Emile Zola, Reve, Oeuvre, Page d'amour, Therese Raquin

Well, Zola is certainly at his worst when he is writing sentimental drivel. Le Reve is about a young woman who literally pines away to marry her boyfriend, the illegitimate son of a Catholic bishop who opposes the marriage. I mean, really. She expires on the first kiss after the ceremony, right there on the church's doorstep, in her wedding gown, surrounded by onlookers. Hopelessly honeyed. Then L'oeuvre is about a painter who marries his model and paints his son right after he dies. "Sounds unsanitary" I said to myself, unmoved. Therese Raquin, by contrast, is striking in its emotional truth and telling detail, about two lovers who conspire and then murder the husband, only to find life unlivable with the fear of prosecution. Even with the incapacitated mother-in-law living with them, an unbelievable plot twist, the novel works beautifully. He really is at his best describing the worst in human nature...