This is a fantastic book - powerful in its critical exposure of the decadence and moral emptiness of its characters and their environment, as well as of the social and political backdrop in which the novel is set. Nana is a product of the Parisian underclass, and this is the story of her rise from the gutter, how she uses her body to capture the attentions of wealthy, foolish middle-aged men, and how she brings down destruction on all those she entraps and manipulates. It is a highly moral tale, despite the fact that the book initially suffered from the censors of the day. Zola's descriptions of the sleazy Paris theatre house where Nana is first discovered - he always meticulously researched his subjects - are totally convincing and evocative of the era and location. Nana rises and falls, and rises again, she is an embodiment, a symbol of all that Zola found rotten and corrupt in the politics and society of his day. Please buy this book - it is unforgettable - the gruesome final paragraph of the novel will stay in your mind forever.
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Girl Power in the 1860s
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No drugs, no rock 'n' roll but plenty of sex. Great entertainment in itself, this book is best read as a sequel to "L'Assommoir" ("Drunkard") whose tragic downtrodden heroine can be said, in a way, to have got her revenge on society through her daughter, Nana. You might say it's a case of the underclass striking back and one wonders how today's acting and modelling scene compares with Second Empire Paris. Someone once said that every woman is sitting on a gold mine and Nana certainly proves it. Trouble is, she also proves the old saying "easy come, easy go". What would have happened if they'd had smallpox jabs in those days?
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