Review: In 1919 Thomas Mann hailed
Effi Briest (1895) as one of "the six most significant novels ever written." Set in Bismarck's Germany, Fontane's luminous tale of a socially suitable but emotionally disastrous match between the enchanting seventeen-year-old Effi and an austere, workaholic civil servant twice her age, is at once touching and unsettling. Fontane's taut, ironic narrative depicts a world where sexuality and the enjoyment of life are stifled by narrow-mindedness and circumstance. Considered by many to be the pinnacle of the nineteenth-century German novel,
Effi Briest is a tale of adultery that ranks with
Madame Bovary and
Anna Karenina and brilliantly demonstrates the truth of the author's comment and "women's stories are generally far more interesting."--
-from amazon.
Personal Opinion:This book is such a treasure. I love the descriptions of Germany at that time. But more important is noticing the situation in which women lived at that time. Effi might seem like lively and childlike woman that is faced with harsh situations. You can notice the social necesity of that time to be married at a certain age. It truly makes you rethink of the way we women live in this century.
Final Rating: 7/10
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