Be forewarned: the grammatical quality and flow of this review will likely suck because I have a migraine, but I so want to put "paid" to this book that I'm going to type it out now anyway. I finished it this afternoon before the migraine struck. 
 I've seen very few middle-of-the-road ratings for this one, but I'm going to give it one. It seems to be a love or hate piece, but here's why I meet it halfway. It's a good book for it's genre, but that genre is not my cup of tea. It's like one of Minnie's (a friend of the family) coconut pies which are supposed to be the best tasting coconut pies in existence. Anyone who has ever tried one attests to this most fervently. However, I hate coconut, and no matter how good it is, I'm just not going to like it. That's how I see this book; it's a great work, but it still czonks me out anyway. I have to confess that I found the overall book quite boring, but not bad at all. It has withstood the test of time, and deservedly so. If you're into the romance kind of thing, I think this would be a great read. If you like a good tragedy, then it would also be worth your while to check it out. Relationship stuff just ain't my bag, however. 
 The first 3/4 or so of the book is dull. The last quarter I found to be quite good, but that may be because I was just excited that SOMETHING was happening other than Gustave Flaubert (whom I believe had a foot fetish) describing her stupid supple slipper daintily hanging from her toes as she crossed her legs. Anyway, the next two paragraphs are a summary with spoilers galore. 
 (view spoiler)[Dr. Charles Bovary marries Emma, who becomes Madame Bovary, and it turns out that she is quite a selfish bitch. Her husband, in spite of his adoration of his wife, bores her to catatonia. She comes to despise her husband, and their young daughter bores her. In one scene while they're taking a walk with some other people, something happens to a child, and the doc produces a pocket knife to free the child from some snag. Madame Bovary thinks to herself "Look at him! Carrying a pocket knife like some common peasant!" 
 She longs for love with one guy but never gets up the nerve to canoodle with him. He moves away. Another dude comes along and says "Hoo boy, I gotta have me some o dat," and he puts the moves on her. They have a fling. Her emotions are all emotional, she gets uber-clingy, and he cuts her off. She goes into a coma. The doctor abandons his practice to take care of her. Bills mount up, she eventually comes to, and is resigned to a dull life. Then she meets the first guy for whom she pined, and they start an affair. She lives a lavish lifestyle beyond the means of the doctor's income, robs Peter to pay Paul; you know, what most everyone in America has been doing for the past 10 or 15 years, and just like with them, it catches up to her. The doctor (whom I would not allow to treat a hangnail despite his success in most medical matters because he is so freaking STUPID) is oblivious to everything; the bills, the affairs, her hatred of him, EVERYTHING. The love affair ends, she sees no way out of the financial affairs, so she poisons herself and dies leaving the wreckage behind her for her husband to deal with. Eventually he dies as well, of a broken heart, I reckon. Their daughter is eventually raised by an aunt and forced to do labor at some mill. (hide spoiler)] 
 There is a host of other characters who add a bit of color to the novel, and most all of them turn out to be a bit rotten at the end. All except Dr. Bovary who just remains pathetic. I liken this to The Great Gatsby in that everyone turns out to be a fair-weather friend, hence the tragedy. Madame Bovary's fate is too kind in my mind, Dr. Bovary's too harsh. 
 If you appreciate good literature, then you could do much worse than this story. Be sure to pick up a good translation, though. It's my understanding that this book has been translated more times than any other, and that a copy of every translation could easily fill a personal home library, and then some. However, having recently read some Dickens and Hugo, I have to say Flaubert pales in comparison with the literary gems (but, come on, who doesn't)? So, not even the literary journey is all that enjoyable. I did like one quote towards the end, though, and I'll leave you with it. Dr. Bovary is pissed off at God, and he... 
 "burst out into blasphemies (to a priest): 'I hate your God!....' 
 Bovary was far away. He was walking with great strides along by the wall, near the espalier, and he ground his teeth; he raised to heaven looks of malediction, but not so much as a leaf stirred for all of that." 
 I love things that remind me of my own powerlessness when I'm angry.