Is he worth reading?

>>9149457
There is no book that is worth reading. They are all a waste of time, money, or both.

>>9149457
Yes, if you have a revolutionary heart, which from what I know of you I think you do, read Germinal.

>>9149457
This is what I sent to one of the /lit/ goodreads group when a guy asked about Zola:

" only read Germinal and it was a great book.
I read it mostly to understand how the social movements were manifestating themselves prior to the russian revolution (i.e early days of the spread of the marxist ideology throughout europe)... There are a couple of other good fictions books that deal with more or less the subject or relevant things to it.

Anyhow, even though my goal was not within the book itself I ended up being impressed in how well the story unfolds and how the characters are built.

There is misery, life difficulties, opression of the poor classes, the grooming of the intellectuals and the ideological differences within them (no i'm not a marxist), but it doesn't romanticize it, or any side of the "class fight".
The miners, the whores, the engineers and the businessman and also the kids are well developed and fit properly into the story, they are not representative of an ideal model but rather they appear to be real people with real desires and fears. There is even internal conflicts between the groups.
It is clearly an amazing work of literature.

As far as english translations I don't know any to recommend, I read it in my native language (portuguese)."

>>9149460
yeah but i gotta do something man

>>9149513
no you don't you don't have to do anything you can do whatever you want

>>9149525
But I don't HAVE to do whatever I want so get off my back.

>>9149525
I gotta dude

>>9149457
I guess the other anon is right about Germinal, only read a chapter though.

"La Fortune des Rougon", first novel in the Rougon-Macquart cycle, is decent. I could enjoy it even if I usually prefer exciting novels with heroes etc. The protagonists are two teens, pretty miserable as always but with a good heart and full of hopes.

I found "Au Bonheur des Dames" pretty boring (it's about the birth of department stores with luxury goods etc., with some love story involving a naive girl). Maybe I was too young to appreciate it.

Perhaps Zola is more interesting if you don't read the novels for the story (obivously), but rather with some intellectual point of view, since there's always this relation between individuals and what 'makes' or builds or destroys them, be it society (mainly) or some innate flaw.

Yes. His writing is God-Tier.

>>9149513
do cocaine