“I wish I had written The Classics Slacker Reads Madame Bovary instead of Madame Bovary.”

Written by French novelist Gustave Flaubert and published in 1857, Madame Bovary landed the author in a whole mess o’ trouble. Pourquoi? Because the eponymous character attempts to spice up her dull provincial life and marriage with a couple of rendezvouses, which The Classics Slacker can tell you aren’t all that titillating.

But the French! Wow, did they ever get bent out of shape when the book came out. Excusez-moi! They were quelle horreuring and sacre bleuing all over the place while at the same time you know they were lapping it up like kittens at a dairy farm.

Anyway, Flaubert escaped jail time only by swearing to tone down the pas de deuxing in his future works. Violating parole would result in a big fine and no cheese for life. Flaubert was as good as his word and subsequently wrote only about subjects such as ancient Carthage. Note: Under no circumstances will The Classics Slacker be coming out with The Classics Slacker Reads A History of Ancient Carthage.

For it is Madame Bovary that will be forever known as Flaubert’s masterpiece, considered in the literary canon as the world’s first “realistic” novel. Flaubert achieved this feat by focusing obsessively on details ranging from items of clothing to objects in nature, types of food, and styles of hair, sometimes using as many as twenty-five adjectives to describe a dress. No wonder it took him five years to write Madame Bovary. If he had reined himself in–using one-word descriptors such as red, yellow, blue–he could’ve finished his novel in six weeks or less.

Boring details, tepid sex scenes. Why, you may ask, read on? Because literature has much to teach. For example, Madame Bovary answers this question: If one man makes you miserable, what will three do?

Let’s find out together, shall we?

WHAT OUR READERS WROTE

“Mon dieu! I laughed, I cried … wait … I just laughed–at the bon mots in this hilarious sendup of Madame Bovary. Complete with amusing illustrations, this hip and snarky version is way funnier than anything Flaubert ever wrote.”

“My formal education didn’t include Madame Bovary, yet I felt I *should* make an effort to read it. Only I never found the time. Fortunately, The Classics Slacker did all the hard work for me, offering a nuanced rendering that is smart, funny, and a delight to read. I liked it so much that I ordered copies for friends.”

OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

The Classics Slacker Reads Madame Bovary
The Classics Slacker Reads Moby Dick
The Classics Slacker Reads Pride and Prejudice
The Classics Slacker Reads The Great Gatsby
The Classics Slacker Reads The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Classics Slacker Reads The Scarlet Letter
The Classics Slacker Reads Wuthering Heights

Who Is The Classics Slacker?
The Classics Slacker series was created by Cristina Negrón, who holds a bachelor’s degree in literature and a master’s degree in creative writing. Negrón now writes it with two coauthors–the wildly witty and tremendously talented Deb Martin and Heidi Mastrogiovanni. Illustrated by artist extraordinaire Kris Wraight.