To begin with, I found Bonjour Tristesse to be quite an intriguing, if a bit desolate, read. Sagan’s descriptions, especially when he focuses on the French upper class in the beginning of the twentieth century has an almost lyrical, romantic feel to it. What caught my interest the most the more I read of the novel was what I felt was a rather jarring contrast between the flowing prose and the more abrupt, changing experiences of Cécile as she tries to destroy her father Raymond and his lover, Anne’s relationship. As a reader, I found myself caught up in the way Cécile tends to grow from a rather spoiled and at times immature rich girl into a more conscientious young lady. The character development here is probably my favourite from the books we have read in this class so far as Cécile seems to learn that the frivolous and carefree life she leads, thanks to her father’s money and tendencies to spoil her, cannot last forever.

Sagan has woven the theme of a character coming-of-age beautifully into his portrayal of the protagonist as life slowly begins to intervene and disrupt her usual way of living, just about forcing her to take off her rose-coloured glasses and start to really see life outside of the privileged lifestyle she leads at the tender age of seventeen. What really grounds the reader’s focus is the way the author makes Cécile a character with flaws and feelings that are so relatable to what one would experience in reality and thus makes her seem like an actual person rather than simply a character built out of one’s imagination and some words. We see the truth of this especially after Raymond and Anne are married and Cécile’s darker- for the lack of a better word- side comes into play, the indulgent girl replaced by a scheming, manipulative young woman who makes what can sometimes be thought of as morally concerning decisions. It is this lack of a ‘black or white’ attitude that most authors tend to unconsciously adopt with their characters that make Cécile an intriguing character to follow along on her journey.

Almost right after, when guilt starts to worm its way in and we see Cécile experience the realisation of her actions and see the consequences as well as her responses to them, is, at least in my opinion one of the strongest highlights of the book.

My question for this week would be: what if Cécile had accepted Anne from the start? Would she have changed differently or maybe not at all?