THE LADIES' PARADISE ÉMILE ZOLA

At the far end of the hall, around one of the small cast-iron columns which supported the glass roof, material was streaming down like a bubbling sheet of water... Women pale with desire were leaning over as if to look at themselves. Faced with this wild cataract, they all remained standing there, filled with the secret fear of being caught in the overflow of all this luxury and with an irresistible desire to throw themselves into it and be lost (103-4).

Yeah. I don't why I picked it up. Just got a little bored and it was the first unread novel I saw laying around. I don't even remember which class I was supposed to read it for (and didn't at the time, obviously). Ahhhh. Urban fiction. Yes. It's definitely an urban fiction kind of yarn. You know, I didn't mind it. It was an easy read, packed with tons of fetishistic images of textiles. Love story. Greed. Machinery. It was something I should have read in college I guess. But it was enjoyable. When I was reading it, I wasn't concentrating on how much I wished I weren't so alone. And my cat. She would climb in my lap when I read it. This was especially enjoyable.