Pot Luck (Oxford World's Classics)

Love this book!!

Zola again writes with contempt and, at times, dark humor about the duplicity of all parts of society during the Second Empire. I can't think of one sympathetic or likeable character (much like his novel, The Kill) in the book but found it engaging nonetheless. The setting is a modern apartment house and the plot revolves around Octave Mouret, son of Francois and Marthe Mouret, the key figures in The Conquest of Plassans, as he strives to seek his fortune, love conquests and station in life after moving to Paris. The extended family of the Vabres, whose father owns the building, the social climbing Jousserands, and the other tenants as well as their servants make up an ugly, two-faced menagerie. Marriages of convenience based on actual or promised dowries, affairs known by everyone but never uttered by anyone--in order to maintain their code of "honor"--and petty, carnal relationships abound. Zola writes some gems that are worthy of Wodehouse, but much more ominous and cutting. For example, the advice of a mother to "above all, watch over your daughter; keep every foul breath from her; and do all you can to ensure that she remains ignorant" demonstrates his gift to express an essential kernel of truth of the era. But my favorite scene is when the Vabre family gathers around the deathbed of the patriarch, all mournful and crying, as his son-in-law, at the same time laments the loss of his mistress, whose "...grief seemed the most inconsolable of all, as he stifled loud sobs with a handkerchief. No, he really could not live without Clarisse; he would rather die at once, like Vabre; and the loss of his mistress, coming in the midst of mourning, gave immense bitterness to his grief." A brilliantly staged scene indeed. The plot is summed up by the priest, who, through confession, knows about all of the hypocrisies of his flock "...as if he were some master of ceremonies, veiling the canker in an attempt to delay the final moment of decomposition." In this novel, the seventh of his recommended reading order of the Rougon-Macquart cycle, Zola rips off the veil to expose the filth underneath.

Zola's story definitely deserves a five star rating. I commend Brian Nelson for his fantastic introduction and for attempting to translate one of Zola's greatest works of sociological fiction. Moreover, Pot Luck is a decent translation for someone who does not have the language skills to read Pot-Bouille in French. Saying that, however, I find that Mr. Nelson tried too hard to keep Zola's original French syntax intact - often literally translating an expressive text. Mr. Nelson also employed apposition far too frequently, which if over-used, as it is in Pot Luck, becomes tedious for the reader. There are also a couple of grammatical mistakes which perhaps could be the fault of the editor. Furthermore, I do not like the title "pot luck". As far as what I can gather, pot luck is a term used when one is having a party and each person or group of people contributes a dish of food to be shared amongst the group. I don't think that "pot luck" captures any of the connotations of the original boiling pot title which Zola used metaphorically to symbolize the `maison' stewing with class division, bourgeois hypocrisy, adultery, etc. Finally, the English readers should beware that they are missing out on the beautiful style and tone of Zola. The English translation doesn't even come close to Zola in this regard. As Mounin wrote, `the only pity about a translation is that it is not the original.'

I had actually begun reading "Pot Luck" sometime before, (also an Amazon purcahse) and had finished most of the book, but I left my copy out in the rain and had to reorder. The book came in time and in perfect shape, as a new copy of the work. The translation, by Brian Nelson, was smooth and reflected Zola's own allowing the dialogues to reflect the mindset and the social circumstances of the people he was writing about-here, high and middle bourgeoisie, along with their maids and servants, living in a Paris apartment house. Zola's portrayal of the servants of the interconnected bourgeois families was especially telling, and grippingly realistic. Though not the equal of "Germinal" or "Therese Raquin", "Pot-Luck" was a highly readable work, providing a realistic, full-blooded critical look at nineteenth century France.

Can not recommend high enough, only thing must warn you do not read a Zola book and expect happy endings and happy stories. These books by Zola are very human and very well written, and the stories are educational and entertaining, but as in real life things do not always go as you would like.

First off, I think Zola in general should be read more. His analysis and novelization of culture and time and place is in general brilliant. That said, I would not start my journey with "Pot Luck"..."L'Assommoir" would be my first choice, "Germinal" my second...possibly "Therese Raquin" third...but of course I have not read everything, those are just my favorites so far. For me the problem with "Pot Luck" is Zola's attempt to manage a great number of characters and not really being able to attribute much personality to any of them. The only two characters I got a feel for were Berthe (a little) and the skinflint drunken Uncle Bachelard. In addition to these two there must be twenty five or so others populating the pages, but not really doing enough to identify themselves as relevant. My other problem was with the Deus ex Machina ending with... 1. A servant giving birth to the child of one of her bosses. 2. The death of Monsieur Josserand 3. The attempted suicide of Duveyrier Basically I think Zola overplays his hand here trying to make the long journey to book's end worthwhile. But the book has all of Zola's wonderful attention to detail and his ability to paint a milieu like almost nobody else. I mostly feel the book is overpopulated with few real characters rising to take the frame. This of course could have been his intention, as he was attempting to portrait the bourgoisie. It just doesn't make for super compelling reading. By all means read Emile Zola...just make this the 7th or 8th book you read, not the first.

For what the author was trying to accomplish with this book—the series is meant to follow this middle class family and show how heredity and environment affects one's behavior, the story is decent. However, whether from download error or poor editing, I kept noticing unneeded pronouns and gramatical errors, which made some passages harder to follow, and, sometimes, I think some of the difficulty I had in reading certain parts of this book was either due to how the text was translated from the original language or the writing style of the author. Certain scenes seemed to flow into other scenes that involved characters with similar names (surnames) but different settings. It was hard to keep it straight at times. ***SPOILER ALERT***I started reading this book because I noticed it was a prequel to The Ladies' Paradise, which I discovered through watching the TV series based off the story, and I thought I would learn more about the marriage that took place between Madame Hedouin and Octave Mouret, but you learn very little about them because the marriage does not take place until the end of the book, so for my purposes of reading this book, I was not satisfied. I suppose I shall learn more in The Ladies' Paradise.

Very good edition

What a lovely book for its intricate descriptive passages. Yes, it exposes the absolute social hypocrisy of the time but today's standards are exactly the same althouigh wrapped up in social correctness and outward care for the poor. The whole book is such as to demand more than one reading. The gentle, yet almost cruel rise to fame and power of Octave Mouret was cleverly done leading up to the Ladies Paradise (the next book by the same author). This book was really good to read and remains much food for thought as to the current state of our own world!

Good condition

This was the second Zola book I have read and thoroughly enjoyed it. Set in a boarding house, there are a great cacophany of different people and an essence of 'upstairs - downstairs'. A great 'comment' on French society at the time.

The novel is a vicious attack on the hypocrisy and corruption of middle class Parisian society during the Empire period. It is not bereft of humour, but it is much more satirical than humorous. Some incidents border on farce, but it has savage elements. The descriptive passages are impeccable. And so continues the history of the Rougon-Macquart family, the summit of Zola's literary output.

this book would benefit from a character list at the front as there are many characters and with French names so it can get confusing with all the twists and turns that take place. However its interesting as it shows the lead up to Octave Mouret obtaining the Paradise which is the programme that was shown on BBC recently. There are a lot of moral lessons within the book in the style of Austen.