Steven Godin's Reviews > The Beast Within

After well over a century, Emile Zola still retains the power to absorb readers with his 'Les Rougon-Macquart' series of novels. This, regarded as one of his finest achievements is a tale full of rage that studies the dark haunting impressionistic nature of man's slow corruption by jealousy. Set against the backdrop of the industrial revolution, the story is set in the world of the railways. A lot of the main action takes place either on trains, or close by to the tracks, there is murder, passion and obsession, fused with a compassionate look at individuals derailed by atavistic forces beyond their control. I found Zola’s use of imagery evocative and atmospheric, and quite shocking, he fills pages with dread, metal and flesh, blood and rust, where at any one moment somebody could turn criminal with hell bent discontent.

There are three central characters, Roubaud, the deputy station master at Le Havre, his fragile wife Séverine, and Jacques Lantier, an engine driver on the Parisian line. As a result of a chance remark, Roubaud suspects that Séverine has had an affair some years earlier, with Grandmorin one of the directors of the railway company, who had acted as her patron and who had helped Roubaud get his job. He forces a confession out of her and makes her write a letter to Grandmorin telling him to take a particular train that evening, the same train Roubaud and Séverine are taking back to Le Havre. From here on the tension is upped with a chilling bite, a murder is committed and thus an investigation follows, where more than one person is suspected of the attack. The relationship between Roubaud and his wife is now fractured, he believes she is carrying on with Lantier, whilst she realizes that he has been stealing the last of some hidden money. Both now, with almost frenzy, start dark plans of their own...

The last third contained some really tense scenes, leaving me holding the book with clammy hands,
as it hurtled along the tracks to it's conclusion. The Human Beast is never far away, but the novel is about far more than vicious homicide; Zola's targets include the French judicial system which is looked at in great detail, and the world he creates is brilliant with it's realization of railways and railwaymen (similar to what he did looking at the coal miners lives in Germinal). I did find 'Germinal' richer and a more complex experience than 'The Beast Within' (hence the four stars), but lets not kid ourselves, this novel compared to most other books written at the time, simply stands out from the crowd. He dared to write about what no one else would, and pulls it off with such high standards.