Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
315th out of 676 books
—
1,348 voters
The Ripening Seed
by
Colette
In Ripening Seed Colette captures that precious, painful moment when childhood retreats at the onslaught of dawning knowledge and desire. Philippe and Vinca are childhood friends. In the glowing days and mist-filled nights of late summer on the Brittany coast, their deep-rooted love for each other loses its childhood simplicity. Philippe is destined to learn from experienc...more
Hardcover, 186 pages
Published
June 1st 1955
by Farrar Straus Giroux
(first published 1923)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
651)
I have restricted access to books up here in the snowy Highlands, hence my reading this short novel plucked at random about melodramatic teenagers in love. Colette writes eloquently about nature in relation to human biology but this story has been told a thousand times before and with fewer obnoxious little brats involved. Did you know, incidentally, that since I’ve been up here I’ve had the worst cinematic experience of my life? I was made to watch the absolutely abysmally horrible film Patch A...more
This is the first non-Claudine book of Collette's that I've read. I have to say I did not care for it at all. I don't really like her male characters and this was all from the male's point of view. It was a teen romance about a 16 year old, wanting to marry a 15 year old and having an affair with an older woman that didn't do anything for him. It just felt so pointless. The only thing it did was make me want to eat seafood. Not really one I can recommend.
2 likes · like · see review
On m'avait conseillé Colette de partout : garçonne audacieuse, lesbienne du début du siècle et donc féministe par essence. J'ai alors alimenté l'imaginaire d'une Colette sulfureuse, siégeant comme écrivain phare des Années Folles. Et puis j'ai lu Le Blé en Herbe intégralement après avoir interrompu quelques années auparavant Sido.
J'ai retrouvé ce goût insipide de Bonjour Tristesse : les amours adolescentes sur une plage au sein d'une famille bourgeoise, entourées de quelques détails marins, une...more
J'ai retrouvé ce goût insipide de Bonjour Tristesse : les amours adolescentes sur une plage au sein d'une famille bourgeoise, entourées de quelques détails marins, une...more
I thought this was a pretty irritating book, although the writing is not bad, and some of the imagery definitely good. Ok, so you definitely have to be in the mood for Colette to at all appreciate her, but still. This book focuses on two adolescent drama queens in the throes of turning from childhood inseparables to "I love you! Say something! Ah, you will never care! Did you imagine you could deceive me??" So that's difficult to like. It's not as completely trashy as her first books (Claudine,...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Voilà des années que je voulais lire Colette.
Agnés F. qui tient l'écrivaine du Palais-Royal comme l'un(e) des plus grand(e)s auteur(e)s du (XXème) siècle me moquait de ne jamais avoir lu l'auteur des Claudine.
Aussi j'ai profité des vacances pour lire "Le blé en herbe" retrouvé dans un coin poussiéreux du grenier.
On tient ce court roman de 1923 comme une des oeuvres les plus audacieuses de son temps. Raconter la découverte de l'amour physique par de jeunes adolescents de 15 ou 16 ans était aussi...more
Agnés F. qui tient l'écrivaine du Palais-Royal comme l'un(e) des plus grand(e)s auteur(e)s du (XXème) siècle me moquait de ne jamais avoir lu l'auteur des Claudine.
Aussi j'ai profité des vacances pour lire "Le blé en herbe" retrouvé dans un coin poussiéreux du grenier.
On tient ce court roman de 1923 comme une des oeuvres les plus audacieuses de son temps. Raconter la découverte de l'amour physique par de jeunes adolescents de 15 ou 16 ans était aussi...more
Sep 18, 2012
Carolann
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
reviewed-her-literary-salon
I am still able to vividly remember my first brushes with love. I remember the awkwardness, the pain, the confusion and the uncontrollable desires – as I am sure most individuals can. First love and the first flurried awakenings of passion is something that all feel – no matter age, gender or generation. To float through the pages of Colette’s ‘Ripening Seed’ is to revisit this time in life, except with a great deal more beauty and poetry. The reader is able to easily relate to her budding young...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I'm sure this book was supposed to be something akin to 'Catcher in the Rye' teenage angst. It was just hard to take it seriously when it was some prissy 16 year old boy, ranting about how his far he is in life and how it's all going to waste, a childhood friend he deems as his personal property and bipolarly abuses and sweet talks, some random middle aged lady he has an affair with, and about how good and lean his young tanned body and black curls look. It was blah all the way through...
Ce n'est pas le meilleur Colette, loin de là... Mais on irait vite en souhaitant que Colette n'ait jamais écrit Le Blé en herbe, qui a mal vieilli et n'apporte plus grand chose... En effet, Colette aurait-elle écrit les sublimes "chéri" et "la fin de chéri", qui contiennent, en subtil, tout ce qui est grossier dans "le blé..." ?
Colette devait donc écrire le blé en herbe. Mais vous, vous n'avez pas besoin de le lire.
(une grande admiratrice de Colette)
Colette devait donc écrire le blé en herbe. Mais vous, vous n'avez pas besoin de le lire.
(une grande admiratrice de Colette)
The only books of Colette's I'd read previously were the early Claudine novels, which aren't bad at all (especially her sparkling debut, Claudine at School). But this supposed retelling of 'Daphnis and Chloe' is just terrible - a load of ludicrously overwrought Mills & Boonery about a couple of unremarkable teens on holiday, retailed in prose so purple as to be semi-deranged. I don't know if she was drunk when she wrote it, but I certainly wouldn't advise reading it sober.
Enjoyed the actual writing. Enjoyed most of it, in fact, in the way that I enjoy lovely writing about silly teenage angst. What bumped it down significantly in my view is the use of the trope that Girls Have Instinctive Wisdom.
Nope. No, girls are dumb too.
But the book was a nice and short read and made me want to go vacation on the Brittany coast.
Nope. No, girls are dumb too.
But the book was a nice and short read and made me want to go vacation on the Brittany coast.
What a phenomenal book about the pangs and angst of adolescents. Collete does a fantastic job of showcasing a teenage boy's mercurial sexual changes and the heartbreak of a young girl being transformed differently.
"The Ripening Seed" is a quick and descriptive read and I look forward to reading other works by Collete in the future.
"The Ripening Seed" is a quick and descriptive read and I look forward to reading other works by Collete in the future.
A short and poetic book that offers a good insight in the process of maturation, the passage to adolescence from both perspectives: feminine and masculine. To this you can add veiled allusions of feminism + a good description of the time's customs and ideas!
Dec 18, 2010
Lauren G
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
my-year-in-books-2010
this book about an adolescent romance broke my heart and blew me away. colette's discerning descriptions of the differences between the sexes still has poignant relevance today. a powerful read i will be revisiting year in and out.
I'm supposed to get and read this for a French group I'm in. Will I actually be able to read it? Who knows.
We switched to this one instead of "L'ingénue libertine," also by Colette, because it took too long to come in. I'm a little disappointed because that one sounded more scandalous. If I'm going to sit around and read a foofy french book aloud in a circle it might as well be scandalous as hell. It's already so awkward.
I also was excited to read "Comme un roman" from Joulia but I am trying to...more
We switched to this one instead of "L'ingénue libertine," also by Colette, because it took too long to come in. I'm a little disappointed because that one sounded more scandalous. If I'm going to sit around and read a foofy french book aloud in a circle it might as well be scandalous as hell. It's already so awkward.
I also was excited to read "Comme un roman" from Joulia but I am trying to...more
One of my fave books, some of the language is probably dated but the imagery and the feeling is very poetic. Colette's a master of emotions, awkwardness and visual descriptions of surroundings.
I read this book as a teenager in the 70's and found it compelling. I want to re-read it now to see how I find it. I remember it as a old fashion but quintessential coming-of-age novel.
I think on my death bed I may confuse some of my most heart warming memories in life with some Colette's descriptions in this novel.
This book is beautiful, a nice light read with a subtle depth to it that left me rather light-headed once I had finished.
J’aimais bien ce roman. Surtout, j’aimais les descriptions. Le livre est vraiment comme un long poème de prose. Colette a décrit la plage avec de la chaleur et de la beauté. C’est amusant à penser que le livre était écrit aux années vingtièmes, et les scènes sexuelles étaient très choquantes quand le roman était publié. Aujourd’hui ils ne sont pas explicites du tout ! J’étais souvent frustrée avec les personnages, pourtant. J’ai trouvé le personnage principal arrogant et pas aimable, et j’ai de...more
i think i would have loved this when i was a young teenager.
Dan recommendation
The story was pretty bland but otherwise this saved my miserable autumn afternoon. I was soaking wet when I dropped by in the library. I ended up picking this from the shelf and read it in one sitting. That little moment in the corner transported me into sweet French summer. Colette knows how to write in a simple yet beautiful way. If the story doesn't hit you, at least you're able to imagine the surroundings it is set in.
I think this short novel would be a great introduction to anyone who is curious about Colette. I'm just going to repeat myself in terms of what I love about her and her writing. Just go and discover Colette. You won't regret it.
wonderfully tender, coming of age story ... i first read it while in art school in my early 20's, and fell in love with the simple but intense feelings that each of us have experienced with growing up, and our first relationship.
How Colette captures the innocence and beauty of youth in this quintessential coming-of-age novel amazes me, especially considering her own history. The novel never becomes tasteless, and verges on wistful.
Luscious but unsubstantial. Good for the bedside table or to clean the palate after something heavy. Colette does have a way with words, though, that saucy lady!
personal synopsis notes: adolescent realizations of love and sex; submission of young boy to a dominant older woman and the love of that boy to a sexless girl.
L'adolescenza e la scoperta dell'amore di due parigini in Bretagna.
Bella l'immagine delle Ombre che si aggirano intorno a Phil e Vinca.
Bella l'immagine delle Ombre che si aggirano intorno a Phil e Vinca.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Colette was the pen name of the French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. She is best known, at least in the English-speaking world, for her novel Gigi, which provided the plot for a Lerner & Loewe musical film and stage musical.
More about Colette...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“Don't cudgel your brains over my little problems.”
—
1 person liked it
More quotes…
updated Jan 05, 2012 10:35am
updated Jan 05, 2012 11:03am