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A review by burialshroud
Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier
5.0
I wasn't taken with this book right away, couldn't find any time to read more than a few pages at once so that prevented me from becoming absorbed in the story, but from around the halfway point I absolutely devoured the book and ended up reading long into the night, unable to turn in until I'd finished.
Another thing that put me off at first was that I hated Meaulnes and had very little patience for his self-centred childishness so I couldn't relate to the way Seurel and the other boys made him the focal point of their school days. He looms large throughout the story but Seurel is the narrator and he is the perfect counterpoint to Meaulnes; onanistic Meaulnes spends the book barging around not seeming to realise that other people exist outside of the story he's created around himself whereas Seurel is a real person, whose nostalgia is no less poignant for its quietude. Where Meaulnes remembers the time he had the grandest adventure EVER, Seurel remembers his childhood home, swimming trips, his friends and it is just as romantic and just as vivid.
I've read a few articles and reviews on this novel and I don't think I'll ever get sick of hearing what people think of it, really fascinating, evocative, dynamic, highly recommended.
Another thing that put me off at first was that I hated Meaulnes and had very little patience for his self-centred childishness so I couldn't relate to the way Seurel and the other boys made him the focal point of their school days. He looms large throughout the story but Seurel is the narrator and he is the perfect counterpoint to Meaulnes; onanistic Meaulnes spends the book barging around not seeming to realise that other people exist outside of the story he's created around himself whereas Seurel is a real person, whose nostalgia is no less poignant for its quietude. Where Meaulnes remembers the time he had the grandest adventure EVER, Seurel remembers his childhood home, swimming trips, his friends and it is just as romantic and just as vivid.
I've read a few articles and reviews on this novel and I don't think I'll ever get sick of hearing what people think of it, really fascinating, evocative, dynamic, highly recommended.