Customer Reviews

A Simple Heart (New Directions Bibelot)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

A Simple Heart is a wonderful book, full of the deep significance of the everyday which so symbolizes the writing of Flaubert. The parrot which figures so prominantly in the story is an unusual image that is well-developed and well-used by Flaubert in this all-to-little known novella. The characters are shockingly well-developed for the a book of so few pages, resulting in a book that is deeply moving. Also, in keeping with his traditional style, Flaubert's descriptions of the physical world in the story are fantastic and piercing. A Simple Heart stays with the reader long after the last page is read. For fans of Madame Bovary, this is a book not to be missed!

Whether or not one enjoys the style of writing of Flaubert's period, this book is a masterpiece. In a handful of incidents with a maid's life, Flaubert provides us with a full character which exhibits a quiet, uneducated saintliness that weathers a life of significant hardship. The text is down-to-earth realistic description with simple items such as a map illustrating her complete lack of education and a (stuffed) parrot which the priest recognizes the importance of in a final gesture to the servant. This is a "must read" book.

Quite simply, a literary masterpiece. Simply written, 'A Simple Heart' evokes depth from simplicity, beauty from tragedy, humanity from suffering. Flaubert's world endures and remains relevant, because the human heart simply remains unchanged.

Amazing writing. Sentence by sentence Flaubert takes you from a point A to a point B that you would deride as ridiculous if you were told that's where it's going at the start.
We used this story at a library great books meeting once and the result was fantastic. Half of the group had one opinion of the main character and half had a diammetrically opposite opinion. It made for a great debate though everyone agreed that the story was magnificently written.

I love this nouvelle. As for the reader from New York below, their review can be summed up as follows,"I wish I could like this masterpiece of French literature, since I am such a fan, but I find it incredibly boring." Since this doesn't make any sense, I would advise disregarding his/her review.

I would really like to like this book. I really love French literature, and "Un Coeur Simple" is certainly a classic. But this story is simply terrible. It is boring, repetitive, and seemingly never-ending. There are aspects which are simply too strange, such as the symbolism of the parrot. Not a fun read.