Book #22
Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
The French Riviera: home to the Beautiful People. And none are more beautiful than Cecile, 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 when Raymond decides to marry, he lets loose in Cecile raw, ungovernable impulses to destroy, with tragic consequences
I enjoyed this, it was really interesting. It reminded me a lot of The Great Gatsby, and when I read the blurb, someone else had likened Sagan to "the French F. Scott Fitzgerald," so I might be brainer than we had all initially imagined.
My favourite part was Sagan's in-depth analysis of different people's behaviours and motives behind them. There was hatred, schemes, love, loyalty, betrayal and more.
The imagery in the book was gorgeous too, I almost felt like I was rubbing my feet into the sand of Côte d'Azur as I was reading.
It perfectly captures teenage struggles and adventures, meaning Cecile is a teenager you can believe in. She won't apologise or conform, rather wishing to remain in her innocence and youth as long as she possibly can manage.
I was quite shocked when I discovered Sagan had this book published when she was only 18. It's an extremely mature work, I had believed it to be written by an older figure, a kind of Nabokov character.
My next mission is to read this in the original French texts.