30B430 Book 28: Therese Raquin

Ahh yes, book #2 of my trip to MN.

I got this book because it was in Audible's "A-List Collection," a series of books read by celebrities. Therese Raquin, written by Emile Zola in 1867, happened to be read by Kate Winslet. Who is going to say no to that?!

Kate Winslet is an amazing narrator. She does great voices for each of the characters, and keeps you interested. Which is good, because I wasn't totally interested in the book. I was kind of over the characters by the end, because none of them are really likeable. I think I would listen to anything that she reads though.

Here would be my brief synopsis of the book:

When Therese is a young girl, she is brought to live with her aunt, Madame Raquin, because her dad can't take care of her any more. Her aunt has a son, Camille, who is really sick all the time. Madame Raquin shelters and spoils Camille, and basically treats Therese if she is just as sick as Camille, even though she is perfectly healthy. The crazy aunt makes them marry each other, and even though Therese clearly hates her life, she goes along with it. Until she meets Laurent, Camille's artist friend, who at first is basically only interested in Therese because he is broke and can't afford prostitutes anymore. They have an affair. They decide to kill Camille, making it look like an accident. They think they are finally going to be happy together, but after they get married, with Madame Raquin's blessing, good old Camille comes back to haunt them. And they go crazy. And now hate and want to kill each other.

Totally uplifting, right?! At first I felt bad for Therese because her life was pretty horrible, but as the book kept going, she was just as devious as the rest.

I actually just found out that they are making this into a movie, which will be released in December. I may check that out. Apparently Kate Winslet was supposed to be the lead for a long time, and then was eventually replaced by Jessica Biel, who was replaced by Elizabeth Olsen. Guess they wanted someone younger. One of my favorites from Harry Potter, Tom Felton, is playing Camille. And Jessica Lange will be Madame Raquin - she'll do crazy well.

So that was that. Only two more books to go!