COUVERTURE DU PARIS MATCH N°2889 : FRANCOISE SAGAN UNE VIE (Photo credit: Patrick Peccatte)
Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
After half-watching a documentary about the life of Francoise Sagan (it was in French, so I only caught about half the info), I decided to have a got at some of her work.
Bonjour Tristesse was her first book, published when she was 19. It was a media sensation for its sexual themes, but it made her name (and a lot of money). A short work, I found it rather juvenile in its language, but a well-crafted story, a novella really. That being said, I was reading it in translation so I leave it to readers of the original French to set me straight.
I liked it enough to move on to her second (also short) work, A Certain Smile.
A Certain Smile: A Novel by Françoise Sagan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read this immediately after Sagan's first work (Bonjour Tristesse) and much preferred it. The writing seems much more mature, although it was written only two years later.
Bored with her studies and boyfriend, Dominique sets out on a flirtation-turned-affair with his uncle. Sagan, who was the same age as her protagonist, writes convincingly and with authority, and the emotional tide feels very true-to-life.
Recommended.
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