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Claudine #2
Claudine in Paris
At the age of seventeen Claudine is in despair having left her beloved Montigny for a new life in Paris. Comforted by her devoted maid Melie, her slug-obsessed Papa, and the trustworthy cat Fanchette, Claudine's instinctive curiosity gradually leads to an awakened interest in the city. Ruthless, impetuous and chastely sensual Claudine records her witty observations and adventures amongst the intriguing characters that surround her, evoking the glamour and excitement of Parisian life.
176 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1901
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About the author
Colette
886 books1,732 followersColette was the pen name of the French novelist and actress Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. She is best known, at least in the English-speaking world, for her novella Gigi, which provided the plot for a famous Lerner & Loewe musical film and stage musical. She started her writing career penning the influential Claudine novels of books. The novel Chéri is often cited as her masterpiece.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 126 reviews
July 7, 2019
This iteration of the Claudine series lacks the poetry and incandescence of 'Claudine's House. This could be due to the fact that whereas the latter was focused on the childhood of Claudine and her sense of wonder at the world around her, this one acts as a coming of age novel, one where the heroine is beginning to enter adulthood and integrate with the world around her, as well as understanding all of the bitterness and disillusion which comes with it. Indeed, the novel is at times over-laden with what her rather asinine husband would define as being 'spiciness', or, as they appear in the novella, cheap and trite sexualized scenes masquerading as being 'risque'; a product as much of her husband's philistine sensibilities than any of Colette's artistic style.
The novella follows Claudine just as she moves to Paris with her eccentric father; Paris is seen as a behemoth which threatens to swallow the naive, yet independent and slightly insouciant, country-girl Claudine whole. The vast labyrinth of the Parisian streets belies a sense of emptiness and coldness which shocks the sensibilities of a girl who was enamoured by the forests and ponderous life of her adolescence. However, in other ways, Paris acts as the catalyst which awakens Claudine out of her slumber; from introducing her to the latest arts and fashions, to the vast array of characters who populate the story.
From her effeminate great-nephew Marcel, who acts as her first introduction to homosexuality, to the glitz and glamour represented by her aunt as well as her burgeoning sexuality as represented by her eventual elopement with Renaud, the biggest difference between this and her earlier novels it that the focus on this is people and the curiosity they evoke in Claudine, meaning the novel focuses of psychology over nature, losing, perhaps, some of the poetry of the earlier stories, but gaining a sense of humanity.
The novella follows Claudine just as she moves to Paris with her eccentric father; Paris is seen as a behemoth which threatens to swallow the naive, yet independent and slightly insouciant, country-girl Claudine whole. The vast labyrinth of the Parisian streets belies a sense of emptiness and coldness which shocks the sensibilities of a girl who was enamoured by the forests and ponderous life of her adolescence. However, in other ways, Paris acts as the catalyst which awakens Claudine out of her slumber; from introducing her to the latest arts and fashions, to the vast array of characters who populate the story.
From her effeminate great-nephew Marcel, who acts as her first introduction to homosexuality, to the glitz and glamour represented by her aunt as well as her burgeoning sexuality as represented by her eventual elopement with Renaud, the biggest difference between this and her earlier novels it that the focus on this is people and the curiosity they evoke in Claudine, meaning the novel focuses of psychology over nature, losing, perhaps, some of the poetry of the earlier stories, but gaining a sense of humanity.
September 17, 2022
"¡Yo, que me creía curada de muchas cosas e incapaz de pasmarme ante otras! ¡Ay, vuelvo a Montigny...! A estrechar a brazadas la hierba alta y fresca, a dormirme de fatiga sobre un murete calentado por el sol, a beber en las hojas de las campanillas, donde la lluvia rueda como gotas de mercurio, a saquear los nomeolvides al borde del agua para tener luego el placer de dejarlos marchitar sobre una mesa, a lamer la savia gomosa de una varilla de sauce descortezada, a tocar la flauta con el tubo del tallo de las hierbas, a robar huevos de herrerillo y de carbonero, a arrugar las hojas olorosas de los groselleros silvestres... A abrazar, a abrazar todo cuanto amo! Quisiera besar un hermoso árbol y que éste me devolviera la caricia..."
Este libro es secuela del anterior "Claudine en la escuela", donde Colette retrató su vida escolar de provincias llena de detalles picarescos y escandalosos.
El libro empieza con Claudine (en primera persona) escribiendo a su diario y contando que se puso muy enferma llegando a París. Su padre, el mismo lejano, abstraído en sus babosas y estudios de malacología, decidió tentar suerte en la capital y para ello lleva a su pequeña hija. Ésta, luego de tener un cierto dilema existencial en abandonar sus queridos campos verdes de Montigny accede a ir pero luego cae en una sensación de hastío y añoranza de su tierra que la pone mal. Esto explica, por otro lado, por qué Claudine se ha cortado el cabello tan largo que tenía. De hecho sabemos que Willy imaginó ese look para Claudine y para promocionar las novelas con Colette con el cabello corto tal cual lo tiene Claudine desde este volumen.
Esto es solo el principio, ya que pronto empieza a recobrar los ánimos. Sobre todo porque toma contacto con algunos familiares. Por un lado, la tía Coeur (creo que es un sobrenombre) de nombre Wilhelmine. Ella tiene un nieto de nombre Marcel cuyo padre es Renaud.
Marcel resulta ser uno de los hombres más bellos que Claudine ha visto y la impacta de sobre manera. Lo compara muchas veces a las mujeres y declara que es más bello que una mujer. Él es un muchacho un poco tímido pero muy elegante y educado que vive prácticamente con la vieja tía Coeur. Por otro lado, sabemos que lleva una relación más que conflictiva con su padre, Renaud, quien parece ser una persona muy interesante. Es, desde luego, el alter ego de Willy. Trabaja en la sección de política internacional para una revista muy prestigiosa pero sus viajes frecuentes y enredos con mujeres lo hace bastante disipado para todos. Tiene un talento innegable y una comprensión de sentimientos muy perspicaz.
Me gustó mucho que en esta nueva vida de Claudine en París se recuerde mucho de Montigny, su escuela y sus amigas. De hecho, menciona algunos episodios de la anterior novela y la pequeña Luce, tiene un papel imporante, que había olvidado casi de mencionar en mi reseña de la primera novela de la saga. El destino de Luce resulta bastante extraño.
El libro tiene el mismo tono que el anterior, aunque bastante disminuido ya que descubrimos un lado un poco más vulnerable de Claudine. Igual hay algunas aventuras escabrosas, relaciones homosexuales, algunos detalles sórdidos y algo de humor escandaloso. Se nota que el libro fue algo medio "obligado" para Colette ya que tuvo la presión de Willy y la editorial. También se puede notar en sus páginas, sobre todo en el romance, parte de sus propias vivencias. Así mismo, las ideas negativas iniciales de París y su añoranza por el campo de su natal Saint-Saveur.
Me faltó más aventuras, quizás más descripciones y profundidad. Aunque sí se logra por momentos vislumbrar algo de ese París de la Belle Époque, cuando se habla de los espectáculos, de la luz eléctrica, Etc. Pero pudo haber sido más abundante en detalles. También aparece el personaje irreverente de Maugis, recurrente en las novelas de Willy y del cual está más orgulloso.
"Un enamorado se encuentra todos los días, pero alguien que lo sea todo a la vez y que si me abandonase me dejaría huérfana, viuda y sin amigo, ¿acaso no es un milagro sin igual?"
Este libro es secuela del anterior "Claudine en la escuela", donde Colette retrató su vida escolar de provincias llena de detalles picarescos y escandalosos.
El libro empieza con Claudine (en primera persona) escribiendo a su diario y contando que se puso muy enferma llegando a París. Su padre, el mismo lejano, abstraído en sus babosas y estudios de malacología, decidió tentar suerte en la capital y para ello lleva a su pequeña hija. Ésta, luego de tener un cierto dilema existencial en abandonar sus queridos campos verdes de Montigny accede a ir pero luego cae en una sensación de hastío y añoranza de su tierra que la pone mal. Esto explica, por otro lado, por qué Claudine se ha cortado el cabello tan largo que tenía. De hecho sabemos que Willy imaginó ese look para Claudine y para promocionar las novelas con Colette con el cabello corto tal cual lo tiene Claudine desde este volumen.
Esto es solo el principio, ya que pronto empieza a recobrar los ánimos. Sobre todo porque toma contacto con algunos familiares. Por un lado, la tía Coeur (creo que es un sobrenombre) de nombre Wilhelmine. Ella tiene un nieto de nombre Marcel cuyo padre es Renaud.
Marcel resulta ser uno de los hombres más bellos que Claudine ha visto y la impacta de sobre manera. Lo compara muchas veces a las mujeres y declara que es más bello que una mujer. Él es un muchacho un poco tímido pero muy elegante y educado que vive prácticamente con la vieja tía Coeur. Por otro lado, sabemos que lleva una relación más que conflictiva con su padre, Renaud, quien parece ser una persona muy interesante. Es, desde luego, el alter ego de Willy. Trabaja en la sección de política internacional para una revista muy prestigiosa pero sus viajes frecuentes y enredos con mujeres lo hace bastante disipado para todos. Tiene un talento innegable y una comprensión de sentimientos muy perspicaz.
Me gustó mucho que en esta nueva vida de Claudine en París se recuerde mucho de Montigny, su escuela y sus amigas. De hecho, menciona algunos episodios de la anterior novela y la pequeña Luce, tiene un papel imporante, que había olvidado casi de mencionar en mi reseña de la primera novela de la saga. El destino de Luce resulta bastante extraño.
El libro tiene el mismo tono que el anterior, aunque bastante disminuido ya que descubrimos un lado un poco más vulnerable de Claudine. Igual hay algunas aventuras escabrosas, relaciones homosexuales, algunos detalles sórdidos y algo de humor escandaloso. Se nota que el libro fue algo medio "obligado" para Colette ya que tuvo la presión de Willy y la editorial. También se puede notar en sus páginas, sobre todo en el romance, parte de sus propias vivencias. Así mismo, las ideas negativas iniciales de París y su añoranza por el campo de su natal Saint-Saveur.
Me faltó más aventuras, quizás más descripciones y profundidad. Aunque sí se logra por momentos vislumbrar algo de ese París de la Belle Époque, cuando se habla de los espectáculos, de la luz eléctrica, Etc. Pero pudo haber sido más abundante en detalles. También aparece el personaje irreverente de Maugis, recurrente en las novelas de Willy y del cual está más orgulloso.
"Un enamorado se encuentra todos los días, pero alguien que lo sea todo a la vez y que si me abandonase me dejaría huérfana, viuda y sin amigo, ¿acaso no es un milagro sin igual?"
February 16, 2021
Drugi deo serijala o Klodini odigrava se u Parizu, gde se sada sedamnaestogodišnja junakinja preselila nakon što je njen, izgubljen u prostoru i vremenu, otac odlučio da u prestonici nastavi pisanje naučnog rada o puževima. Dolaskom u Pariz, Klodin se preko ugledne tetke našla u visokom društvu, gde se sve dame, koje kao da su sišle sa Vinterhalterovih portreta, kreću po belim sobama, okružene belim nameštajem, te junakinja u skladu sa dnevničkom beleškom: „Bože! Kako lako postajem nastrana u bjelom stanu”, mora da pronađe neku zabavu. Želja da se izbegnu beli prostori omogućava zaplet u vidu dva ljubavna interesa. Prvi je Reno, udovac-švaler sa prosedim brkcima, u kome junakinja ne zna da li vidi idealnog oca ili mogućeg ljubavnika. A drugi je njegov sin Marsel, sa ljupkim ponašanjem, mesečastom plavom kosom i „prozračnom kožom koju svetlost pretvara u baršun sličan unutrašnjosti maslačka” i u kome Klodin ne zna da li vidi momka ili najlepšu devojku. I sad, pošto je Klodin u prethodnom romanu uglavnom osećala ljubav prema ženama, pred Marselom je zbunjena jer u njemu vidi devojku i ne zna da li radije želi da ga ljubi, da mu češlja kosu ili da ga bije. Pojava njegovog dečka Šarlija ne popravlja stvar jer nije njoj problem što su dva muškarca u ljubavi– istopolna želja jeste deo njenog iskustva – nego joj ne ide u glavu da neko ko nalikuje na devojku ljubi nekoga ko ima brkove i, još gore, ima rutave grudi.
„Klodin u Parizu” je nesumnjivo bulevarski roman – i to jedan od onih koji su sigurno doprineli ozloglašenosti francuskih romana u Evropi i zacementirali odluku da pristojni ljudi, posebno mlade devojke, ne bi trebalo da ih čitaju. I Kolet ga piše sa punom svešću kako će javnost da tretira njene knjige, te i u prethodnom i u ovom delu postoji stalno poigravanje sa time šta mladi ljudi čitaju i kako ih literatura „kvari”, što u datom kontekstu omogućava jedno zabavno metaknjiževno namigivanje. Devojčice tajno čitaju knjige Pjera Luisa koga su ukrale od učiteljica, Marsel očekuje da će njegova rođaka sa sela da bude „poremećena” jer je čitao kakvi su seljaci u Zolinim romanima, Šarli se u ljubavnom pismu Marselu poziva na Vitmena, Mikelanđela i Karpentera i druge „malko nastrane autore” i tako dalje.
I ovaj deo je lepšavo duhovit, sa frivolnim zapletom i radosnim poletom, ali to ne znači da on nema mračnu stranu. Svi likovi, uključujući i glavnu junakinju, su pokvareni, svet je nepravedan a u pozadini se mogu videti mnogobrojni društveni i klasni problemi iako je autorku, da se ne lažemo, bolelo uvo da bude angažovana. Recimo da je Kolet poput nemalog broja francuskih pisaca sklona mizantropiji i dubokom nepoverenju i prema društvu i prema ljudima. Samo što kod nje nema razloga da se zbog toga odbace zadovoljstva; bilo da govorimo o držanju mačke za kučnog ljubimca, uštipcima sa pekmezom ili odlasku u šume da bi se gledalo lišće.
„Klodin u Parizu” je nesumnjivo bulevarski roman – i to jedan od onih koji su sigurno doprineli ozloglašenosti francuskih romana u Evropi i zacementirali odluku da pristojni ljudi, posebno mlade devojke, ne bi trebalo da ih čitaju. I Kolet ga piše sa punom svešću kako će javnost da tretira njene knjige, te i u prethodnom i u ovom delu postoji stalno poigravanje sa time šta mladi ljudi čitaju i kako ih literatura „kvari”, što u datom kontekstu omogućava jedno zabavno metaknjiževno namigivanje. Devojčice tajno čitaju knjige Pjera Luisa koga su ukrale od učiteljica, Marsel očekuje da će njegova rođaka sa sela da bude „poremećena” jer je čitao kakvi su seljaci u Zolinim romanima, Šarli se u ljubavnom pismu Marselu poziva na Vitmena, Mikelanđela i Karpentera i druge „malko nastrane autore” i tako dalje.
I ovaj deo je lepšavo duhovit, sa frivolnim zapletom i radosnim poletom, ali to ne znači da on nema mračnu stranu. Svi likovi, uključujući i glavnu junakinju, su pokvareni, svet je nepravedan a u pozadini se mogu videti mnogobrojni društveni i klasni problemi iako je autorku, da se ne lažemo, bolelo uvo da bude angažovana. Recimo da je Kolet poput nemalog broja francuskih pisaca sklona mizantropiji i dubokom nepoverenju i prema društvu i prema ljudima. Samo što kod nje nema razloga da se zbog toga odbace zadovoljstva; bilo da govorimo o držanju mačke za kučnog ljubimca, uštipcima sa pekmezom ili odlasku u šume da bi se gledalo lišće.
June 19, 2022
Suite des petites histoires de la jeune vie de la capricieuse et colérique Claudine. Transplantée par son père lunaire après l'école. Toujours les petits potains mondains, familiaux et animaliers. Mais évolution des amourettes avec sa prof ou la petite soeur de celle-ci, la pénible et langoureuse petite Luce, vers la conquête masculine. Car c'est évidemment Claudine qui élit, qui décide.
Délassant mais toujours aussi longuet, sans doute pas encore la patte de la vraie Colette, que je dois découvrir. Si pas d'évolution, j'abandonnerai rapidement cette tardive rencontre avec la grande dame de l'Académie française.
Délassant mais toujours aussi longuet, sans doute pas encore la patte de la vraie Colette, que je dois découvrir. Si pas d'évolution, j'abandonnerai rapidement cette tardive rencontre avec la grande dame de l'Académie française.
January 22, 2019
In the second of the Claudine novels, 17 year old Claudine is transplanted (rather unwillingly) from her country home in Montigny to a “dark flat” in the “dismal, shabby Rue Jacob” in Paris. Having left school and her country home, the beginning of Claudine’s transformation to a young woman in Paris begins with a long illness which leaves her thin and weak. Her long hair has been chopped off into a rough curly mop, but her initial opinion of this unfortunate event - “transformed into a boy!” - changes when she realised that this more gamine style suits her face and character. Claudine is a rather self-possessed character from the beginning, quite sure of her opinions and tastes, but this book is a sort of turning-point from the schoolgirl world of her crushes to a broader canvas: the city, and men. Much older men.
There is a noticeably sensual tone to this book, and although Claudine is innocent in some ways - still a virgin, and a “good girl” in her own mind - the storyline is all about testing her powers in the world of attraction/seduction. She practises on her cousin Marcel - a very pretty boy her age who is attracted to other boys. She amuses and titillates him with confidences from her own past with Luce - the young country girl she teases and dominates. (Luce makes a rather disturbing appearance in this book - both a victim and an opportunist in the game of sex/love.) Claudine’s white cat Fanchette and her earthy maid Melie are also in the background, both of them encouraging Claudine on in their various ways. Melie, who “dreamily cups her uncorseted breasts” urges Claudine to find a young man. Not only does Fanchette seem like the “spirit animal” of her owner, but her feline exploits are very much a part of the atmosphere of the book. Like Fanchette, Claudine is in heat and testing her claws. Claudine’s academic father - very much the absent-minded scientist - allows his young daughter a lot of latitude, and she takes full advantage of it. Despite all of Claudine’s strength of mind, and her sometimes outrageous sauciness, the story was very much of its time in the sense that no one (not even Claudine herself) could imagine a life beyond beau-conquering and marriage proposals.
The writing is often lovely, and the story does have a certain charm - although it often felt mannered and superficial to me. I can see why it caused quite a sensation for its time, though. Claudine’s emotions seemed truest when describing - not her infatuations with men - but rather, her longing for the countryside of her childhood.
”Alas, my mind kept going back to Montigny. Oh, to clasp armfuls of tall, cool grass, to fall asleep, exhausted, on a low wall hot from the sun, to drink out of nasturtium leaves, where the rain rolls like quicksilver, to ransack the water’s edge for forget-me-nots for the pleasure of letting them fade on a table, and lick the sticky sap from a peeled willow-wand; to make flutes of hollow grass-stalks, to steal tit’s eggs and rub the scented leaves of wild currants; to kiss, to kiss all those things I love!”
There is a noticeably sensual tone to this book, and although Claudine is innocent in some ways - still a virgin, and a “good girl” in her own mind - the storyline is all about testing her powers in the world of attraction/seduction. She practises on her cousin Marcel - a very pretty boy her age who is attracted to other boys. She amuses and titillates him with confidences from her own past with Luce - the young country girl she teases and dominates. (Luce makes a rather disturbing appearance in this book - both a victim and an opportunist in the game of sex/love.) Claudine’s white cat Fanchette and her earthy maid Melie are also in the background, both of them encouraging Claudine on in their various ways. Melie, who “dreamily cups her uncorseted breasts” urges Claudine to find a young man. Not only does Fanchette seem like the “spirit animal” of her owner, but her feline exploits are very much a part of the atmosphere of the book. Like Fanchette, Claudine is in heat and testing her claws. Claudine’s academic father - very much the absent-minded scientist - allows his young daughter a lot of latitude, and she takes full advantage of it. Despite all of Claudine’s strength of mind, and her sometimes outrageous sauciness, the story was very much of its time in the sense that no one (not even Claudine herself) could imagine a life beyond beau-conquering and marriage proposals.
The writing is often lovely, and the story does have a certain charm - although it often felt mannered and superficial to me. I can see why it caused quite a sensation for its time, though. Claudine’s emotions seemed truest when describing - not her infatuations with men - but rather, her longing for the countryside of her childhood.
”Alas, my mind kept going back to Montigny. Oh, to clasp armfuls of tall, cool grass, to fall asleep, exhausted, on a low wall hot from the sun, to drink out of nasturtium leaves, where the rain rolls like quicksilver, to ransack the water’s edge for forget-me-nots for the pleasure of letting them fade on a table, and lick the sticky sap from a peeled willow-wand; to make flutes of hollow grass-stalks, to steal tit’s eggs and rub the scented leaves of wild currants; to kiss, to kiss all those things I love!”
November 16, 2012
In Claudine in Paris I was a little dissapointed that she had lost some of her self assuredness of the first book. Her illness and moving to the big city seemed to take it's toll on Claudine which made me sad. That and her increased prudishness in this book made me like her a little less. The scenes between her and her young gay nephew were great though. I loved how he was so worried other people would find out, and scolded her for teasing him about it, when everyone already knew. I thought it was funny the way Luce was built up as a past romance, but didn't like that she'd become such a materialistic young mistress, and that Claudine no longer liked her. I thought Claudine's romance was very sad but very real. It was sad to see a vivacious young girl take to an ugly older man. It seemed like she was only going with him because he was the only man in Paris and she was deathly bored and just needed something to occupy herself. (I also thought the part with the kittens was sad). While I liked Claudine less I felt this book was a bit more realistic and visual. It was funny that neither her or "the editor" Wily had gone back and re-read Claudine at school before writing this as there were some glaring inconsistencies when reading them one after the other. Still I did enjoy it and am looking forward to the next two.
January 4, 2020
Writing: lovely. Claudine: my fave. Gay cousin: iconic. Weird maid obsessed with sex: hilarious. 17 year old marrying her best friend's 40 year old dad after establishing him as a father figure? YIIIIIIIIKES!
Okay so I have to give it some leeway because it was from 1901, and for a woman who adamantly said she hated feminism, it contained a lot of ground-breaking content and gave French women a voice in literature. I adored "Claudine at School," and I also adored this one, up until the last couple chapters, where it all made me very uncomfortable and even included the phrase "Free women are not women at all." Even stranger, she wrote the beginning of their romance in a really cute way--if he was an entirely different person, it'd be sweet. But this...no. My sister told me that I can appreciate the work as a whole while still sustaining that that one part sucked. So that's what I'm going to go with, because that's how I feel about it, but that ending, though written as a happy one, left me with a gross taste in my mouth. Yikes. Delete that, and it's great! Okay. I guess I just read that....just...father and lover should not be used in the same sentence. No. ✌️
Okay so I have to give it some leeway because it was from 1901, and for a woman who adamantly said she hated feminism, it contained a lot of ground-breaking content and gave French women a voice in literature. I adored "Claudine at School," and I also adored this one, up until the last couple chapters, where it all made me very uncomfortable and even included the phrase "Free women are not women at all." Even stranger, she wrote the beginning of their romance in a really cute way--if he was an entirely different person, it'd be sweet. But this...no. My sister told me that I can appreciate the work as a whole while still sustaining that that one part sucked. So that's what I'm going to go with, because that's how I feel about it, but that ending, though written as a happy one, left me with a gross taste in my mouth. Yikes. Delete that, and it's great! Okay. I guess I just read that....just...father and lover should not be used in the same sentence. No. ✌️
November 24, 2019
Not as strong as its predecessor, but still charming and witty.
Read
August 29, 2024A la fois il ne se passe pas grand chose, à la fois on franchit un cap dans ce deuxième roman de la saga. La petite Claudine perd sa gaieté et les bribes d'innocence qui lui restaient... Je me doute de la direction que ça prend et j'ai peur d'avoir le coeur brisé
March 20, 2016
Aaaah, Claudine, ma très chère Claudine!
Encore une fois je suis surprise par la modernité de ce roman! Publié à 1901, il parvient quand même à me faire sourciller en 2016. Ce n'est pas tant qu'il est choquant pour le 21e siècle, mais je suis étonnée de la popularité de ce roman dans une époque qui était pourtant toute autre. LGBT, inceste, prostitution dans le Paris de la Belle Époque, c'est un délice!
Nous retrouvons donc Claudine, adolescente par excellece, à Paris. Adieu, Claire, Luce, la petite école et les forêts de Montigny. L'audacieuse adolescente débarque dans la capitale avec son aplomb habituel. Elle y rencontre sa tante Coeur, son neveu Marcel et son oncle cousin Renaud. Des personnages aussi fantasques qu'elle. Pourtant, ils sont un peu choqués de l'esprit de la jeune Claudine. Entre spectacles et promenades dans la capitale, Claudine apprend à connaître son beau neveu Marcel, qui a pourtant le même âge qu'elle, et qui a l'aspect d'une poupée de porcelaine. Rapidement, Claudine comprend le secret qui oppose Marcel à son père Renaud, soit l'homosexualité de Marcel et son histoire d'amour avec le ténébreux Charlie Gonzales. C'est Marcel qui lui échange ces confidences contre les détails de l'histoire entre Claudine et Luce. Luce qu'on retrouve d'ailleurs à Paris, par des circonstances regrettables. Également, nous découvrons la première histoire d'amour véritable de Claudine.
Un roman plus rapide que le premier, ce qui l'améliore, et dans lequel les événements s'enchaînent plus rapidement. La suite s'annonce passionnante et je m'apprête à voir Claudine vivre d'autres aventures scandaleuses.
Encore une fois je suis surprise par la modernité de ce roman! Publié à 1901, il parvient quand même à me faire sourciller en 2016. Ce n'est pas tant qu'il est choquant pour le 21e siècle, mais je suis étonnée de la popularité de ce roman dans une époque qui était pourtant toute autre. LGBT, inceste, prostitution dans le Paris de la Belle Époque, c'est un délice!
Nous retrouvons donc Claudine, adolescente par excellece, à Paris. Adieu, Claire, Luce, la petite école et les forêts de Montigny. L'audacieuse adolescente débarque dans la capitale avec son aplomb habituel. Elle y rencontre sa tante Coeur, son neveu Marcel et son oncle cousin Renaud. Des personnages aussi fantasques qu'elle. Pourtant, ils sont un peu choqués de l'esprit de la jeune Claudine. Entre spectacles et promenades dans la capitale, Claudine apprend à connaître son beau neveu Marcel, qui a pourtant le même âge qu'elle, et qui a l'aspect d'une poupée de porcelaine. Rapidement, Claudine comprend le secret qui oppose Marcel à son père Renaud, soit l'homosexualité de Marcel et son histoire d'amour avec le ténébreux Charlie Gonzales. C'est Marcel qui lui échange ces confidences contre les détails de l'histoire entre Claudine et Luce. Luce qu'on retrouve d'ailleurs à Paris, par des circonstances regrettables. Également, nous découvrons la première histoire d'amour véritable de Claudine.
Un roman plus rapide que le premier, ce qui l'améliore, et dans lequel les événements s'enchaînent plus rapidement. La suite s'annonce passionnante et je m'apprête à voir Claudine vivre d'autres aventures scandaleuses.
July 21, 2024
daję jedną gwiazdeczkę mniej niż "Klaudynie w szkole", ale to z powodu tego dziwnego obrotu spraw, który się zdarzył na końcu, a który tak mi się nie podoba! chociaż zakończenie nie pozwala mi na zaprzestaniu czytania i muszę sięgnąć po następną część...
November 29, 2025
Quelle merveille de retrouver le style de Colette dans la suite de la vie de Claudine. Celle-ci vient de quitter sa campagne et son école pour suivre son étourdi de père à Paris. Après des débuts difficiles, elle découvre une partie de sa famille et sa vie bascule.
Le style de Colette fait tout. Claudine est d’une impertinence ahurissante aujourd’hui, et j’ose à peine imaginer ce que cela devait représenter à l’époque. Homosexualité, emprise, patriarcat, la modernité du propos est folle. On rit énormément, autant qu’on est en droit de trouver Claudine assez insupportable par instants. Pour autant, impossible de ne pas s’attacher.
Hâte de la retrouver dans la nouvelle page de sa vie qu’annonce la fin du livre
Le style de Colette fait tout. Claudine est d’une impertinence ahurissante aujourd’hui, et j’ose à peine imaginer ce que cela devait représenter à l’époque. Homosexualité, emprise, patriarcat, la modernité du propos est folle. On rit énormément, autant qu’on est en droit de trouver Claudine assez insupportable par instants. Pour autant, impossible de ne pas s’attacher.
Hâte de la retrouver dans la nouvelle page de sa vie qu’annonce la fin du livre
February 1, 2023
Me voy a leer hasta las listas de la compra de esta piba
Read
May 8, 2020How did Paris greet Claudine? In this book, published in 1901 and the second in a series, the eponymous lead visits a milliner who, upon outfitting her, exclaims, "You look exactly like Polaire!" Two years later, Polaire, the star of the Parisian stage, took the title role in an adaptation of this series.
Colette, who only regained authorship of the Claudine novels after separating from her domineering plagiarist husband Willy — he initially put his name to her work — is known in the anglosphere as the author of the source material for the 1958 Academy Award–winning film Gigi. I didn't know her even for that; I bought this because I was in Paris, and wanted a book by a French author, and one who was not a man. My copy comes from Shakespeare's Books, the rive gauche English language bookstore frequented by Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in the 2004 Academy Award–nominee Before Sunset.
Claudine à Paris is maybe a YA novel of la belle époque: its teenage protagonist in proper generic form is overdramatic and excitable; she explores the big city, speaks in slang, feuds with her best friend, rolls her eyes at her father, gets drunk on champagne and says too much to her crush; and gossips of such affairs with her cousin, a manicured princeling by the name of Marcel who has a keen eye for fashion and a keener one for his working class school chum Charlie. Marcel and Charlie consummate their affair, repeatedly and publicly; Claudine is censorious — she seems to disdain not Marcel's homosexuality but his choice of partner — but also enthralled. Paris was likewise.
"Claudine! You aren't by chance, a little... gay," asks one of the characters, meaning drunk, but in Colette's Paris, nearly everyone's a little gay. Claudine herself carries on a sadomasochistic flirtation with country girl Luce, an affair that ends with the latter crying, blouse undone and breasts displayed upon the balcony of a lavish pad paid for by a perverted elderly in-law. Alongside these modernities, though, lies plenty of stuffiness; as often as Claudine is unexpectedly current, it also retains the distancing quality possessed by the manners of ancient ages. The names of obscure (to me) French personages don't help, but nor does the strange insistence that Claudine's affection for reading is scandalous, or that the recurring infantlizing modes of address the adult — and especially male — characters reserve for her are acceptable. The intense importance she places upon furnishings and interior design is decodable but nevertheless peculiar. A fin de siècle adolescent is a lot like one today, except when she's not.
This translation, from 1958 and by Antonia White, does not help: I understand Claudine to speak a regional and rustic dialect, and White renders this as a fondness for quaint Britishisms. These very French characters who exclaim "jolly good!" and refer to one another as "old sport" as such don't really ring true. I appreciate the challenge, but the last French book I read was the masterpiece of translation Zazie dans le Métro, which is required from the opening word to turn "Doukipudonktan" into English, and, with "Howcanaystinksotho?" does. (Barbara Wright was responsible.)
Even so, in English, ...in Paris does have its beautiful moments. I quietly gasped at the elegant symmetry of a lovestruck Claudine's "I have seen that man exactly five times; I have known him all my life." (En Français: "Cet homme-là, je l'ai vu cinq fois, je le connais depuis toujours...") What follows is more lovely in French though: "Des lumières, des lumières vives, des vitraux coloriés, des buveurs attablés à une terrasse..." (In English, the epistrophe becomes prosaic: "Lights, bright lights, colored window panes, people sitting at tables on a terrace, drinking.")
(I'm uncertain which rendering of one metaphor, also from this passage, I prefer: "On marche vite : j'ai les pattes de Fanchette, ce soir ; le sol fait tremplin sous mes pas" or "We walked fast; I had [my cat] Fanchette's paws tonight; the ground was like a springboard under my feet.")
Colette, who only regained authorship of the Claudine novels after separating from her domineering plagiarist husband Willy — he initially put his name to her work — is known in the anglosphere as the author of the source material for the 1958 Academy Award–winning film Gigi. I didn't know her even for that; I bought this because I was in Paris, and wanted a book by a French author, and one who was not a man. My copy comes from Shakespeare's Books, the rive gauche English language bookstore frequented by Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in the 2004 Academy Award–nominee Before Sunset.
Claudine à Paris is maybe a YA novel of la belle époque: its teenage protagonist in proper generic form is overdramatic and excitable; she explores the big city, speaks in slang, feuds with her best friend, rolls her eyes at her father, gets drunk on champagne and says too much to her crush; and gossips of such affairs with her cousin, a manicured princeling by the name of Marcel who has a keen eye for fashion and a keener one for his working class school chum Charlie. Marcel and Charlie consummate their affair, repeatedly and publicly; Claudine is censorious — she seems to disdain not Marcel's homosexuality but his choice of partner — but also enthralled. Paris was likewise.
"Claudine! You aren't by chance, a little... gay," asks one of the characters, meaning drunk, but in Colette's Paris, nearly everyone's a little gay. Claudine herself carries on a sadomasochistic flirtation with country girl Luce, an affair that ends with the latter crying, blouse undone and breasts displayed upon the balcony of a lavish pad paid for by a perverted elderly in-law. Alongside these modernities, though, lies plenty of stuffiness; as often as Claudine is unexpectedly current, it also retains the distancing quality possessed by the manners of ancient ages. The names of obscure (to me) French personages don't help, but nor does the strange insistence that Claudine's affection for reading is scandalous, or that the recurring infantlizing modes of address the adult — and especially male — characters reserve for her are acceptable. The intense importance she places upon furnishings and interior design is decodable but nevertheless peculiar. A fin de siècle adolescent is a lot like one today, except when she's not.
This translation, from 1958 and by Antonia White, does not help: I understand Claudine to speak a regional and rustic dialect, and White renders this as a fondness for quaint Britishisms. These very French characters who exclaim "jolly good!" and refer to one another as "old sport" as such don't really ring true. I appreciate the challenge, but the last French book I read was the masterpiece of translation Zazie dans le Métro, which is required from the opening word to turn "Doukipudonktan" into English, and, with "Howcanaystinksotho?" does. (Barbara Wright was responsible.)
Even so, in English, ...in Paris does have its beautiful moments. I quietly gasped at the elegant symmetry of a lovestruck Claudine's "I have seen that man exactly five times; I have known him all my life." (En Français: "Cet homme-là, je l'ai vu cinq fois, je le connais depuis toujours...") What follows is more lovely in French though: "Des lumières, des lumières vives, des vitraux coloriés, des buveurs attablés à une terrasse..." (In English, the epistrophe becomes prosaic: "Lights, bright lights, colored window panes, people sitting at tables on a terrace, drinking.")
(I'm uncertain which rendering of one metaphor, also from this passage, I prefer: "On marche vite : j'ai les pattes de Fanchette, ce soir ; le sol fait tremplin sous mes pas" or "We walked fast; I had [my cat] Fanchette's paws tonight; the ground was like a springboard under my feet.")
August 24, 2019
I didnt like this one as much as Claudine goes to school. It opens with her recovering from some inexplicable illness that left her gaunt and thin, and they cut off her hair. She visits her aunt and flirts with her gay cousin Marcel, telling lies about her relationship with Luce so he would reveal his relationship with a gay boy named Charlie Gonzales.
She manipulates Marcel and doesnt care. Luce writes her in dire need and she ignores it, only to run into her in paris and learn that Luce has become a whore for her own 60 year old uncle and is now being kept in an apartment and lavished with clothes and jewels. Claudine is upset and jealous, gets Marcel to let her read one of Charlie's letters just so she can feel better about herself. She then decides to make a move on Marcels dad because he is a 40 year old pervert who likes 17 year old girls. Hes always taking her to the opera and squeezing her hand and she admires his graying hair. In the end they go to a bar, she gets drunk on Asti sparkling wine and she rambles on and annoys him to the point of taking her straight home and ditching her. She wakes up the next day hungover and realized shes in love, then hits Marcel for calling her a gold digger and dating his dad. She makes him bleed and sends him away. The dad shows up and she tells him she wants to be his mistress, he wants to marry her and her father gives permission. Voila they get married.
I found this whole thing ridiculous. I hated the part where her maid lets the cat get pregnant, then claudine makes her drown two newborn girl kittens and keeps the boy, despite the maid weeping. She doesnt do it herself. Claudine is a psychopath. Shes heartless and sadistic. In the first book she shows traces of this by how she hits and abuses Luce for fun and later she abused Marcel.Claudine is incapable of love. Shes not just spoiled, this is a personality disorder. That's why in the next book she cheats on her husband and ends up with a woman. She was just using him for sex and discovered she prefers women. I wish someone would slap Claudine into reality.
She manipulates Marcel and doesnt care. Luce writes her in dire need and she ignores it, only to run into her in paris and learn that Luce has become a whore for her own 60 year old uncle and is now being kept in an apartment and lavished with clothes and jewels. Claudine is upset and jealous, gets Marcel to let her read one of Charlie's letters just so she can feel better about herself. She then decides to make a move on Marcels dad because he is a 40 year old pervert who likes 17 year old girls. Hes always taking her to the opera and squeezing her hand and she admires his graying hair. In the end they go to a bar, she gets drunk on Asti sparkling wine and she rambles on and annoys him to the point of taking her straight home and ditching her. She wakes up the next day hungover and realized shes in love, then hits Marcel for calling her a gold digger and dating his dad. She makes him bleed and sends him away. The dad shows up and she tells him she wants to be his mistress, he wants to marry her and her father gives permission. Voila they get married.
I found this whole thing ridiculous. I hated the part where her maid lets the cat get pregnant, then claudine makes her drown two newborn girl kittens and keeps the boy, despite the maid weeping. She doesnt do it herself. Claudine is a psychopath. Shes heartless and sadistic. In the first book she shows traces of this by how she hits and abuses Luce for fun and later she abused Marcel.Claudine is incapable of love. Shes not just spoiled, this is a personality disorder. That's why in the next book she cheats on her husband and ends up with a woman. She was just using him for sex and discovered she prefers women. I wish someone would slap Claudine into reality.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 19, 2016
Klaudyna w Paryżu, wyrwana ze swojego naturalnego środowiska, nie traci uroku.
W drugim tomie zaczęłam bardziej zwracać uwagę na język i muszę przyznać, że tłumaczka się spisała. Colette niezwykle sprawnie operuje językiem, ironicznie i nostalgicznie jednocześnie, powielając schematy powieści sentymentalnej i nabijając się z nich w tym samym zdaniu. Dystans do siebie Klaudyny, zarówno jako bohaterki, jak i zachowany w strukturze tekstu, jest do pozazdroszczenia. Innymi słowy, Klaudyna pisana jest pięknym językiem, który nie bywa napuszony. Doceniam to.
Druga część sprawiała mi nieco mniej przyjemności w trakcie lektury. Klaudyna traci swoją swobodę, pojawiają się postaci męskiego (hmm, ciekawe czy jest to jakoś ze sobą związane?), Marcel boleśnie stereotypowy, ale jakże uroczy przy tym, zachwyty Klaudyny nad jego urodą długo mi w pamięci zostaną. Wiem, że jestem zepsuta przez fanfiction, które nigdy nie zatrzymuje się w pół kroku, ale te subtelne podkreślanie napięcia seksualnego między Marcelem i Klaudyną, które donikąd nie prowadzi bardzo mnie frustrowało. Nie miałabym nic przeciwko temu, gdyby skończyli razem chodząc na podryw i zaciągając sobie ładnych chłopców do trójkąta. Cóż, nie można mieć wszystkiego w obrębie kultury głównonurtowej. Ciekawe, czy pisze się fanfiction do Klaudyny…?
Niewiele zostało mi w głowie po drugim tomie. Zachwyty nad detalami, może, ale nic z obrazu całokształtu. Może za szybko połknęłam książkę, może dlatego, że czytałam w podróży. A jednak mam wrażenie, że to nie tyle Klaudyna podbiła Paryż, co Paryż podbił Klaudynę. I trochę to mnie smuci.
W drugim tomie zaczęłam bardziej zwracać uwagę na język i muszę przyznać, że tłumaczka się spisała. Colette niezwykle sprawnie operuje językiem, ironicznie i nostalgicznie jednocześnie, powielając schematy powieści sentymentalnej i nabijając się z nich w tym samym zdaniu. Dystans do siebie Klaudyny, zarówno jako bohaterki, jak i zachowany w strukturze tekstu, jest do pozazdroszczenia. Innymi słowy, Klaudyna pisana jest pięknym językiem, który nie bywa napuszony. Doceniam to.
Druga część sprawiała mi nieco mniej przyjemności w trakcie lektury. Klaudyna traci swoją swobodę, pojawiają się postaci męskiego (hmm, ciekawe czy jest to jakoś ze sobą związane?), Marcel boleśnie stereotypowy, ale jakże uroczy przy tym, zachwyty Klaudyny nad jego urodą długo mi w pamięci zostaną. Wiem, że jestem zepsuta przez fanfiction, które nigdy nie zatrzymuje się w pół kroku, ale te subtelne podkreślanie napięcia seksualnego między Marcelem i Klaudyną, które donikąd nie prowadzi bardzo mnie frustrowało. Nie miałabym nic przeciwko temu, gdyby skończyli razem chodząc na podryw i zaciągając sobie ładnych chłopców do trójkąta. Cóż, nie można mieć wszystkiego w obrębie kultury głównonurtowej. Ciekawe, czy pisze się fanfiction do Klaudyny…?
Niewiele zostało mi w głowie po drugim tomie. Zachwyty nad detalami, może, ale nic z obrazu całokształtu. Może za szybko połknęłam książkę, może dlatego, że czytałam w podróży. A jednak mam wrażenie, że to nie tyle Klaudyna podbiła Paryż, co Paryż podbił Klaudynę. I trochę to mnie smuci.
June 11, 2021
hmmm very interesting, certainly not as fun as claudine at school, but that seems to be the point. her depression and loneliness become more acute, and her fathers neglect feels more sinister in this book than it did in claudine at school. it makes me sad seeing the reviews that get upset that she gets together with renaud because of his age or that get upset because of the line "free women are not free at all". i don't think this is supposed to be something you have to agree with or the book is actively trying to convince you of. what you're seeing is claudine's perspective and what she wants is a father who pays attention to her; renaud fulfills this need. what she wants is to feel part of a family, secure, no longer adrift in her own loneliness. the book doesn't really comment on ty as good or bad, and if anything from what ive read of claudine married thus far, it seems to condemn renaud and the relationship more.
i feel incredibly sad for claudine. living in her head is still as lovely as it was in the first book, but it is twinged with a deeper sadness (and a frustration for the things claudine cannot see about herself or the people around, things that are becoming more weighted and consequential). i don't think this is a detriment to the series, if anything it feels like one of the best portrayals of the in between period, between girlhood and womanhood, childhood and personhood, innocence and knowledge, that i've read. read it.
i feel incredibly sad for claudine. living in her head is still as lovely as it was in the first book, but it is twinged with a deeper sadness (and a frustration for the things claudine cannot see about herself or the people around, things that are becoming more weighted and consequential). i don't think this is a detriment to the series, if anything it feels like one of the best portrayals of the in between period, between girlhood and womanhood, childhood and personhood, innocence and knowledge, that i've read. read it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 19, 2015
I have just discovered Colette and I am overwhelmed. Her outrageousness is a delight- Claudine, is in every sense ,a teenager -before the word was invented and her adolescent observations of the characters, who people her life are drawn with such acerbic humour that I found myself smiling through almost every page.
Born in the last twenty years of the Victorian era, Colette has conjured prose that sparkles with wit and mischievous disregard for convention and in 'Claudine in Paris', This child is most definitely both seen and heard!
Inspired by my first reading to unearth more about the writer herself , I find that her life is as colourful and racy as that of her young heroine.
I am hungry for more.
Born in the last twenty years of the Victorian era, Colette has conjured prose that sparkles with wit and mischievous disregard for convention and in 'Claudine in Paris', This child is most definitely both seen and heard!
Inspired by my first reading to unearth more about the writer herself , I find that her life is as colourful and racy as that of her young heroine.
I am hungry for more.
January 17, 2022
Colette is so good at writing in a free-flowing, conversational style. Reading her work is like listening to your closest, bitchiest friend tell a really juicy story. It’s not academic or extremely polished but feels authentic and natural, which is so incredibly difficult to pull off.
October 12, 2025
I was ready to call this book very much “ahead of its time”, but the question of how many queer/written by women books have I read from that period planted many doubts about that statement. Rare publications of women’s writing made it impossible for feminism and queer culture to assert itself in literature, despite being prominent and very much existing - this book proves that it’s always been a part of humanity to question our sexuality, to defy social norms and so called traditions- the act of putting such ideas forward has always been censored and concealed. Glad to say, this one contained lots of controversies, expressed in words of refined taste.
October 24, 2025
pourquoi cette fin ? trahison qui mérite une étoile en moins
October 10, 2016
This is the second in Colette's 'Claudine' series, published initially in 1901 and attributed to her then husband, 'Willy'. In time, these short and endearing novels were correctly attributed to Colette, the true author.
Partly autobiographical - Willy encouraged his wife to write about her youth, but to spice things up a little - the novel is presented partly like the diary entries of a young girl, wherein Claudine often refers to herself in the third person.
Claudine is aged 17 in this novel, when she and her malacologist father, distracted more by sea snails and slugs than his precocious daughter, move from rural Montigny to Paris to aid the father's work.
At first reluctant to abandon the freedoms and pleasures she enjoyed at Montigny, Claudine soon settles into a new life in Paris and establishes a series of new relationships.
She is introduced to her Aunt, Madame Coeur, her father's sister, and through her meets a nephew of her own age, the outwardly homosexual Marcel.
Claudine and Marcel take delight in exchanging confidences about their relationships, as Claudine is not without some experience of same-sex love from her school days.
Claudine also becomes acquainted and develops a close bond with Marcel's father, Renaud, actually a cousin but more like and Uncle. Despite their age differences (he is 40), the relationship flourishes.
The tone of the novel is lyrical and endearing, related with a sense of wonder, discovery and a love of mischief, as the young Claudine emerges from childhood into womanhood.
There is a certain underlying homo-erotic tone to Claudine's musings, as well as doses of stubbornness, precocity and naivety that can be attributed to young girls, especially ones whose development is mostly neglected by a distracted father.
Totally charmed, I will now read the first of the series, Claudine at School, before seeking out the later novels.
Partly autobiographical - Willy encouraged his wife to write about her youth, but to spice things up a little - the novel is presented partly like the diary entries of a young girl, wherein Claudine often refers to herself in the third person.
Claudine is aged 17 in this novel, when she and her malacologist father, distracted more by sea snails and slugs than his precocious daughter, move from rural Montigny to Paris to aid the father's work.
At first reluctant to abandon the freedoms and pleasures she enjoyed at Montigny, Claudine soon settles into a new life in Paris and establishes a series of new relationships.
She is introduced to her Aunt, Madame Coeur, her father's sister, and through her meets a nephew of her own age, the outwardly homosexual Marcel.
Claudine and Marcel take delight in exchanging confidences about their relationships, as Claudine is not without some experience of same-sex love from her school days.
Claudine also becomes acquainted and develops a close bond with Marcel's father, Renaud, actually a cousin but more like and Uncle. Despite their age differences (he is 40), the relationship flourishes.
The tone of the novel is lyrical and endearing, related with a sense of wonder, discovery and a love of mischief, as the young Claudine emerges from childhood into womanhood.
There is a certain underlying homo-erotic tone to Claudine's musings, as well as doses of stubbornness, precocity and naivety that can be attributed to young girls, especially ones whose development is mostly neglected by a distracted father.
Totally charmed, I will now read the first of the series, Claudine at School, before seeking out the later novels.
January 17, 2019
Claudine's father, a neglectful and forgetful parent, brings Claudine with him to Paris, where he has travelled in order to further his own studies. Claudine, at 17, no longer goes to school, and is separated from her dear friends and the village and countryside she loves best. She suffers a severe illness ("brain fever"), and struggles with loneliness and lack of affection in the Parisian setting. When she meets Renaud, a distant relation, she is entranced by his kindness and affection. She views him as father, uncle, friend and lover, and becomes besotted with him. The forward to my edition of this book describes Claudine in Paris as Colette's only novel in which she deals with romantic love in an entirely positive way, but I disagree that she does this -- the subtext of the novel is that Claudine is starved of love and appropriate affection, and falls for the first person who shows her a modicum of care. We also have the parallel narrative of Luce, Claudine's school friend, who runs away from home, and ends up with her uncle-in-law, who keeps her in luxury on the condition that he will rape her whenever he pleases. At least Claudine is infatuated with her rich relation, but the parallel between the two situations -- young woman becomes entangled with experienced man -- is unavoidable.
At times, the narrative descends into being merely silly or titillating (if one is titillated by young girls spanking one another), but most of the time Colette gives us a controlled portrait of Claudine and the milieu in which she lives, and it's compelling and moving. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would!
At times, the narrative descends into being merely silly or titillating (if one is titillated by young girls spanking one another), but most of the time Colette gives us a controlled portrait of Claudine and the milieu in which she lives, and it's compelling and moving. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would!
September 30, 2018
Leaving behind her school days, Claudine is thrust into the whirlwind of Paris and all of its temptations and delights. Though still pining for her rural retreat at Montingy, she still finds time to make conquests and experience city life to the full. As in the first novel, the main driving force here is Claudine's voice - assured and exuberant. Though the story here is small, confined mostly to the claustrophobic flat Claudine shares with her disinterested father, the energy hums along to make this an enjoyable read and keep us with Claudine as her story continues in the next volume.
November 28, 2018
The second of the Claudine series and it kept my interest as much (or more) than the setting in her school. It is, again, a general diary form and takes us through leaving her home area and moving to Paris where she finds infatuations (maybe love?) and spreads her wings as she reaches young womanhood. An intriguing read and has me ready for #3!
December 6, 2018
Truly, while the writing is lovely, I just cannot understand why these books are so popular, when the protagonist is so snarky and unpleasant. She leaves such a bad taste in my mouth, I thoroughly dislike being inside her head, even if she does have a lovely turn of phrase. Not sure if I'll continue with the next one. There are so many other books I would rather read.
August 7, 2013
Think of the story of Anne of Green Gables, only set in the early 1900's Paris and juicier! I actually love it.
December 1, 2015
Odnośnie pierwszego tomu ten jest o wiele lepszy pod względem postaci i wydarzeń, bardziej mnie zaciekawił. Jednak Colette pisze trochę tak staromodnie i ciężko ją czasami zrozumieć ;)
July 12, 2017
Ah ce roman est tellement moderne pour son temps ! Claudine est une héroïne tellement irrésistible !
August 6, 2017
C'est encore mieux que "Claudine à l'école" et quel dommage que je ne l'aie pas lu bien plus tôt!
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