Madame Bovary vs Mrs. Dalloway: Which Should You Read?

Both live on shelves: Suicide victims, Married women, Fiction

Cover of Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert · 1856 ★★★★☆ 3.7 430 pages · ≈ 7 h 58 m · Challenging Find on Amazon

vs

Cover of Mrs. Dalloway

Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf · 1925 ★★★★☆ 3.8 240 pages · ≈ 4 h 27 m · Challenging Find on Amazon

The verdict

Ratings are close: 3.7 vs 3.8 — either is a safe pick by score.
Mrs. Dalloway is the quicker read — about 4 hours vs 7 for Madame Bovary.

Side by side