Bonjour Tristesse. Franoise Sagan
Books | Fiction / General
Françoise Sagan
A Hay Festival and The Poole VOTE 100 BOOKS for Women Selection'Late into the night we talked of love, of its complications. In my father's eyes they were imaginary. . . This conception of rapid, violent and passing love affairs appealed to my imagination. I was not at the age when fidelity is attractive. I knew very little about love.' The French Riviera: home to the Beautiful People. And none are more beautiful than Cécile, a precocious seventeen-year-old, and her father Raymond, a vivacious libertine. Charming, decadent and irresponsible, the golden-skinned duo are dedicated to a life of free love, fast cars and hedonistic pleasures. But then, one long, hot summer Raymond decides to marry, and Cécile and her lover Cyril feel compelled to take a hand in his amours, with tragic consequences. Bonjour Tristesse scandalized 1950s France with its portrayal of teenager terrible Cécile, a heroine who rejects conventional notions of love, marriage and responsibility to choose her own sexual freedom.
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Author
Françoise Sagan
Pages
112
Publisher
Penguin Books, Limited
Published Date
2011
ISBN
0241951569 9780241951569
Community ReviewsSee all
"Recently, I read <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/763508255">The World in the Evening</a>, and afterwards I found myself remembering <i>Bonjour Tristesse</i>. I think it was the setting and the sense of aimlessness that made me draw a connection between these two books. Also, they were published only a year apart!<br/><br/>I remember that I fully intended to read <Bonjour Tristesse</i> in its original French, but my college library only had an English copy on hand, and so...expedience won out, as it usually does when it comes to me and the next book on my reading list.<br/><br/>I was drawn to this book because of its warm setting--I went to college in Vermont--and its pervasive sense of ennui. (Ah, yes, what a deliciously French concept!) There was something exciting about reading this book, mostly, I think, because I was (and am) nothing like the main character. And yet, for the very same reason, I think there was something about her that I was drawn to. Sort of like that girl in grade school you wish you could be friends with, just because she is so...cool. Or, if she's French, <i>cool</i>.<br/><br/>This book is very short, which works to its advantage. Much as with <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73031436">The Third Miss Symons</a>, which features another character with whom I have zilch in common, it is refreshing to read a book that's totally strange from your own life, but only as long as that book doesn't drag on forever. This book is more like watching the movie trailer to someone else's life, rather than sitting down for the whole two-hour long movie.<br/><br/>Reviews of life-changing vintage fiction you've never even heard of: www.Anotherlookbook.com"
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Bree Sarlati