Reviews

Germinal by Émile Zola

hungerford's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

bibliotequeish's review against another edition

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2.0

Well... I didn't like it.
I think I may not have been in the proper mindset for such a dark story... and this is DARK.

This is probably a book I will revisit in a couple years and see if my opinion changes.
I mean the first time I read Catcher in the rye I hated it.
I re read it a couple years later and Loved it.

For right now, its a two stars, but will put it on me re-read list.

samlucas's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jmoravec's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Easily one of my favorite books after reading it. The way the book shows the conditions of the miners and the mine itself is engrossing and some of the best writing (even when translated) that I think I've read. You don't really expect a book from the 1800s to be as riveting or as comfortable with topics such as sex and violence as Germinal turned out to be. And the themes of the union and strike are still very relevant to the modern day struggles we have, although thanks to the real folks that did go through this type of work in the real life, we have much better standards of living than they did in the past.

mishima76's review against another edition

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5.0

unremittingly grim, yet touching at times; stunning descriptions of life in the mines

connorstory's review against another edition

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I assumed I would be eating my vegetables with this one, but to my surprise it was one of the most compelling reads of the year. No one can make unrelenting suffering as well as the French do.

marxgaux's review against another edition

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5.0

one long panic attack

jillians_books's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

My first Zola and I'm in love.  I swear to God I was actually in France in the 1860s, stuck in a damn mine.  

Community
Political & Economic commentary
Broken & desperate people
Rural poverty
deeply layered, dynamic characters 

erwanh's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging sad tense

4.25

moncoinlecture's review against another edition

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4.0

Un petit coup de mou au milieu... mais quelle fin!