What do you think?
Rate this book
Le mal jaune
in8. Relié.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1965
2 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 11, 2019
This review is for the book Le Mal Jaune (English title: Yellow Fever) by Jean Larteguy. The reviews attached to this edition--based on their summaries and plot details--have been imported from another book, probably one with the same English title.
A quick summary of Lartéguy's book:
Le Mal Jaune follows a group of French journalists as they live through the transfer of Hanoi to the Vietminh in 1954, and then picks up their lives a year later after they had resettled in Saigon, which was struggling to stay out of a civil war.
Although many characters reappear in each half of the book, this was actually two independent works which were then packaged together--the first is primarily a mournful look at the last days of French rule in Hanoi, while the second is a description of events just prior to the transition from the State of Vietnam to the Republic of Vietnam, which is also the point at which America stepped up its role in the country's affairs, filling the vacuum left by the French. In both sections, there is a overwhelming feeling of loss and of missed opportunities--I don't know that Larteguy thought things could have turned out any different than they did, but he does wax nostalgic over the disappearance of the mixing of French and Vietnamese culture. In fact, the subtitle of the book is 'The Story of Two Metisses, which is something like 'mixed' as in 'mixed race', though without any stigma attached to it. The two metisses may refer to the two cities, or perhaps to two women who come to symbolize each place, but from the vantage point of time, this culture seems French-dominated and colonial in spirit rather than one of equal partners, though I doubt Larteguy would have seen it that way.
This novel, which really isn't a novel at all, doesn't really succeed--it's too fragmented, often confusing, and characters seem to appear without any previous background. This almost reads like a long extended epilogue, where characters who were introduced in a previous novel or novels were reunited to tell how they fared at the end of French involvement in Vietnam. Yet these two novellas were Lartéguy's first published works--which might explain some of the flaws. But craftmanship aside, what I did like about the novel was the picture of this period of French and Vietnamese history. Since almost all of the reading I've done about Vietnam has been through the lens of the American involvement, it was extremely interesting to me to read about the French experience, as well as an indication of what the in-country French thought about the loss of their influence. Larteguy, who would go on to receive much more attention for his book The Centurions, was a former soldier himself, turned journalist, and covered hotspots all over the world, including Vietnam. Le Mal Jaune is fiction, but I suspect that it closely reflects prevailing attitudes of the time.
This is the third book of Larteguy's that I've read--I like them for their perspective and for their unabashed machismo...they are certainly of their time, and may be insufferable to modern readers. Women, when they appear, are often merely sex objects or frail and dependent. There is also a thin veneer of tolerance in his books which seems to me to mask a kind of benevolent colonialism, and that too may be something modern readers would like to avoid. On the other hand, I think his books give a glimmer of what the mindset was from a soldier's point of view during the collapse of one of the former great powers, and I find that valuable in and of itself.
A quick summary of Lartéguy's book:
Le Mal Jaune follows a group of French journalists as they live through the transfer of Hanoi to the Vietminh in 1954, and then picks up their lives a year later after they had resettled in Saigon, which was struggling to stay out of a civil war.
Although many characters reappear in each half of the book, this was actually two independent works which were then packaged together--the first is primarily a mournful look at the last days of French rule in Hanoi, while the second is a description of events just prior to the transition from the State of Vietnam to the Republic of Vietnam, which is also the point at which America stepped up its role in the country's affairs, filling the vacuum left by the French. In both sections, there is a overwhelming feeling of loss and of missed opportunities--I don't know that Larteguy thought things could have turned out any different than they did, but he does wax nostalgic over the disappearance of the mixing of French and Vietnamese culture. In fact, the subtitle of the book is 'The Story of Two Metisses, which is something like 'mixed' as in 'mixed race', though without any stigma attached to it. The two metisses may refer to the two cities, or perhaps to two women who come to symbolize each place, but from the vantage point of time, this culture seems French-dominated and colonial in spirit rather than one of equal partners, though I doubt Larteguy would have seen it that way.
This novel, which really isn't a novel at all, doesn't really succeed--it's too fragmented, often confusing, and characters seem to appear without any previous background. This almost reads like a long extended epilogue, where characters who were introduced in a previous novel or novels were reunited to tell how they fared at the end of French involvement in Vietnam. Yet these two novellas were Lartéguy's first published works--which might explain some of the flaws. But craftmanship aside, what I did like about the novel was the picture of this period of French and Vietnamese history. Since almost all of the reading I've done about Vietnam has been through the lens of the American involvement, it was extremely interesting to me to read about the French experience, as well as an indication of what the in-country French thought about the loss of their influence. Larteguy, who would go on to receive much more attention for his book The Centurions, was a former soldier himself, turned journalist, and covered hotspots all over the world, including Vietnam. Le Mal Jaune is fiction, but I suspect that it closely reflects prevailing attitudes of the time.
This is the third book of Larteguy's that I've read--I like them for their perspective and for their unabashed machismo...they are certainly of their time, and may be insufferable to modern readers. Women, when they appear, are often merely sex objects or frail and dependent. There is also a thin veneer of tolerance in his books which seems to me to mask a kind of benevolent colonialism, and that too may be something modern readers would like to avoid. On the other hand, I think his books give a glimmer of what the mindset was from a soldier's point of view during the collapse of one of the former great powers, and I find that valuable in and of itself.
March 17, 2016
This book was very confusing and didn't have a clear plot line. There was nothing happy about this book whatsoever. In every chapter a loved one or family member died because of the yellow fever. The whole book was one big gruesome mess about how terrible the fever was and how everyone was going to be killed off because of it. It was just constantly one thing after the next and everyone was killed off until it was left to a young girl who ended up getting yellow fever anyways and the book ends with how she died a sick death
December 1, 2010
This book takes place in America and shows what deseases can do. With all the rave about the flu, its' an interesting book to assign because they should be able to relate to it. It's short so my students wouldn't be initimated and it's written from a 12 year olds point of view so that adds to the relatability. It is a sad story but that adds to the how engaging it is.
Read
April 24, 2015Yellow fever is caused by a virus that is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. These mosquitoes thrive in and near human habitations where they breed in even the cleanest water. Most cases of yellow fever occur in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical South America.
September 8, 2021
A quick, easy read that gives historical context during washington's presidency and how yellow fever affected philedelphia during that time. Well written, nice characters, good story.
July 8, 2010
i don't know the author so im not sure if this is the right book.
April 20, 2011
WORST BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF BOOKS EXCEPT FOR THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews