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Rose Mellie Rose
This is the story of Mellie, who as a baby is found in a grotto, then raised in a souvenir shop by Rose. At age twelve Mellie goes to the dying town of Oât, where she enters premature adulthood and assembles a photographic and written record of her life. Enchanting, realistic, comic, tragic—all these words describe this spellbinding novel that, like all genuine fables, takes us to a world that is utterly strange and very much our own.
Rose Mellie Rose is one of three novels that are the first works to appear in English by Marie Redonnet, one of France's most original new authors (the other novels are Hôtel Splendid and Forever Valley , both also available from the University of Nebraska Press). Translator Jordan Stump notes that these books "unmistakably fit together, although they have neither characters nor setting in common." In all three novels, Redonnet has said, "it is the women who fight, who seek, who create."
Rose Mellie Rose is one of three novels that are the first works to appear in English by Marie Redonnet, one of France's most original new authors (the other novels are Hôtel Splendid and Forever Valley , both also available from the University of Nebraska Press). Translator Jordan Stump notes that these books "unmistakably fit together, although they have neither characters nor setting in common." In all three novels, Redonnet has said, "it is the women who fight, who seek, who create."
123 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 1985
About the author
Marie Redonnet
29 books35 followersBorn in Paris in 1947, Redonnet taught for a number of years in a suburban lycée before deciding to pursue a writing career full time. Since her volume of poetry Le Mort & Cie appeared in 1985, she has published four novels, a novella, numerous short stories, and three dramatic works.
Redonnet's novels have been compared to those of Annie Ernaux, Alain Robbe-Grillet, and Samuel Beckett. She has since acknowledged the crucial influence which Beckett's work has had upon her literary work. And yet she is also notably different from the great master of modern literature.
Redonnet's novels have been compared to those of Annie Ernaux, Alain Robbe-Grillet, and Samuel Beckett. She has since acknowledged the crucial influence which Beckett's work has had upon her literary work. And yet she is also notably different from the great master of modern literature.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 9, 2015
Reread May 2026
I have the impression that everything is fading away.
March 15, 2015
http://msarki.tumblr.com/post/1152874...
For some reason, and it was a surprise to me, this short novel felt more realized than the first two in the trilogy. But there is no way I would ever compare Marie Redonnet with the writing of Annie Ernaux, Samuel Beckett, or any other person champions in her corner are wont to do for her. She is her own, and no label or comparison will do anyone justice, or any good. The almost-innocent childlike voice of every narrator in all three books of the trilogy can at times remind me of Agota Kristof, but the final result fails in comparison. This trilogy is in no way a brilliant work of fiction, but pure enjoyment can be had in reading them. Redonnet certainly has style, and that matters. Perhaps a novel of hers to come will strike me as masterful. In the meantime I am satisfied in the way in which she fares.
What is interesting, and sometimes a bit puzzling, is how Redonnet in all her books has her young girl characters nonchalantly experiencing, for example, their first period, falling prey to lecherous men who only want them as sex objects, and the girls routinely coming back for more sexual abuse even from the same pathetic guys. Never is any love involved, no emotion, just sex as if it was as normal and acceptable as the setting sun. Prostituting oneself is also expressed nonchalantly and assumed acceptable. It means nothing to these girls to be violently thrown onto the sand and taken, to be ordered to strip naked and be penetrated, or to be turned over and entered from behind. It is all presented in her text as matter-of-fact, no despair, no feeling of injustice or their having been violated. Instead the young girls continue expecting more of the same, and even go looking for it. And to make matters even more disconcerting, in these clever and well-written books there is rarely a decent man available to even have a loving relationship with. But for some reason there is no review yet written that questions any of my concerns relative to the writing of Redonnet. It is almost as if her readers have become complicit in her undertakings and care little about another's undoing or destruction. Or perhaps it is my own puritan upbringing fighting for years to maintain its awful strangling hold on me, and my struggle to conform to a world that rarely, if ever, makes sense.
For some reason, and it was a surprise to me, this short novel felt more realized than the first two in the trilogy. But there is no way I would ever compare Marie Redonnet with the writing of Annie Ernaux, Samuel Beckett, or any other person champions in her corner are wont to do for her. She is her own, and no label or comparison will do anyone justice, or any good. The almost-innocent childlike voice of every narrator in all three books of the trilogy can at times remind me of Agota Kristof, but the final result fails in comparison. This trilogy is in no way a brilliant work of fiction, but pure enjoyment can be had in reading them. Redonnet certainly has style, and that matters. Perhaps a novel of hers to come will strike me as masterful. In the meantime I am satisfied in the way in which she fares.
What is interesting, and sometimes a bit puzzling, is how Redonnet in all her books has her young girl characters nonchalantly experiencing, for example, their first period, falling prey to lecherous men who only want them as sex objects, and the girls routinely coming back for more sexual abuse even from the same pathetic guys. Never is any love involved, no emotion, just sex as if it was as normal and acceptable as the setting sun. Prostituting oneself is also expressed nonchalantly and assumed acceptable. It means nothing to these girls to be violently thrown onto the sand and taken, to be ordered to strip naked and be penetrated, or to be turned over and entered from behind. It is all presented in her text as matter-of-fact, no despair, no feeling of injustice or their having been violated. Instead the young girls continue expecting more of the same, and even go looking for it. And to make matters even more disconcerting, in these clever and well-written books there is rarely a decent man available to even have a loving relationship with. But for some reason there is no review yet written that questions any of my concerns relative to the writing of Redonnet. It is almost as if her readers have become complicit in her undertakings and care little about another's undoing or destruction. Or perhaps it is my own puritan upbringing fighting for years to maintain its awful strangling hold on me, and my struggle to conform to a world that rarely, if ever, makes sense.
November 17, 2011
The final little slip in Redonnet’s triptych doesn’t have the same lyrical melancholy as its predecessors (perhaps, in part to the series being written in little over six months), but retains the fabulist magic and surreal antics that made the other two so charming and unique. The improvisation is more apparent in this one, and doesn’t suggest as much structural wizardry behind the pages. This edition has an illuminating (and somewhat arrogant) essay by the author explaining her intention to fight her way free of poetic/authorial influence. I heartily recommend Redonnet to readers of the French novel post-Grillet and post-Oulipo.
February 20, 2016
Redonnet's initial trilogy of slow despair (or persistence of lives to continue in the face thereof) closes with this story of a collapsing seaport. As with most of her stories, the extreme iciness of delivery tends to cast social structures into a harsh and revealing light. This is particularly true as the heroine seems initially more self-determined than in Redonnet's prior two works, forcing a certain amount of reader dissonance -- who is really making choices here? How stylized is this world, or is it just our own? Still, the sense of overarching deterministic power systems comes in even clearer in the later Candy Story and Nevermore. Also here: names repeated and reconfigured in increasingly unstable or confused identities.
July 27, 2023
A powerful short novel about a girl who is discovered in a grotto as a baby by the owner of a souvenir shop, and the life of the girl as she grows older in a strangely familiar town called Oât and eventually has a child of her own.
February 23, 2025
The third Redonnet novel in as many weeks, and another miniature marvel. Should be read in order, ideally in quick succession, to revel in the resonances.
November 28, 2011
Really strong finish to the Triptych. Redonnet's hypnotic prose and the controlled, resonant imagery are used to great effect. All three books (Hotel Splendid, Forever Valley, Rose Mellie Rose) are highly recommended.
December 22, 2014
A short, somber, very beautiful novel. The prose is just a little too stylized for its own good (so there's a cold distance to everything that happens), but I loved the mood so much, and how melancholy it was, and how it was just mythical enough. It's also, maybe, a tragedy, which makes me appreciate how beautiful the early sections were. It reminds me a little of Japanese slice-of-life narratives but very structured around certain thematic concerns: gender, image, identity, etc. Also I love the setting, this sort of decaying pastoral village on the sea (part past, part present) that could have been anywhere and kind of was. There could have been more to the story, and dialogue would have been nice, but it was a beautiful, bleak glimpse into a life.
June 7, 2026
Surprisingly, my favorite of the Marie Redonnet triptych is not Forever Valley, which I was sure would be my ideal novel, but Rose Mellie Rose. There's something so cozy about the crumbling seaside town this is set in, and I found it an oddly nostalgic work, like a grown-up version of the children's books I loved growing up. I think "fairy tale novels that aren't fantasy" is my new favorite niche genre.
June 8, 2019
Disturbing and compelling at once, from the beginning. A sort of hero's journey, darkly, where the treasures are hidden and unknown. The protagonist is strangely relatable, even in her youth/childishness, but in ways that remain elusive and hard to define. Some moments and imagery have stayed with me for months.
August 10, 2017
vidas são ciclos. teimosos, insistentes, poderosos. nós acabamos por nos curvar à força dos dias e da nossa natureza. olhamos para trás porque não há outros lugares para ver. e permanecemos atrelados ao passado. e acreditamos estar fugindo do que nos desgasta. no fim, liberdade e desistência se confundem. e ninguém realmente sai do trilho. o medo da tentativa antecede o arrependimento, de qualquer forma. espelhos são enganadores. uma vez me disseram que nosso cérebro projeta no reflexo a melhor imagem que temos de nós mesmos. acaba que tudo se mistura, como vermelho sobre o vermelho. tudo frustra, mas é assim que funciona. a busca por respostas é também a viagem para o fim. nada é indicado, é preciso conhecer. e quando se olha pra trás, já não somos mais capazes de discernir o que é verdadeiramente nosso e o que veio das pessoas à nossa volta. os erros que cometemos e a incapacidade (ou covardia) de não sermos capazes nos livrarmos deles nos faz ter vontade de esquecer o tempo. talvez assim, saibamos o que realmente sobrou de nós, quem somos e o que foi que fizemos. não para fazer melhor, creio que tal feito seja minimamente impossível. e a partir de um momento, chega a ser doloroso discernir o que é viver do que é sentir. tudo converge na existência e em nossas decisões. em algum momento, decidiremos nos levantar e sair em busca de algo que nem mesmo sabemos o nome - muitas vezes, é difícil até mesmo lembrar nossos nomes -, porém uma coisa é certa: é preciso não misturar o antigo e o moderno. entretanto, não cabe a nós nada decidir. afinal, vidas são ciclos.
May 7, 2021
3.5/5 - The third in a triptych, Rose Mellie Rose is a short novel about a 12-year-old girl named Mellie who was left in a grotto and has been raised by an elderly woman, Rose. When Rose dies, Mellie follows her instructions and heads for the city of Oât, where she registers, gets an ID, and becomes a part of the dying town on a lagoon.
There's a lengthy explanation by the author about the three novels in the triptych after the story: and, I confess I have no idea what she was trying to say. But, apparently there is flooding and a cemetery in all three books and the flooding somehow relates to the death of 19th Century literature? There's a lot of death and Mellie becomes an adult far too young, both sexually and through her work (she's able to quickly find a job), apparently because she doesn't know any better and does what she has to for survival. But, the sexual part is really weird. To me, a guy who picks up a 12-year-old and has sex with her is raping her, whether or not she is fine with it, but when she tells someone about losing her virginity the woman just pats her on the shoulder and says this is a good time for it. Um, no. Not quite sure what the author's point was with that but I thought it was upsetting.
There's a lengthy explanation by the author about the three novels in the triptych after the story: and, I confess I have no idea what she was trying to say. But, apparently there is flooding and a cemetery in all three books and the flooding somehow relates to the death of 19th Century literature? There's a lot of death and Mellie becomes an adult far too young, both sexually and through her work (she's able to quickly find a job), apparently because she doesn't know any better and does what she has to for survival. But, the sexual part is really weird. To me, a guy who picks up a 12-year-old and has sex with her is raping her, whether or not she is fine with it, but when she tells someone about losing her virginity the woman just pats her on the shoulder and says this is a good time for it. Um, no. Not quite sure what the author's point was with that but I thought it was upsetting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 16, 2026
“It was a day of high winds and rain. The flowers withered as soon as they fell.”
The 3rd Redonnet I have read and I still can’t fault anything she has written. I loved how this book was slightly different to “Hotel Splendid” and “Nevermore”. There was a juvenile nature to the prose but it still held so much tenderness and emotional weight. The repetitions that were used throughout really framed the story through the eyes of the protagonist Melie and highlighted her age which was touched upon at all major events within this story. The events that happened were easy to follow yet complex in their nature, at times it reminded me of the film “Landscape in the mist” by Theo Angelopoulos as both of these forms of media find children who have grown up too fast in a world that doesn’t give them much back.
The 3rd Redonnet I have read and I still can’t fault anything she has written. I loved how this book was slightly different to “Hotel Splendid” and “Nevermore”. There was a juvenile nature to the prose but it still held so much tenderness and emotional weight. The repetitions that were used throughout really framed the story through the eyes of the protagonist Melie and highlighted her age which was touched upon at all major events within this story. The events that happened were easy to follow yet complex in their nature, at times it reminded me of the film “Landscape in the mist” by Theo Angelopoulos as both of these forms of media find children who have grown up too fast in a world that doesn’t give them much back.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 18, 2026
Partway through this novel, I had the brief thought that some of its haunting, dreamlike, and isolated aspects reminded me of Pedro Parámo. But I quickly swatted away that idea. Redonnet is distinct across so many facets—style, voice, narrative construction, import—and a standout for originality. Rose Mellie Rose, named perfectly for the circular story it tells, is melancholy, stark, poetic, and unpredictable. I absolutely loved it.
December 31, 2024
Es una cosa rara, muy kristof, como un mal sueño, como un mundo sin moral y por tanto muy francés, donde la aparente normalidad de las formas no te permite anticipar el fondo. Una lectura curiosísima.
January 12, 2013
BEAUTIFUL. Gonna go to the library on my lunch break and check out everything she's ever written. This book reminded me very much of The Vet's Daughter.
September 10, 2009
Wow. That's one heck of a book. Short. So elegant and piercing. To be read in one sitting for sure.
What is it about the story that's so great? Because it's so great but I don't know why.
What is it about the story that's so great? Because it's so great but I don't know why.
July 3, 2014
If Beckett wrote from the perspective of an aloof French girl? (Admittedly, I am not much of a Beckett fan, despite my best intentions...)
July 25, 2017
In Marie Redonnets derde roman, Rose Mélie Rose, heerst weer de beklemmende sfeer van de droom of mythe die we uit haar eerdere boeken kennen. Verval, stilstand en herinneringen bepalen de stemming in de desolate stad waar het meisje Melie tussen haar twaalfde en zestiende kennis maakt met de mensenwereld. Tot dat moment heeft ze in volledige afzondering geleefd bij haar pleegmoeder Rose, die haar als pasgeboren baby in een grot in de rotsen heeft gevonden. Mélie's relaas is het verslag van een zoektocht naar het verleden en van een initiatie, die wordt geregistreerd, compleet met polaroidfoto's, in het "verhalenboek' dat de oude Rose voor haar dood aan Melie geeft. In zekere zin herhaalt Melie het leven van Rose. Zij zal de cirkel weer sluiten door terug te keren naar de grot met haar pasgeboren dochter Rose en het "verhalenboek'.
Als elke mythe of droom laat Mélie's relaas ruimte voor allerlei interpretaties en associaties: de schrijfster die afdaalt in het verleden en haar ervaringen overdraagt aan de opvolgster die uit haar voortkomt of de vrouw als enige natuurlijke vernieuwende schakel in de kringloop van vergankelijkheid en hergeboorte in de natuur.
Redonnets grote kracht ligt in de knappe manier waarop zij, binnen dit moderne mythologische kader, met een minimum aan middelen een beklemmende poëtische droomwereld weet te creëren die even tastbaar is als die in vroege schilderijen van Carel Willink.
Als elke mythe of droom laat Mélie's relaas ruimte voor allerlei interpretaties en associaties: de schrijfster die afdaalt in het verleden en haar ervaringen overdraagt aan de opvolgster die uit haar voortkomt of de vrouw als enige natuurlijke vernieuwende schakel in de kringloop van vergankelijkheid en hergeboorte in de natuur.
Redonnets grote kracht ligt in de knappe manier waarop zij, binnen dit moderne mythologische kader, met een minimum aan middelen een beklemmende poëtische droomwereld weet te creëren die even tastbaar is als die in vroege schilderijen van Carel Willink.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews