Zola's Rougon-Macquart Series

I have read the first five in this twenty-odd fresco of France's Second Empire, following the legitimate and illegitimate branches of the same family. The best so far is La fortune des Rougon, which launches everything that follows. I also enjoyed Ventre de Paris, about the misfortunes of small shop owners. I am reading Eugene Rougon now, the sixth in the series. I have already read Nana, about prostitution, as well as Germinal, about labor issues, and L'assommoir, about alcoholism. I also read the trilogy about catholicism, Paris, Rome, Lourdes. Catholicism and money, catholicism and the bogus claims of miracles, catholicism and politics...it's a riveting indictment, of course, as with all Zola's efforts. And that poor priest Froment, who keeps having crises of faith right on schedule....But I find his characters don't spring to life as they do in La comedie humaine, by Honore de Balzac, which was Zola's model. No, the real stars are the unjust social conditions, and how fragile middle class status is.