L'Assommoir - Émile Zola

L'Assommoir

By Émile Zola

  • Release Date: 1877-01-01
  • Genre: Fiction & Literature
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 11 Ratings

Description

The novel is a study of alcoholism and poverty in the working-class districts of Paris. The novel is essentially the story of Gervaise Macquart, running away to Paris with her shiftless lover Lantier to work as a washerwoman in a hot, busy laundry in one of the seedier areas of the city. Gervaise and her two young sons being abandoned by Lantier, who takes off for parts unknown; she later takes up with Coupeau, a teetotal roofing engineer, and they are married. Through a combination of happy circumstances Gervaise is able to raise enough money to open her own laundry, and the couple's happiness appears to be complete with the birth of a daughter, Anna, nicknamed Nana.