I finished reading one of the novels of the Rougon-Macquart cycle, the majestic saga of Emile Zola.
The book tells the life story of Gervaise Macquart, a young laundress employee moved to Paris with her boyfriend Auguste Lantier and his two sons, Claude Etienne. After living in a dissolute, once finished the savings of the couple runs away from home for Lantier and Gervaise another woman finds herself living alone with her two children in a small apartment. He falls in love Coupeau however, that now seems an honest man: he does not drink, has a job as galvanizer and is willing to marry her despite the difficulties. Shortly after the marriage, was born the daughter Nana.
Once married and moved, Gervaise, thanks to a loan from his new roommate, can not open a laundry in their own and lead a prosperous life: the apex is represented by a superb and impressive dining offered by the laundress on his birthday which commits the savings and efforts of the family.
However there are problems: Coupeau often comes home drunk from work, spending the day in the gain in the alcohol distillery Colombe father, called "The Assommoir" Add to this the return of Lantier from the failed love affair, a that are granted to share the apartment. He lives like a leech, however, without paying rent but, rather, squandering the savings of Gervaise and instigating Coupeau drinking.
Soon the family is in ruins: Nana runs away from home to live as a dancer in nightclubs, while Coupeau goes mad and is hospitalized due to alcohol several times in an asylum. Meanwhile, it also ruined the workshop of Gervaise, who was forced to sell the apartment along with her friend, at the suggestion of Lantier, who is the lover, to become a confectioner. After the death of
Coupeau for the effects of alcohol abuse, Gervaise finds himself living alone in a small studio and he even gives her alcoholism until his death in poverty in a small basement, last accommodation of women.
Meanwhile, the confectionery is also in ruins because of Lantier: the room is detected by the daughter of the tractor, to put on a dressing fat, for Lantier's another chance to live behind a woman.
Place Here are some pictures that I found on the Internet on the places where the seventh novel in the saga is set.
Really a great book for a great writer.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/L% 27ammazzatoio
Rue de la Goutte d'Or, the way everything is set in Paris where the novel
The quarrel of Virginia, and Gervasi at the wash
Gervasi and Coupeau
The fall from the roof of Coupeau
The Assommoir Coupeau where the Pere Colombe, Lantier and their friends stop often to drink
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