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A review by frostling
The Ripening Seed by Colette
4.0
Classic coming of age novel with impatient teenager Phil, in love with his childhood friend, Vinca. Her parents destine Vinca to a rather domestic life, while Phil has to contemplate long studies, plus his military service.
Their holiday on the brilliantly captured Brittany coast (Colette’s descriptions are always amazing) is passing by with some disappointment as Phil wants more than a tomboy girlfriend who spends her time fishing. Then, fate responds to his impatience by placing Mrs Dalleray on his path.
Although he feels he is meant to become Vinca’s husband, he cannot resist the lures of Mrs Dalleray, and he spends several nights with her. This is lust, not love, and we get the notion that Vinca will have to be mature enough to accept his infidelities if she wants to have a life with him.
This novella, written almost 100 years ago, paints the transition from childhood to adulthood with perfection. There is the angst, the uncertainties, the early weight of incoming responsibilities. And in the background, parents (who despite having been teenagers themselves), are so far remote from their kids’ lives that they might as well live on another planet.
It all feel timeless, and only the absence of smartphones anchors this story in the past.
Their holiday on the brilliantly captured Brittany coast (Colette’s descriptions are always amazing) is passing by with some disappointment as Phil wants more than a tomboy girlfriend who spends her time fishing. Then, fate responds to his impatience by placing Mrs Dalleray on his path.
Although he feels he is meant to become Vinca’s husband, he cannot resist the lures of Mrs Dalleray, and he spends several nights with her. This is lust, not love, and we get the notion that Vinca will have to be mature enough to accept his infidelities if she wants to have a life with him.
This novella, written almost 100 years ago, paints the transition from childhood to adulthood with perfection. There is the angst, the uncertainties, the early weight of incoming responsibilities. And in the background, parents (who despite having been teenagers themselves), are so far remote from their kids’ lives that they might as well live on another planet.
It all feel timeless, and only the absence of smartphones anchors this story in the past.