Bonjour Tristesse

In Bonjour Tristesse, Cécile, the novel’s young narrator, reflects on a summer holiday she spends with her father, Raymond. Raymond, a 40-year-old widower, is a charming ladies’ man who loves to have fun—and he sees no issue with including his young daughter in his antics. Cécile adores her father and all the fun they have, attending raucous parties together and often drinking too much. Though such decadence is arguably too mature for…

As Cécile looks back on the formative summer she spends on the Mediterranean with her father, she struggles to understand the underlying difference between love and passion. As an impressionable young teenager without much life experience, Cécile looks to her father, Raymond, to show her what to expect from love. Raymond, the quintessential libertine, rejects the idea of fidelity and prefers to chase passionate love affairs, simply moving on to a new woman once…

Bonjour Tristesse tells the story of 17-year-old Cécile as she learns the hard way how of little of life is within one’s control. After Cécile’s beloved father announces his plans to marry Anne, a good friend of Cécile’s late mother, Cécile takes it upon herself to ensure that the marriage does not happen. With help from Raymond’s spurned lover Elsa and Cécile’s summer fling Cyril, Cécile orchestrates a scheme to come between Raymond…