book review - The Heart-Keeper

The more you think about this short book from Francoise Sagan the more you feel it has to be categorised as a black comedy.

The reason is that although it is short on humour the idea that someone could be spending their life under the same roof as a cool-hearted serial killer is a quirky one. Then add to that the power that is put in Dorothy’s hands knowing that anyone she dislikes will be killed by Lewis and it does start to set up a story that could have gone in another direction.

What keeps this story of a 45 year-old kind-hearted script writer who takes in a drugged out early twenties man is the message it is putting out about Hollywood and the hollowness of tinsel town.

Success seems to bring misery, jealously, spiritual emptiness and a drink and drugs problem. Large houses, luxury cars and glamorous friends are all arranged and approved by the contract made with the studio. Real people and real lives don’t really have a place in this artificial world.

Amongst all of this sits Dorothy who is considering starting a relationship with Paul. She has been married before but is a confident and attractive woman who likes her independence. Part of that independence is taking the decision to take home a young man that her and Paul knock down one evening. Dorothy offers Lewis her spare room and after a while a mainly silent but powerful relationship develops. It is neither sexual or parental but based around something more idealistic.

Lewis bumps off Dorothy’s alcoholic ex-husband, the dead man’s second wife and a very aggressive studio boss before Dorothy discovers his secret. Once she knows she is filled with terror and eventually to escape she marries Paul and flees on honeymoon to the continent. In the meantime Lewis has been nominated for an Oscar and has all the trimmings of success.

But when Dorothy returns and is given the tour of Lewis’s home she leaves only to find the young star whimpering at the car window begging to be taken back to her home. Paul seems to understand that they will never be rid of Lewis but with Dorothy as his wife he appears to be prepared to allow the threesome to exist under the same roof.

Quiet what Dorothy - who is the heart-keeper of not just Lewis but Paul – will do is left to your imagination because at that point the book ends.

What is similar to something like Bonjour Tristesse is the sense of a love triangle, fast cars that lose their brakes and crash with fatal consequences and the younger of the three main characters being the most emotionally intense.

An odd book that you certainly won’t forget.

Version read – penguin paperback

Lunchtime read: The Heart-Keeper

There are just a few pages left, but enough for Lewis to commit another murder, and declare his love for Dorothy. He shoots the director of his film with a gun that is meant to be unloaded and as a result gets away with the crime. But his cold-hearted attitude pushes Dorothy over the edge.

Her only real option is to get away from home and Lewis and so she marries Paul and spends six months on honeymoon. When she returns Lewis has won an Oscar and is installed in a huge house by the studio. He meets Dorothy and Paul and clings onto them as they are given a tour of the house. As they leave he runs out and begs to come back with them. The final scene has Paul acknowledging that Lewis is going to be with them for life.

Lewis, with his cold-hearted nature, is a living embodiment of the callous nature of the world of Hollywood where success buys love and wealth and failure leads to alcoholism, bitterness and ultimately obscurity and death.

“It was evident that he had lost his self-control. Hollywood had destroyed him, too, at last – Hollywood and alcohol.”

A review will follow soon…

Lunchtime read: The Heart-Keeper

There is always something special about the moment when a reader has been ahead of the plot and then catches up. What happens next is when the ability of the storyteller really comes through. If it becomes easy to guess then to some degree the story has failed but equally go too far from reality and it becomes implausible.

Sagan has now reached that moment. It has become clear that Lewis is killing anyone who tries to insult or hurt Dorothy. Finally the penny drops and she confronts him with the truth and he admits it easily enough. But then she is in a dilemma because she realises the power she has over life and death – is she dislikes someone then Lewis will happily kill them for her.

She keeps it secret to herself but you wonder just how lone she can go on living in the shadow of the strange young man who is a cold-hearted killer.

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Heart-Keeper

The relationship between Dorothy and Lewis is largely left unsaid but there are a few facts that point at least to the emotions that the young man is experiencing. For a start despite getting a job as an actor he remains as a lodger in her home. Then there are the jealous looks he throws her way when she goes out with her boyfriend Paul. Finally, there is the way he tries to buy her with gifts like a Rolls Royce.

But what starts to emerge as a possible problem is the decision by Lewis to go and sign for a Hollywood big shot. That night Lewis goes out and does not return and the same big shot producer he has signed for turns up dead in a gay brothel. Dorothy doesn’t suspect him for a second but the reader does.

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Heart-Keeper - post II

It is quite good reading Wise Children and The Heart-Keeper at the same time because they both describe the world of Hollywood. In the case of Sagan it is the world of the screen writer Dorothy but the sense of a hollow world tinged with insincerity comes across in both books.

For Dorothy it is the moment when she is told that her second husband Frank has died. The man, who she still felt very fondly for, had spiralled into alcoholism after their marriage ended and he was supported by Dorothy even after they split.

She turns for sympathy to her house guest Lewis rather than her current boyfriend Paul. He decides that he wants to carry on living with her but wants to get a job so she sets up a screen test and a career in the movies beckons for the brooding young artist.

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: The Heart-Keeper - post I

Francoise Sagan is a writer capable of delivering haunting romantic tales that focus on just a couple of characters but extend beyond that small circle of people.

The reason is that the themes of her stories are universal – love, jealously and the urge to possess someone that is thinking of moving away from you.

This story starts with a 45 year-old Hollywood script writer. Sagan draws attention to the age of the main female character several times to underline the fact she is not a young woman and comes with a degree of experience.

Things start with Dorothy speeding along with Paul on the way to a sexual rendezvous that is interrupted after a young man on LSD jumps out in front of their car.

Dorothy decides to let Lewis, the young man with a handsome face, come and stay with her upsetting Paul who points out quite reasonably that she knows nothing about him.

More tomorrow…

book of books - Aimez-vous Brahms...

At the heart of this story, just like Francoise Sagan’s other well known work Bonjour Tristesse, is a tale the evolves around the emotion of love. In Bonjour... it was about the love of a daughter for a father and of a life together. In Aimes-vous Brahms… it is about the love, which is almost abusive in its one sidedness between two old lovers that has no room for the love of a younger man.

Plot summary
Thirty nine year old Paule is a designer in Paris that has been stuck in a relationship with a haulage businessman Roger for six years. In that time he has had numerous affairs with other women while expecting her to remain loyal. They are both stuck in a rut that comes under pressure with the introduction of Simon a 25 year old lawyer who is the son of one of Paule’s clients. He becomes besotted with Paule and offers her all the things that Roger doesn’t and he breaks up their relationship but the irony is that Paule is unhappy with his love and ends up by dropping Simon and returning to Roger.

Is it well written?
It is written very subtly because a great deal of the big themes about love linger with you and become clear afterwards. On one level there is the straightforward story about the chase, the affair and the failure but on another there is something operating on another level about the nature of love. So you end up questioning what it is about the love that Simon offers that is so unattractive to Paule and why she returns to the almost abusive love that Roger offers? Is it a lack of confidence? Something to do with age – something that dominates the book? It is because of the ability to ask those questions this is such a good read.

Should it be read?
For anyone who just thinks romance is something that happens to teenagers this proves that it is not. But it also shows that love can be complicated in a way that probably most teenagers would never understand. It also shows that just because someone is abusive in terms of having an open relationship when you want something precious and closed that they can in fact offer more love.

Summary
Age matters in a Parisian love triangle that sees the younger man fall foul of the experienced elder lover

Version read – Penguin paperback

Lunchtime read: Aimez-vous Brahms...

This post should really have been spread over two days but it is not always easy at the weekend to stick to a reading regime that you follow in the week buttressed by lunch hours and workplace boredom. Poor old Simon…

Chapter twelve
Paule and Simon spend the night in each others arms but Simon is so happy that he almost ceases to function and moons about the place failing to go to work just filling in the hours until he can see her again

Chapter thirteen
Roger returns from a two week business trip and asks to see Paule and she reveals that she cares about Simon and then they hurt each other, with her referring to the lack of love he shows for her and him using her age as a weapon and they agree not to see each other

Chapter fourteen
Roger splits with the film star wannabe Maisy and meanwhile Paule is having problems getting a heavily drinking Simon to take life seriously but after threatening to kick him out he applies himself and gets back to work

Chapter fifteen
Roger asks Paule to go with him on their usual break in the mountains but she turns him down and comes home to find Simon waiting to take her out but her evening is ruined after two women criticise her for her age and Simon steps into be her comforter

Chapter sixteen
Paule realises that she depends on Roger in much the same way Simon depends on her and ultimately she will hurt Simon because she has the power to do so and because she will return to Roger

Chapter seventeen
In a three-page chapter it is clear that Roger misses Paule and is lost without her

Chapter eighteen
The final chapter starts with all three characters in a restaurant and Paule realising that she loves Roger when he walks in and they meet and agree to get back together but no sooner has Simon left her life than the phones rings and Roger is there with the same old excuses

A review will come later…

Lunchtime read: Aimez-vous Brahms

The complex love lives of the Parisians develops with the older experienced Roger starting to make it obvious he is not giving enough to make Paule happy.

Chapter nine
Having rushed back from the country to see Paule after her letter telling him that he was to come soon she downplays the letter and disappoints him but in a moment in the car she seems to see him for who he really is and the age difference falls away and love starts to blossom

Chapter ten
Meanwhile Simon’s mother suspects something is going on and invites Paule and Roger to come to a dinner party and Roger realises that Simon is a potential threat shows his anger with him and then whisks Paule away and then leaves her but Simon has followed and shows her again that he cares

Chapter eleven
After being given an indication that he is ‘too good for her’ and that he ’might get hurt’ Simon backs off but after ten days can not take it anymore and turns up at Paule’s shop and that night they sleep together in each other’s arms

More follows tomorrow where there will be an inevitable resolution of the conflict in Paule’s life between Simon and Roger and you have to sense that the younger man will win

Lunchtime read: Aimez-vous Brahms...

The young lawyer keeps doggedly perusing the older woman and is handed a nugget when he discovers that her lover Roger is cheating on her, something he keeps to himself presumably to be used later, quite when we will see in the next couple of days

Chapter six
Simon invites Paule to a concert..Aimez-vous Brahms...and meets her in the foyer after he has been driving out in the country and she has been killing time at home. On his jaunt in the countryside he met Roger with a girl and although he doesn’t reveal that he tells Paule that she is alone and he loves her

Chapter seven
Roger returns with his mistress and heads straight round to see Paule who has just got in from the Brahms concert and is in a strange mood and reveals that she went with Simon to the concert, a fact that causes Roger anger and pain

Chapter eight
Simon writes to apologise and tells Paule that he is going to the country to work on a case and as a result will not be able to see her. Paule replies to the letter but you have to wait until the end of the chapter to find out she is giving him some encouragement

More tomorrow...

Lunchtime read: Aimez-vous Brahms...

Years ago in a pub I bumped into someone from Paris who although not that much older than me informed me that British men did not know how to make love and the French were the best lovers in the world. Fine, all stereotypical stuff, but what stayed with me was his unwarranted advice about older women. “Older women are great but just don’t be there when they wake up,” he said referring to the effects that natural light and smudged make-up can create. Never had the chance to put his advice to the test but it looks like Simon will if he manages to pin Paule down…

Chapter three
Roger wants it both ways with Paule on the end of a string and his flings with girls but he gets a shock when Simon sits with them at a bar and starts being forward with Paule before drinking far too much and talking nonsense before being taken home

Chapter four
Simon surprises her as she decorates a shop window and asks her out for lunch and attempts to discover a bit more about her relationship with Roger and impress himself on her a bit more

Chapter five
Roger is meant to take Paule away for a weekend but cancels and lies about work while he goes with someone else and that leaves Paule at a loose end so she decides to visit Simon’s mother and as she is leaving bumps into Simon who blocks her passage for a second increasing the sexual tension by a notch

More tomorrow…

Lunchtime read: Aimez-vous Brahms...

Books are great ways of travelling without moving and so for this week it seemed like an attractive idea spending some time in Paris with Francoise Sagan's character Paule, an interior designer and her troubled love-life.

Highlights from the first 20 pages

Chapter One
You get introduced to Paule who is involved in an open relationship with Roger and not enjoying it because she feels lonely and is seeking more from him, something he senses and is not prepared or able to give

Chapter Two
Paule needs to get some money so visits one of her interior designs clients and while she waits she comes across her son simon who takes a shine to her and asks her out for lunch and despite a 14 year age gap seems very keen on her