Zola Readalong | April 2021 discussion

Hi everyone! Welcome to the Zola Readalong Goodreads page :) I'm very much looking forward to our discussions!

I am curious about your previous experience reading Zola's work. I've previously read "L' Assommoir" and "Nana" and thoroughly enjoyed both books. I also remember enjoying "Thérèse Raquin" when I read it in school and it made me fall in love with Zola's naturalistic style.

What about you guys?

Hi Pauline, thanks for organizing this. :) I'm completely new to Zola but have been wanting to read something by him for years. I have Germinal and Nana on my shelves, so that works out nicely. I have another readalong going on in September but hope to participate here as well. :)

Thanks for the readathon, Pauline :)

I read Germinal back in school, many years ago, I watched the film with Renaud when it came out, I read La faute de l'abbé Mouret (Abbé Mouret's transgression), which I loved, l'Assomoir, Nana, Au bonheur des dames (The drinking dane, Nana, The ladies' paradise), I watched the films with Jean Gabin (La bête humaine/The beast within) and Gérard Philipe (The ladie's paradise). I think I read Thérèse Raquin too, but it was so long ago and I read so many books since !

Anyway, I'm very happy to refresh my memory.

Hi everyone! Really looking forward to our discussions. Thanks Pauline for organising!

I have read Germinal twice over the past couple of years, even re-read it last year because it's a favourite. My other favourite is Au Bonheur des Dames which I should re-read at one point as well. Others that I have read 10-15 years ago are Nana and l'Assomoir.

Unfortunately, I have no previous experience with Zola and I was always kind of ashamed of it. The reason for this shame is because Germinal is a required read in high school in my country. I always loved literature and mostly read everything I was supposed to in high school. However, I can't remember what happened to Zola. Either our teacher decided to skip his work, or I simply chose not to read it. Later I studied literature at the university, yet still I somehow managed to avoid Zola for no valid reason. So, I think it's high time for me to read Germinal at last.

I read Zola initially as a teenager. He's consistently brilliant from L' Assommoir, Nana, Ladies Paradise, L'Œuvre. He is the father of Naturalism, so it's safe to say, that without Zola, the world would've been denied the work of Frank Norris, who brought Naturalism to the States with his novel "Greed" or Theodore Dreiser or Hemingway.

Thank you for organising Pauline

I have read Thérèse Raquin and Germinal before, both a number of years ago. I loved both, but Germinal was special. I am so looking forward to rereading it and getting more out of the novel and reading everybody else's thoughts and ideas. Zola is not well known in Australia where I'm from and that's an utter travesty