Review: "Bonjour Tristesse" by Françoise Sagan

Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan
First published 1954
★★★★

I had this on my to-read list for ages and then removed it because…because I have no taste, apparently. But when I got the opportunity to read The Four Corners of the Heart, I knew I had to read some old-school Sagan first, to know what made her famous before I tried to understand the unfinished pieces she left behind.

Cécile is not a character to be loved, not exactly. She’s smart but unambitious, more interested in gossip and romance than in passing her exams, resentful of anyone who might ask her to want more. Resentful of the idea that there might be more to want in the first place. She’s happy as she is, watching her father fall in and out of love with women who might (and I cringe as I write this) be termed ‘silly young things’; looking ahead to a life in which she finds a man to keep her in the same quiet luxury and indolence that she so enjoys.

I don’t have a great grasp on Sagan, except to say that she must have put a great deal of herself into Cécile—and even as Cécile is scathing, so is Sagan; it’s a biting portrait, and one in which nobody comes off entirely well. And…I’d love to think that I’ll now go out and read piles more of Sagan’s work, except I know myself, and it seems unlikely. But…perhaps I’ll go shelve her next novella, and we’ll see how long it takes me to read (or delete) that one. Because if it’s half as scathingly entertaining as this, it’s worth a read.