Ilse’s Reviews > Nana > Status Update
Ilse
is on page 281 of 530
Nana avait toujours tremblé devant la loi, cette puissance inconnue, cette vengeance des hommes qui pouvaient la supprimer, sans que personne au monde la défendit.
— Oct 10, 2025 07:17AM
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Ilse’s Previous Updates
Ilse
is on page 320 of 530
Le prodige fut que cette grosse fille jouait à la ville des rôles de charmeuse, sans un effort. C'étaient des souplesses de couleuvre, un déshabillé savant, comme involontaire, exquis d'élégance, une distinction nerveuse de chatte de race, une aristocratie du vice, superbe, révoltée, mettant le pied sur Paris, en maîtresse toute-puissante. Elle donnait le ton, de grandes dames l'imitaient.
— Oct 11, 2025 04:58AM
Ilse
is on page 280 of 530
Elle guettait les mieux mis, elle voyait ça à leurs yeux pâles. C'était comme un coup de folie charnelle passant sur la ville. Elle avait un peu peur, car les plus comme il faut étaient les plus sales. Tout le vernis craquait, la bête se montrait, exigeante dans ses goûts monstrueux, raffinant sa perversion.
— Oct 06, 2025 06:55AM
Ilse
is on page 162 of 530
Tout son être se révoltait, la lente possession dont Nana l'envahissait l'effrayait, en lui rappelant ses lectures de piété, les possessions diaboliques qui avaient bercé son enfance. Il croyait au diable. Nana, confusément était le diable, avec ses rires, avec sa gorge et sa croupe, gonflés de vice.
— Oct 04, 2025 03:33AM
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Oct 10, 2025 10:46PM
On my "to be read" list after La Bête Humaine. I am presently seeing Nana in L'Assommoir!
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Claudia wrote: "On my "to be read" list after La Bête Humaine. I am presently seeing Nana in L'Assommoir!"Claudia, it seems that you are solving the question which instalment to read next in the cycle, thank you :)! Yours is a fascinating choice: may I ask why you will read them in that order? I found some pages of the XI chapter of 'L'Assommoir' in the copy of 'Nana' I am reading, concerning the adolescence of Nana, explaining why she wants to take revenge on men....
Ilse wrote: "Claudia wrote: "On my "to be read" list after La Bête Humaine. I am presently seeing Nana in L'Assommoir!"Claudia, it seems that you are solving the question which instalment to read next in the ..."
Of course Ilse you may ask! I am reading in Zola's suggested order but only the books I have already got from my mother, who had read them all.
I should now be reading L'Oeuvre - featuring Claude Lantier, but I am skipping it for the time being and intended to read La Bête Humaine before reading Nana. I am still reading chapter 10 of L'Assommoir but I know that chapter 11 is much about Nana's teen years and her apprenticeship at a florist. Edit: I am now well into chapter 11.
Thank you very much, Claudia. I still have to make up my mind, on the order, so it is good to know that it is ok to make our own choices in the suggested order - yours aligning to the copies you have from your mother (I picked Nana because at the shelf at home and having attended an exhibition of Niki de Saint Phalle in Aix-en-Provence last summer ;).Next read for me would be Germinal if I go for reading what is on the shelf at home, but because of what you wrote on Nana, I'll rather go for "L'Assommoir" instead...
Ilse wrote: "Thank you very much, Claudia. I still have to make up my mind, on the order, so it is good to know that it is ok to make our own choices in the suggested order - yours aligning to the copies you ha..."Do not hesitate to read L'Assommoir in the Livre de Poche classique edition, Ilse! It is rough but very worth reading! Typical Parisian slang phrases of that era are translated in the footnotes.
And it sets the stage for Nana, indeed Claudia!
P.E. wrote: "And it sets the stage for Nana, indeed Claudia!"It certainly does! This is why I am intended to read La Bête Humaine first and then Nana, just to take a step back - I have already read Germinal and loved it.
