Bonjour Tristesse: A Novel Paperback – June 17, 2008

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.

Very insightful and well written.

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 loved this book. Saw the American movie with Jean Seberg so I thought the book would be a great read. I have to admit, I thought the book would be longer for some reason (not that it matters), but I was still impressed that an 18 year old could write such a tragedy. I recommend this book to anyone who has interest in french literature.

Sagan became and overnight sensation at 18 when when she published her first book, "Bonjour, Tristesse", in 1954. It really is easy to see why since this is a wonderful little book. Introspective, philosophical, but brief. The story is moved by characters motivated by indifference, what the French call "ennui", which is perfectly illustrated by the first paragraph:"A strange melancholy pervades me to which I hesitate to give the grave and beautiful name of sorrow. The idea of sorrow has always appealed to me, but now I am almost ashamed of its complete egoism. I have known boredom, regret, and occasionally remorse, but never sorrow. Today it envelops me like a silken web, enervating and soft, and sets me apart from everybody else."What I love about this particular edition is the inclusion of an enlightening introduction, as well as an essay penned by Sagan about her need for speed (she had a penchant for sports cars) as well as an interview with her shortly after she gained fame about her inspiration and her way of life.Overall, this book is a winner if you love a story by the sea and a coming of age story. Ah, to be a failed student on the Riviera, whiling away the hours basking in the sun. Great read!

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!!

The complicated, back-and-forth emotions between the narrator and her relationships with the people around her astutely mimic adolescent insecurity and unawareness. Written when she was only eighteen, Sagan's novel of the destructiveness of ennui and naivete thus easily gets into the mind of a teenager. The thoughts written down are so commonplace to youth, that one will find themselves underlining whole passages due to their precise accuracy. Indeed, Bonjour Tristesse is more philosophical and devastating than many coming-of-age stories. Unsentimental, although sometimes laborious and heavy-handed, especially in Part One, the novel reveals the despair of wanting another to know one's thoughts, and the anguish of realizing the consequences of one's actions in the world of adult theatrics. The lyricism of the prose is ethereal and is eerily reminiscent of the work of fellow French writer Albert Camus. Simple stylistically yet complex in symbolism, Sagan has penned a tome that would make any psychologist tremble at the amount of material present to analyze and dissect.

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