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Lullaby

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In French. Le roman et en plus 32 pages pour mieux lire les autres. Un supplément ludique et enrichissant. Des tests, des jeux, des exercices d'observation. Un prolongement à la lecture de ce livre. Une ouverture sur la meilleure littérature. Un plaisir de plus!

95 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

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148 people want to read

About the author

J.M.G. Le Clézio

152 books649 followers
Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, better known as J.M.G. Le Clézio (born 13 April 1940) is a Franco-Mauriciano novelist. The author of over forty works, he was awarded the 1963 Prix Renaudot for his novel Le Procès-Verbal (The Interrogation) and the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature.

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5 stars
48 (21%)
4 stars
68 (30%)
3 stars
65 (29%)
2 stars
33 (14%)
1 star
8 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Ilse.
552 reviews4,457 followers
June 12, 2025
Lullaby didn't even think about school any more. The sea is like that: it erases these things from the earth because it is the most important thing in the world. The blue, the light was immense, the wind, the violent and gentle sounds of the waves, and the sea looked like a great animal wagging its head and whipping the air with its tail.

A teenage girl leaves home and decides not to go to school anymore. Longing to be free she wanders along the beach and climbs the rocks. Musing on her absent father who she is missing since he is living in Iran, she writes letters to him that she will not send. Encountering another lonely child and discovering a mysterious abandoned Greek house which sparks her imagination, her adventures while breaking out of the shackles and tensions of her family and school situation turn into an interior journey of reflection. Looking at the sea, feeling the sun, the wind and the sand on her skin, the saltiness of the odours in her nose, admiring the birds, the seascape is calming and soothing. What is she to do at this turning point of her life?



Lullaby is a melancholic and atmospheric novella in which Le Clézio tenderly evokes the inner turmoil and the coming-of-age of the girl, the beauty of the sea and the play of the elements with a few fine brush strokes. Written in a luminous and dreamy prose, with a featherlight touch, he daintily rimes the sound of the waves with the mellifluous name of the girl, Lullaby.

An English translation of this novella can be found in Mondo and Other Stories.

(*** ½)
Profile Image for Tigris.
42 reviews
March 8, 2025
C'est un livre pas mal mais je pense que ce n'est pas un livre pour moi. Le style est poétique mais très bizarre et beaucoup de temps j'ai désorientée quand j'ai lu. Je voudrai lire ce livre je serai meilleur en français, peut-être que cela aidera à dissiper la confusion.
Profile Image for ☮ mary.
280 reviews
August 26, 2016
A poetic coming of age story which celebrates the energy of youth and the thirst for Liberty !! Read and feel it too !! Cheers
Profile Image for Sarah.
241 reviews24 followers
January 5, 2017
C'est l'histoire d'une fille qui sèche les cours pour traîner en bord de mer. Voilà. Et ça m'avait beaucoup marqué quand je l'avais lue adolescente. Parce qu'il y a la mer, l'espace, la sensation du soleil sur la peau. L'infini. C'est ça que j'avais retenu. La maison abandonnée. Un monde sans adulte. Même le père est loin. C'est un texte court et éminemment poétique.
Profile Image for Dylan Lawless.
50 reviews1 follower
August 30, 2024
C'était une bonne histoire sur le voyage de Lullaby hors de l'ecole. J'ai aimé l'imagerie de la nature, les expériences et les réflexions sur l'adolescence.

Tandis que les deux premiers actes étaient vraiment poétiques dans leur écriture, et les aventures de Lullaby, j'ai trouvé que le troisième acte était un bonne retour à la réalité qui a rendu l'histoire plus complète et plus signifiante dans l'ensemble.
Profile Image for Noémie.
322 reviews78 followers
March 19, 2022
j'avais oublié que j'avais lu ce livre, très jeune adolescente. il m'avait marquée, bouleversée. tellement que j'en avait offert ma seule copie (offerte par ma marraine) à ma petite-amie de l'époque. heureuse d'y repenser aujourd'hui. je me souviens encore de l'odeur fictive de la mer et du bitume, du vent.
Profile Image for Meg.
133 reviews
September 21, 2021
really enjoyed this honestly! the writing is beautiful, the feelings that lullaby is going through are relatable and most of the time i was quite hooked to see what happens. Although there were some moments where lullaby started to get a tiny bit annoying, i mean she's still so young so that's fair. And it added laughter to my reading experience, i liked to sometimes make fun of these characters as usual, but all in all it was pretty satisfying and beautiful to read. Cute short story for sure💞
Profile Image for Nada.
124 reviews1 follower
October 31, 2024
Cute lil story, but not very engaging.
Profile Image for Kristýna Obrdlíková.
695 reviews15 followers
Read
March 11, 2014
Atmosféra.
Dýchala stále pomaleji a stále pomalejší a pomalejší tlukot srdce se jí rozléval v hrudi. Už v sobě neměla téměř žádný pohyb, žádný život, jen její pohled se začínal rozšiřovat a splývat s prostorem jako svazek světelných paprsků. Lullaby cítila, jak se její tělo otvírá, pomaloučku, jako dveře. Čekala na chvíli, kdy se konečně setká s mořem. věděla, že ho brzy uvidí, a tak už na nic nemyslela, nic jiného si nepřála... (28 - 29).
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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