Bonjour Tristesse - Book Review

I picked up ‘Bonjour Tristesse’ several years ago. I was browsing my favorite local bookshop, looking for an interesting title, or a writer that I hadn’t heard of before, and when I saw the name Françoise Sagan, the name clicked with me, and I felt compelled to take this dainty book home with me. It’s an interesting story, not all together nice, but certainly thought provoking, and quite evocative of the age of 17, the age that Cécile, the main character, is at the time that the story takes place. If you’re looking for an afternoon read that will open your mind to the human condition, particularly the condition of young adulthood, you should definitely find yourself a copy of ‘Bonjour Tristesse’.

The story follows Cécile as she joins her father and his girlfriend Elsa on a vacation at a Mediterranean villa. What would have been a carefree time is interrupted, in Cécile’s opinion, by the arrival of Anne, an old friend of Cécile’s deceased mother. As a relationship begins to develop between Anne and Cécile’s father, Cécile begins to plot against the pair, as she does not want to lose the easy-going relationship she has with her father. Cécile behaves quite rashly throughout the story, as a 17-year-old is apt to do, and her actions end up having far greater consequences than she intended.

At the end of the story, the reader is left to wonder exactly how the experience of the summer vacation has changed Cécile, as well as her father. It is quite an interesting read, and it seems to me that what it really says is that the teenage years can be quite difficult to navigate, but adulthood is not necessarily easier, and humans do not always learn the lessons that they should through their actions, but sometimes, perhaps they do. It’s all slightly amoral, and confusing, and will certainly sit with you for quite some time after you have finished reading it.