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just another heartbreaking work of staggering genius ( )

Françoise Sagan - [Bonjour Tristesse]

Rich teenager behaves badly in the South of France.

I picked out [Un sang d'aquarelle] Sagan's 1987 novel from my local library, then realised that I had not read her first and most famous novel [Bonjour Tristesse] still lurking on my shelf and so I read that instead. At the time of publication 1954, it was a great success and reading it today I can understand why. It is totally irreverent and depicts a lifestyle that some may find attractive. It certainly upset the catholic french author François Mauriac who wrote a critical review, which may have added to its success.

The story is written in the first person: Cecile is on holiday with her father (Raymond) who has rented a villa by the seaside for a couple of months. Cecile admires her father's easy charm and is not surprised when they are joined on holiday by Elsa, her 40 year old father's younger lover. Raymond has also invited Anne a woman of his own age who was a friend of his deceased wife. Raymond falls in love with Anne, Elsa moves out and Anne tries to take Cecile under her wing. Cecile is enjoying a first romance with Cyril who is staying in a neighbouring villa and doesn't take kindly to Anne's attempts to reign her in, and make her study for her school exams. Cecile plots to drive Anne away from her father.

This sounds like a plot for a Young Adult novel, but Sagan has captured the egotistical life style of Cecile so well, that there can be no moral conclusions for those younger readers. It is well plotted, well written and captures a hedonistic lifestyle quite superbly. Sagan was 17 years old when she started Bonjour Tristesse and its publication the next year was an immediate success and must have hit a chord with readers ready to forget the austerity of the war years. It is Cecile's point of view that drives this novel: her nascent love affair and struggles to assert her freedom against a background of fast cars, dilettante rich men, and their women, make this a fascinating read 4 stars. ( )

I first became familiar with this title after Camille Paglia's having recommended the film based on "Bonjour Tristesse" in her Salon.com column. I had hoped, that since Jean Seberg starred in that film, that it would have been in French. Even though the DVD is in English, it follows the novel quite faithfully. Although I am not fluent in French, I studied the language for 6 years between ages 12 and 18, as well as during a 5 year-period from 2002 to 2006 (3 of those years in the Certificate of Translation program at NYU), as well as auto-didactically. I am also a fan of French cinema, which has sharpened my auditory comprehension. Thus I have a working knowledge of French, at least in the context of understanding the written language. The French vocabulary in "Bonjour Tristesse" is for the most part simple and straightforward. Already having seen the picture also helped me to comprehend the plot. I think it is amazing that Sagan wrote this book as an 18 year old; she was definitely a prodigy, possessing a wisdom, clarity of thinking, and faculty of human understanding beyond her years. To have such insight into the sexual and professional mores, particularly of men, far beyond her years is impressive. Although it isn't the first and won't be the last, "Bonjour Tristesse" is a study of the human potential for wickedness, in a story narrated by antagonist Cecile. In today's language, Cecile and her father would be referred to as players. None of the characters are inherently evil; it is only the combined effect of the flawed natures that contributes to the key sacrifice. Cecile decides to be swayed by her desire for revenge, and voilà the tragic dénouement that she and her father both regret deeply. And so the reader can feel compassion for those characters; there are no heroes in this work. Despite the brilliance of Cecile's plan, it is the impulsiveness of her youth that contributes to the success of her wicked scheme. Ultimately, this more than just a cautionary tale of the bad girl versus the strict/repressed stepmother. It's about the danger of not recognizing when what seems like a silly game is actually a serious one. Just because this book was written in 1954, doesn't mean it's passé: "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose". ( )

I didn't love it but I found it enjoyable enough and it's pretty short too - a memoir of a bygone summer and the tragedy that results from a seventeen year old girl trying to cling to her life as it is in the moment. It's probably more impressive for the fact Sagan was barely older than the protagonist when she wrote it, and it definitely does show in some of its preoccupations though its that same voice which gives it a kind of authenticity and unique interest. Probably would have liked this more when I was closer to that age too.

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Not much to say about this as a reading xp - I breezed through it fairly quickly and without having to do many lookups though with the advantage of the Kindle I indulged anyway, if more sparingly than I did with Meaulnes. Comprehension is good overall if still not perfect. ( )