Jeune fille by Anne Wiazemsky

Jeune fille by Anne Wiazemsky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In the spring of 1965 the French director Robert Bresson asked a17 year old girl, Anne Wiazemsky, to be his leading lady in his next movie "Au Hasard Balthasar".
Forty years after her first cinematographic experience Anne is wondering if  he wasever in love with her.
"Jeune Fille" is a book immensely exciting in its amazing simplicity with well portraited characters and a story as interesting as only life can write. It describes the addictive, possesive and controlling relationship between Anne and Bresson and how that changed her life for ever. Those two had a chemistry despite their age difference and they had intense feelings for each other, but it never stoped them from hearting each other at various points. Bresson had a power over Anne and although he was known for treating his actors in a possesive, authoritan way he did go over the edge with her. They were leaving in the same house, with adjoying bedrooms and he tried to control every part of her life in and out of the set and he did try to stop her from developping any king of relatioship with other members of the crew, keeping her a 'prisoner'. Anne felt strongly about Bresson and admired him deeply and strangely enough he was the reason that her sex life started. She took a lover, someone from the crew in a desperate attemp to regain a little control over her life and escape Bresson's control. Bresson grew so possessive over her that on finishing filming Au Hasard Balthasar asked her for the role of Guinivere in "Lancelot du Lac" on condition that she will never film with anyone other than him. Of course this never came to pass but its an excellent example of their relationship.
This is a book about a girl leaving her safe world and middle class family in order to enter the dazzling world of cinema and the adulthood under rather strange but also amazingly interesting circumstances. I remembered how it was when I was her age and I found myself thinking that I was ,at times, like her.

“I have been happy with you”, Anne told him.
“Me, too. Living near you has given me a great deal. . . your youth has made me young. . . Often I was your age. . . You will understand later on . . . later”
And, thus it is later Anne Wiazemsky will write one of the very best books I read this year. A pure wonder, simple but absolute. An excellent piece of literature.



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Crazy Ladies by Michael Lee West

This is a story about 6 unforgetable southern women- Miss Gussie; her daughters, Dorothy and Clancy Jane; Gussie's granddaughters, Violet and Bitsy; and Queenie, who had been with Miss Gussie's maid.
The book starts with a young Miss Gussie trying to calm her daughter Dorothy who has a colic and ending up killing a serial rapist in defense of herself and this is only the begining of misfortunes, tragedies, wrong desicions, misunderstandings and wrong desicions that those 6 women will make in a story takes place over 40 years, from 1932 to 1972.
The characters are well drawn and what I found really interesting is that I found a little piece of myself in every single one. While I was reading the book I tried to indentify myself with one of the characters especially Dorothy or Clancy Jane and I realised that depending the occasion I was all of them. That made them real and I ended up to really care about them. Especially poor Dorothy who was so mitreated by everyone and especially by her own mother. She was so sad and unloved thatt it was no surprise that she ended up like she did. She was a little crazy but honestly who isn't.
The story was interesting and had some unexpected turns and it was writen in a very nice style. It's woman had her own voice so you could actually see the story from everyone's point of view. Quite post-modern now that I come to think about it.
I cjoose this book because I liked the title and because the summary reminded me of "Divine secrets of the Ya Ya sisterhood" which is one of my most favorite books and it is about southern crazy ladies as well. I really liked and it was easy to read and I highly recommended to anyone who is into that short of fiction, but it didn't superpass the "Divine secrets of the Ya ya sisterhood"

Winter in Madrid

Winter in Madrid by C.J. Sansom

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


The sroty takes place after the civil war and during WW2 in Spain. The author must have done quite a research and I think he captures the atmosphere of Madrid at that period quite nicely.
This had a potential to be a really great novel.I mean there was a war, a traitor, a reluctant spy, an abused woman and a love triangle, but unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations.The story had potentials but I didn't like the way the author painted the characters.In my opinion he was far more concentrated in the historical events so the characters of the book elude him completely. I mean I can understand why Harry turns out to be so bitter after loosing the love of his life but why he was so pathetic and indifferent in the beginingof the novel I cannot tell.And how about Barbara why was she so traumatized because some kids were teasing her about her hair? As far as I am concerned the characters were very little described/analysed and somehow they do not feel complete.They are more fragments of a personality than a whole complete person which you can love or hate. I remained indifferent to them through out the whole book. The only character that intriguided me a little was Sandy the villain of the story but then again he was not portraited as he should have been.
Another thing that bothered me is that none of the love stories was believable and I really could not warm up to any of the 2 couples of the book. Simply you cannot understand why those people love its other. Its something sudden and inexplicable and maybe that is what love is but the author failed to described it a way that will make the reader feel part of the magic that is love and being in love. It's simple something that happens in order to continue the narrative of the story.It's really a pity because I do love a nice well portraited love story.
The book on the whole was not bad it was easily read and I quite enjoyable especially for describing Spain in such hard and controversial times, but it lacked really nice, interested, well portraited characters that will make you feel about them and become part of their story



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