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veryliterary's review against another edition
4.0
So entertaining! Enjoyed the setting and appreciated the narrator — mischievous, witty, wild, sharp Claudine. Quite a captivating character. Looking forward to continuing the series!
-Read in 2020-
-Read in 2020-
nkspas's review against another edition
4.0
Back in the late 1800s a young French woman named Colette was locked in her room and ordered to write books by her much older husband Willy. He took authorship of her books which became giant bestsellers in France. She eventually broke free of the marriage and continued to write nearly eighty (!?) published works up to 1954 when she died and was given a state funeral and mourned as a national treasure. Claudine at School (or Claudine A L’École) is her very first book and, according to the introduction, it invented the century’s first teenage girl: “rebellious, secretive, erotically reckless and disturbed, determined to be an individual in her own right, but confused about how….” This book is sometimes considered the first ever queer YA novel and is absolutely hypnotic. It’s assumed to be based on Colette’s own boarding school experiences in France in the 1880s and reads like a deeply personal diary. Deeply escapist.
shakespeareandspice's review
4.0
Claudine at School is a young adult, coming-of-age, LGBTQ+ novel. Although Claudine is clearly an unlikable, spoiled character, she is an also extremely entertaining figure. She is full of spirit and ideas which lead to one of the most interesting stories I read lately. An added plus is Colette’s wonderful writing style; she’s written this novel in a way that’s just delightfully pleasant. What’s more suspiring is that while it’s a novel published in 1900, it’s clearly far ahead of it’s time and extremely relatable for the modern reader. I would recommend it to everyone willing to try something a little different but enjoyable.
natassak's review
4.0
4/5 stars
I would probably LOATHE Claudine and most of her friends if I met them due to Claudine's highkey holier (well, better at least) than thou mindset and how they're all weirdly mean to each other at times, but they were so utterly charming to read about nevertheless.
It follows Claudine's adventures in school (shocking), where she competes for the affection of her (female) teacher, takes her exams even though she's not planning on going back to school the next year, and everything in between as she navigates the life of a young student with independency just in reach. The student-teacher aspect of it all was... well, not something I would normally read, but this whole book was supposed to be shocking, and how can you not adore Claudine's untamed and risque nature? Everything she does, she does it well, which could be both annoying and admirable. I wouldn't want to be her friend, but reading about her was fun indeed. I definitely want to read the rest of the books!
I would probably LOATHE Claudine and most of her friends if I met them due to Claudine's highkey holier (well, better at least) than thou mindset and how they're all weirdly mean to each other at times, but they were so utterly charming to read about nevertheless.
It follows Claudine's adventures in school (shocking), where she competes for the affection of her (female) teacher, takes her exams even though she's not planning on going back to school the next year, and everything in between as she navigates the life of a young student with independency just in reach. The student-teacher aspect of it all was... well, not something I would normally read, but this whole book was supposed to be shocking, and how can you not adore Claudine's untamed and risque nature? Everything she does, she does it well, which could be both annoying and admirable. I wouldn't want to be her friend, but reading about her was fun indeed. I definitely want to read the rest of the books!
curatoriallyyours's review
4.0
An enjoyable romp from another time. I remember reading this as a teenager and being completely in awe of the shenanigans Claudine got up to! Revisiting it was a marvellous diversion.
hennamelender's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
jennyanydots's review
3.0
A fast read, for the work book club. To be honest, I'd never had picked this one up without that, but it was quite a fast read (I actually started about 2 days before the book club met) and enjoyable enough, although I'm not desperate to read the rest of the series. It's the story of a French school girl at the end of the C19th, and was at least partly autobiographical, but it was interesting more for the details of the author than the story of Claudine.