Matt
A really fascinating book in a couple of different ways. As a point in time glimpse at a very different world, it's wonderful - the world building of fin de siècle rural France is perfect, with lots of rose-tinted details about what day-to-day life in a relatively prosperous rural backwater would have been like (including some fairly dark details thrown in as fun little asides). The vast difference between the Anglo and Gallic worldviews is also amazing to witness, the ways Claudine approaches the world couldn't be more different than something like the roughly contemporary Anne of Green Gables or What Katy Did At School. Equally fascinating is the story behind the books themselves, with Colette producing the books that appear to have been lightly edited by her husband and then published under his name. Her claims that his only contribution was to make them a bit more saucy feels true, with the authentically feminine perspective regularly undercut by a very masculine fantasy perspective of what nubile young schoolgirls and their teachers are really getting up to behind closed doors. And on top of all of this, there is the elephant in the room that Claudine might actually just be a selfish and awful person who enjoys creating chaos. Ultimately, a rich text and a fun read that didn't really leave me wanting to spend any more time with the lead character.
A really fascinating book in a couple of different ways. As a point in time glimpse at a very different world, it's wonderful - the world building of fin de siècle rural France is perfect, with lots of rose-tinted details about what day-to-day life in a relatively prosperous rural backwater would have been like (including some fairly dark details thrown in as fun little asides). The vast difference between the Anglo and Gallic worldviews is also amazing to witness, the ways Claudine approaches the world couldn't be more different than something like the roughly contemporary Anne of Green Gables or What Katy Did At School. Equally fascinating is the story behind the books themselves, with Colette producing the books that appear to have been lightly edited by her husband and then published under his name. Her claims that his only contribution was to make them a bit more saucy feels true, with the authentically feminine perspective regularly undercut by a very masculine fantasy perspective of what nubile young schoolgirls and their teachers are really getting up to behind closed doors. And on top of all of this, there is the elephant in the room that Claudine might actually just be a selfish and awful person who enjoys creating chaos. Ultimately, a rich text and a fun read that didn't really leave me wanting to spend any more time with the lead character.