The critical establishment was generally hostile to the novel ; Taine found it insincere , Barbey d'Aurevilly complained of its vulgarity , Flaubert found within it `` neither truth nor greatness , '' the Goncourts lambasted its artificiality , and Baudelaire - despite giving favorable reviews in newspapers - castigated it in private as `` tasteless and inept . '' The critical establishment was generally hostile to the novel ; Taine found it insincere , Barbey d'Aurevilly complained of its vulgarity , Flaubert found within it `` neither truth nor greatness '' , the Goncourts lambasted its artificiality , and Baudelaire - despite giving favorable reviews in newspapers - castigated it in private as `` tasteless and inept . ''