Well, this is one of the best novels of all time, but Émile Zola made the book fucking long. :lol
Basically, this is an uprising of a society of exploited proletarians led by some dude against the autority, a critique, should I say, of the industrialism and the ruthless impact it makes on the poor workers back in the 19th century.
I was reading it, but I chose the original french version the longest one, it was just too damn long. There is a pretty decent flick with Depardieu, but even that movie is extremely long. It came the same year as Jurassic Park, I chose the american flick, silly me. :lol