I, for one, did not care much for Madame Bovary. Although there certainly were some nougats of sociological implication to be had at the agricultural fair and dispersed throughout the novel, the vast majority of the work failed to appeal to me both academically and emotionally. Our protagonist, Emma, is a difficult character to address. While I can see the appeal of her independent spirit and pseudo-feminist ideas, Emma represents a vile woman to me. She is a woman whose deceit and endless debt collecting causes her to get sick, go relatively mad, and eventually kill herself. Good riddance.

That being said, I would have definitely preferred Oliver Twist for our novel. Dickens is much more capable with the pen than Flaubert, and undoubtedly included much more material regarding industrialization and castes within Oliver Twist than Madame Bovary can ever hope to provide given its earlier publication. Additionally, the castes within Oliver Twist are much more akin to today's industrial class struggle than the noble/rural dichotomy found in Bovary. Essentially, Madame Bovary is an additional degree of separation removed from today when compared to Oliver Twist. It's considerably harder to relate to Bovary's characters, and overall I was not completely satisfied with the choice in novel.

Note: I understand this was due last night, but life has been very hectic with my job and doing all the reading for my classes and working on my papers.