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Therese and Isabelle by Violette Leduc
Feb. 21st, 2010 05:24 pmSeasons, lend us your tattered dresses. Let us be wandering gypsies with hair lacquerred to our heads by the rain. Will you come with me, Isabelle? will you set up house with me on some roadside bank? We'll crunch up our dry crusts with lions' jaws, we'll find our spices in the storm, we'll have a house, with lace curtains at the windows as the caravans roll by and disappear toward the frontiers. I'll undress you in the growing wheat, I'll find you lodgings in the hearts of haystacks, I'll cover you in the water under low, overhanging branches, I'll nurse you on a mossbank in the forest, I'll make love to you in the fields of lucerne, I'll haul you up into the haycarts, my Boadicea.
It's the cover that got me. In minimalistic black and white with just a hint of red, it appealed to me and my obsession with vintage-looking, art nouveau. Plus, the title itself was intriguing: Therese and Isabelle, by Violette Leduc. I look at the synopsis and there it is: A rainbow-tinged friendship, in a French boarding school, no less. Sold.
Therese, the intriguing newcomer fascinates the elusive Isabelle. That's it. There was no buildup from friendship, which disappointed me, since I want my queer ya lit to have that tension. The tension here results from getting caught instead, since the two are quite into it like bunny rabbits, doing it in restroom cubicles, in the woods, and other places where there's bound to be people who will see them.
Originally translated from the French, you get the feeling that there's something lost in translation. Sure, Leduc's writing is rife with metaphors, and allusions, but it sometimes reaches the point of saturation, leaving you a bit numb after repetitive descriptions of soft-p*rnish encounters.
I felt a bit shortchanged with the hurried ending. It felt like it started with the two and their carnal obsession with each other, which must be mostly due to hormones, since I didn't understand much about what fascinated them about each other, aside from physical beauty, which was also mentioned in a by-the-way-she's-pretty type of way. Then we arrive to the bucketloads of sex scenes and the matching metaphors (whoa sometimes subtlety works better) and then the depressing ending. I expected more for this book. Le sigh.
Incidentally, I was multi-tasking and watching the movie while reading this, and the movie was a bit better. The cinematography was awesome, and they were able to get a pretty convincing cast. The ending was more satisfying too, although it felt a bit too contrived. Considering this film was shown during the 60s, it was quite a daring film at that time. Nevertheless, it was so-so.
What I think: 5 unicorns
It's the cover that got me. In minimalistic black and white with just a hint of red, it appealed to me and my obsession with vintage-looking, art nouveau. Plus, the title itself was intriguing: Therese and Isabelle, by Violette Leduc. I look at the synopsis and there it is: A rainbow-tinged friendship, in a French boarding school, no less. Sold.
Therese, the intriguing newcomer fascinates the elusive Isabelle. That's it. There was no buildup from friendship, which disappointed me, since I want my queer ya lit to have that tension. The tension here results from getting caught instead, since the two are quite into it like bunny rabbits, doing it in restroom cubicles, in the woods, and other places where there's bound to be people who will see them.
Originally translated from the French, you get the feeling that there's something lost in translation. Sure, Leduc's writing is rife with metaphors, and allusions, but it sometimes reaches the point of saturation, leaving you a bit numb after repetitive descriptions of soft-p*rnish encounters.
I felt a bit shortchanged with the hurried ending. It felt like it started with the two and their carnal obsession with each other, which must be mostly due to hormones, since I didn't understand much about what fascinated them about each other, aside from physical beauty, which was also mentioned in a by-the-way-she's-pretty type of way. Then we arrive to the bucketloads of sex scenes and the matching metaphors (whoa sometimes subtlety works better) and then the depressing ending. I expected more for this book. Le sigh.
Incidentally, I was multi-tasking and watching the movie while reading this, and the movie was a bit better. The cinematography was awesome, and they were able to get a pretty convincing cast. The ending was more satisfying too, although it felt a bit too contrived. Considering this film was shown during the 60s, it was quite a daring film at that time. Nevertheless, it was so-so.
What I think: 5 unicorns