Recently arrived in working-class Paris, Gervaise is a young mother who struggles to provide for her family and find happiness for herself. She manages to build a successful business as a laundress, only to lose everything because of her desire to impress and her eventual addiction to alcohol. The characters and powerful descriptions of the poverty and squalor in which they live are totally convincing and utterly memorable.
(Denise Lewis - bwl 59 Winter 2011 ) |
