Another great read, but very tame compared to some of his others!

I started reading the Rougon-Macquart sequence on 14 October 2011 (I have Goodreads to thank for the precision—the novel was The Drinking Den), finally completing the 20-strong epic on 18 June 2023. Reading this phenomenal sequence of classics over a long period was the most pleasurable way to tackl

Nascondo questo commento non perché ci siano realmente spoiler ma perché il GDL a cui appartiene questa lettura è ancora in corso.
Le mie compagne sappiano che ho finito sì velocemente ma con tanta emozione.
Abbiamo passato tre anni a commentare questi venti romanzi con accordi e disaccordi che mi man

Everything comes together in Doctor Pascal, Zola's twentieth and final novel of his Rougon-Macquart cycle, in which he paints a detailed portrait of life in France during the Second Republic. The Rougon-Macquart series follows three branches of the same family covering the upper, middle, and lower c

A disappointing end to the sequence, and one there is certainly no reason to read until all of the others have been finished.

No matter how awful it might seem, life was necessarily great and good, because people put so much tenacious will into living it, the purpose being, no doubt, this same will itself and the great work it unwittingly performed. Of course, he was a scientist, a man of unclouded vision, he didn’t believ

Doctor Pascal is the final book in the Rougon-Macquart series and while far from the best book of the series it’s still a good read. Pascal is a doctor and scientist and has been studying and collecting info on the family tree and its history of madness, vice and goodness as well. He sees himself as