Bonjour Tristesse: A Novel (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)

The prose of this was so lively. I read it on vacation and it made the vacation so perfect and memorable. Such a vibrant, dramatic, funny summer read. I'm excited for the movie but I don't think it'll live up to how snappy the novel was, how nihilistic and comical the main character was.

Light and easy read!

I first read it in the 1950’s The movie too Lovely to see it again

Sometimes I see a movie I like and then read the book that inspired it. The movie Bonjour Tristesse stars my favorite David Niven, Deborah Kerr and Jean Seberg as the main character Cecile, a worldly young woman of 17. I recently watched the film again and did a little reading about it. The author Francoise Sagan wrote the novel that inspired the movie when she herself was just 17. I was intrigued and decided to read the book. I'm a little surprised this book wasn't studied in any of my lit classes, because it is a very thoughtful tale of a young girl who matures early in France of the 1950's. As the narrator, Cecile constantly keeps you wondering about her interests and the events that play out (As an old English major I am always suspicious of narrators' motivation, LOL). She struggles with her feelings and impulses - are the events that unwind just what she needs or the worst thing that's ever happened? She can be a mass of contradictions and despite her appearance of maturity her thoughts are exactly those of a teenager in contant conflict. The story revolves around events on a summer holiday in the south of France. The idealized lifestyle of daughter, father and his girlfriend of the moment is disturbed by unexpected new relationships - the daughter with a young man staying at a nearby villa and a longtime family friend who arrives and seems hell bent on transforming the carefree father daughter duo into a traditional new family trio, with herself as new wife and mother. It's very much a tale of it's time discussing Cecile's potential sexual awakening and an appropriate marriage being an ultimate life goal, but still there's a touch of the continental mores that I think we in America see as more typically "French." The characters lead a privileged lifestyle - beautiful people in beautiful places, and the European tradition of a long summer holiday is certainly luxurious. The book is translated from the original French. It includes a more contemporary introduction from Diane Johnson that sets the scene in many ways and also features an interview with the author and a short essay she also wrote.

This book was published in 1954 when Francoise Sagan was 18 and presumably takes place at roughly the same time period. When one reads biographies of Sagan, one sees parallels between her life and the events of the book, and thus one gets the feeling that the book is either quasi autobiographical or heavily drawn from personal experience. The main character, Cecile, at 17 is roughly the same age as Sagan at the time of the writing of the book. She lives with her father, Raymond, having lost her mother at the age of two. In the beginning her father is with Elsa, an attractive, 29 year old woman, one of many who has filed through her father's life but no one of any intellectual or personal substance. Soon, however, her father, becomes involved with Anne, a friend of Cecile's mother, age 42 and someone, unlike most of her father's lovers, who is highly intelligent, cultured and with more personal depth. Anne and her father become engaged. Cecile, during this time, forms a romantic attachment to Cyril, a law student. The relationship between Cecile and Anne is alternately friendly and antagonistic and there is some competition for Raymond's attentions that escalates to a climax. The book is written with great sensitivity, clarity and vividness and a writing style that borders at time on the poetic. It's better in French if you know that language. Translator's Kiss

I hope this coming of age masterpiece is being taught in high schools and colleges by now, is not reserved for adventuresome readers to discover on 'best' lists like I thankfully did. Somewhere between Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Parent Trap and Lolita curiously, a short and exhilarating romp, mesmerizing and tragic at once, with that distinctive poignancy characteristic of French literature and unusually youthful, precocious authors. Francoise Sagan is something of the European answer to F. Scott Fitzgerald. I hope more of her prolific works have made their way into the English, after this barn burner of a debut I'd happily read the entire oeuvre!!

Very insightful and well written.

This is NOT the Heather Lloyd translation, despite being listed as such. It is the abridged version translated by Irene Ash.

El libro llegó bien, en buenas condiciones y rápido.

As advertised, good condition upon arrival.

Bonjour Tristesse yes i am very thrilled with the book and it arrived in perfect time and condition

Short book, translated from French. Spoilt (or poorly parented, depending on your point of view) girl discovers love, betrayal and revenge and is changed forever as a result. Very moving, it is the kind of book you keep thinking about long after you've finished it. Highly recommended.

This is a short, but powerful story of a shallow teenager - whose comfortable world is 'challenged' by a new and stronger parental figure. Unlike many 'coming of age' stories Sagan is not sympathetic and beautifully describes the precocious emotions of Cecile. Set against the French Rivera in a warm summer, it explores the tensions within families, challenges to authority and morality. An excellent read.