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A fine novel except that it, like others of Zola's, was dated at the time of writing. That is not obvious now, but it markedly subverts any view of its historical import as an expression of a fresh social conscience of its time.

Zola writes something like a journalist in real sympathy with the lot of workers forgotten or ignored in his time and with the injustices they endured.

A reader interested in the abysmal situation and treatment of miners then and well into the 20th century will value "Germinal" above three stars.

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