Customer Reviews

BONJOUR TRISTESSE

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Is this a novel or a long, stream of consciousness poem? With fine twists of sentiment that range from those delicate, pristine, unreliable moments of late adolescence to those harsher insights of the same age, the book takes the reader on a spellbinding, emotionally volatile journey. Sagan renders scenes so poignantly one feels as if one is part of the same troubled triangle between the heroine, the father and the father's lover (roman a clef?). I have read this numerous times and have been deeply affected each time.

This is a French classic, so it behooves any serious francophile to read it. And it definitely is an amazing achievement for an 18 year old author. But it takes nearly half the book for the dramatic tension to appear. And the way it is handled shows the immaturity of the author. The dramatic turns are silly and shallow and unbelievable, cartoonish. Nonetheless, Sagan does show occasional flashes of pretty and pleasing humor, insight and poignancy.

And this book really is more of a short story than a novella. The first half of the book could easily have been edited down to one third of its length, hence making it something more suitable for inclusion in short story collections.

And one should bear in mind that much of the initial popularity of this book was due, I'm sure, to fairly crass and prurient reasons. The sex, and especially the teen sex, that is described seems very tame by todays standards. So this book really is quite dated and even antique. In a way, it reminds me of an old scratched Elvis 45. It's so hard to imagine nowadays how anyone could have gotten that worked up about it.

'Bonjour Tristesse' is a typical French coming-of-age story. Written in the 1950s' it was an instantaneous scandal for dealing so clearly with teenagers and their sexuality. The times have change, we see the world in a different way, adolescents are the same, but this novel still holds the interest.

Cécile is a precocious seventeen-year-old girl who travels to the French Riviera in the company of her father and his mistress. She is used to having different women around with her father all the time. But when he decides to marry one of them, Cécile and her lover Cyril decide to do something to stop him. Meanwhile, she is also learning about life, love, sex and pleasures. All these life-changing experiences will make the girl grow up towards to womanhood.

Françoise Sagan writes about something she knew, and it makes the book very interesting to read. Her prose never sounds fake or far-fetched. Although, it is a little dated --some of Cécile's acts that were daring by that day are just 'normal' nowadays-- it has not lost its freshness. The Riviera settings are beautifully described, and we're often asking what the girl will do next.

It is undeniable it is a novel about that time in our lives when we're not a child any more and not yet an adult. With a mind filled with questions, we're trying to define who we are and will be in the future to come. Cécile has to face tragic events to understand what her life is and what it will be like for the next years. While many consider her being a spoilt little brat, this is the time when she is forced to stop being that, and see she won't have her father papering her forever.

'Bonjour Tristesse' opens with a powerful paragraph that reads: 'A strange melancholy pervades me to which I hesitate to give the name of sadness'. At this point, had we any doubts it is a book about teenage angst, they are all dissipated.

Sagan wrote this novel when she failed to pass her examination at Sorbonne. The book became an international best seller and also a movie. While 'Bonjour Tristesse' is a short and quick book, it is a good work of fiction, and probably Sagan's masterpiece.

This is a subtle novella of 17-year-old Cécile, recently released from a convent school and enjoying a semi-dissolute life while living with her playboy father and his mistress de jour, Elsa. She lives only for the day, and is untroubled by her failure on her examination. She is looking forward to years of pleasure and irresponsibility, until Anne, a friend of her mother's comes onto the scene and endeavors to change, nay tame, Cécile and her father.

The conflict begins with Anne's response to Cécile's throwaway remark that the young girl makes when her father and mistress adjourn for an erotic interlude, which the older woman found to be vulgar. Cécile soon finds that Anne has made her (Cécile) one of her projects. The plot thickens, much like the motif of the summer's heat and humidity in the southern France setting of this novella. Cécile has her own agenda, including havig a love affair with a young legal student.

This simple novella by Françoise Sagan makes a nice story in describing how her teenaged protagonist reacts toward being tamed by the serious and possibly officious older woman. All of the major characters are well-drawn, and we are lured into a sympathy for each. It has the tone of tragic inevitability that makes the dénouement ring true; but is quite lyric and compelling. Sagan rings true in her sense of the adolescent, and BONJOUR TRISTESSE makes for a very rewarding work to read.

Francoise Sagan is a brilliant French writer, who here has written an intriguing novel about a young lady's 'coming-of-age' while on holiday by the sea. What I appreciate about Sagan's works most of all is her style. She writes very subtly, almost tenderly at times, but what comes out of these impressions is incredible clarity into the inner human workings and spirit. She deals with huge and incredibly moving emotional matters and life-changing experiences with such grace. Perhaps only French writers writing in French can do this (but this English translation maintains some of the original affect). It's like the hidden waters of the subconscious are feeding Sagan's stories, and especially 'Bonjour Tristesse' with eternal messages about life, love, fear, uncertainty, and Destiny. The parvenu paramour in 'Bonjour Tristesse' finds love without becoming jaded by the experience. Yet, she leaves us with elegiac afterthoughts. This is just brilliant literature.

Francoise Sagan is a brilliant French writer, who here has written an intriguing novel about a young lady's 'coming-of-age' while on Holiday by the sea. What I appreciate about Sagan's works most of all is her style. She writes very subtly, almost tenderly at times, but what comes out of these impressions is incredible clarity into the inner human workings ans spirit. She deals with huge and incredibly moving emotional matters and life-changing experiences with the grace of an unassuming, yet very beautiful bouquet. Perhaps only French writers writing in French can do this (but this English translation maintains some of the original affect). It's like the hidden waters of the subconscious are feeding Sagan's stories, and especially 'Bonjour Tristesse' with eternal messages about life, love, fear, uncertainty, and Destiny. The parvenu paramour in 'Bonjour Tristesse' finds love without becoming jaded by the experience. Yet, she leaves us with elegaic afterthoughts. This is just brilliant literature.

This tells the story of one girls summer as she "comes of age" The book feels up to date in many ways. The girl's widowed father prefering to "be a pal" to her as opposed to real parenting, which would involve dicpline and punishment is very much what one encounters in many thiry something (with kids) households today. The images of nature and moods are poeticly portrayed without the narative losing any of its tension. This book also avoids all the cliche usualy associated with this theme. There is none of the self importance of an anais nin story and none of the airport romance novel scenary sometimes encountered in a collette story. You don't have to be into French literature to appreciate and enjoy this and its avery quick read.

I read this book when I was 20 in Turkish. After 2 years I watched its movie and re-read the book. It is really a good book.

I found Bonjour Tristesse an incredibly moving and stimulating book, which I would recommend to anyone who is intruiged by the emotions that a young woman goes through during her adolescense. The book touched on love, her relationship with her father and the other women that enter her and her fathers life. Sagan writes with a flowing and very realistic style, which I found interesting to read. A really fresh and thought provoking book with an excellent ending.

Having only studied french for a few years, I was reluctant when my friend plopped this book down on my lap and said "You MUST read this." Nevertheless, I read it, and found a refreshing change from the abridged versions of classics I had been suffering. The plot was fresh and interesting, and the language not too difficult. I would recommend this book to just about anyone.