My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
That Mad Ache
"That Mad Ache, set in high-society Paris in the mid-1960s, recounts the emotional battle unleashed in the heart of Lucile, a sensitive but rootless young woman who finds herself caught between her carefree, tranquil love for fifty-year-old Charles, a gentle, reflective, and well-off businessman, and her sudden wild passion for thirty-year-old Antoine, a hot-blooded, ...more
Paperback, 311 pages
Published
May 12th 2009
by Basic Books
(first published 1965)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
279)
Lucile, a beautiful carefree woman of about thirty, lives happily and contentedly with a rich older man, Charles, as his mistress of two years. She's had a few affairs on the side, but she keeps the promise she made to herself and to him: she would never flaunt it in his face. Charles can't help but accept her for who she is: he's hopelessly in love with her and his only desire is that she reciprocated.
At one of the many dinners at a friend's house, Lucile meets Antoine, a poor young...more
At one of the many dinners at a friend's house, Lucile meets Antoine, a poor young...more
view all 11 comments
A beautiful novel set in 1960's Paris. Lucile is a carefree young woman that wants nothing more than to idle her days away reading, napping, walking around the city, and waiting for Charles, her companion of two years, to come home. At a party she meets Antoine, a handsome young editor who has been snatched up by Diane, a rich older socialite. Lucile and Antoine quickly tumble into a romance that neither of them expected nor are able to control. Lucile must decide weather to stay with Charles, h...more
this ~210 page novel is accompanied by a 100 page essay on translation. okay hofstadter, we know you are adorable.
okay so i realize i still haven't gotten anything down on this & so for now am just going to paste in an email i sent john after, pretty choppy & having followed a more in-depth conversation but hey, it's a start; also want to note (& so remember) john's snarky comment, "it's like it was written by someone who's never heard of derrida!"
...OH SNAP
...more
okay so i realize i still haven't gotten anything down on this & so for now am just going to paste in an email i sent john after, pretty choppy & having followed a more in-depth conversation but hey, it's a start; also want to note (& so remember) john's snarky comment, "it's like it was written by someone who's never heard of derrida!"
...OH SNAP
...more
Lucile is a young 30 year old living with a wealthy older man for two years now. Although she isn't head over heels passionately in love with him she loves him dearly and imagines that's how it will be forever.
Antoine ruins that picture. He and Lucile hit it off at a dinner party in Paris and immeadiatly have an intense passion for each other.
In my opinon Lucile is spoiled. She doesn't work, only cares for what is happening at the exact given time and enjoys lounging and living off...more
Antoine ruins that picture. He and Lucile hit it off at a dinner party in Paris and immeadiatly have an intense passion for each other.
In my opinon Lucile is spoiled. She doesn't work, only cares for what is happening at the exact given time and enjoys lounging and living off...more
Françoise Sagan is the French Jane Austen of the 1960s. Interested now?
Sure, there are a million books about love affairs and dull or bored people with too much money or not enough money at parties, but Sagan always lends a fresh tone, new observations, and it is apparent that she deeply loves even her smallest characters.
Sagan's usual, knowingly irresponsible, girlish protagonist is fun to read here as long as you aren't annoyed by the type, and the ending rings true w...more
Sure, there are a million books about love affairs and dull or bored people with too much money or not enough money at parties, but Sagan always lends a fresh tone, new observations, and it is apparent that she deeply loves even her smallest characters.
Sagan's usual, knowingly irresponsible, girlish protagonist is fun to read here as long as you aren't annoyed by the type, and the ending rings true w...more
I thought this was an OK book. I didn't get fully into it until about 1/4 to 1/2 the way in. And once I did it didn't seem to go anywhere. It's not a bad story though. It seemed to be a pretty accurate portrayal of 2 young couples who find themselves infatuated with the wrong significant others. Which made it out to be a somewhat depressing story. I was up in the air about the book until I read the end and felt it redeemed it worth a little.
I would only recommend this book to someone if they ...more
I would only recommend this book to someone if they ...more
I hadn't read Francoise Sagan since I was in high school, when I had to do a translation of "Bonjour Tristesse" for class. What fun it was to read "That Mad Ache", which seems like a frivolous tale of the overprivleged in 1950's Paris, but is actually an insightful character study. The main character, Lucile, is so immature frustrating as a person, but compelling enough to hold your attention. The other side of the book is "Translator, Trader" which is an interest...more
Francoise Sagan writes an extrodinary character analysis of a sensitive, bright, irresponsible young woman, 30 year old Lucile. Mistress to and well kept by Charles, her 50 year old lover who needs to be needed, Lucile falls in love with Antoine, her age, and has a passionate affair with him. It is the story of a rootless woman, who desires no responsibilities and who is forced to examine two very different kinds of love and make a choice. Set in Paris in the 1960's, I simply did not care abo...more
I'd acquired this book simply because I wanted to read Douglas Hofstadter's 100-page essay, "Translator, Trader: An Essay on the Pleasantly Pervasive Paradoxes of Translation." Hofstadter here is not as interesting or thoughtful as Edith Grossman - in fact I thought he came across as a well-intentioned dilettante (I don't read French but if the quality of his translation is comparable to his indexes, then That Mad Ache mightn't be not so good). I enjoyed his extended metaphor of transl...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Read this book in one day at the beach. Set in Paris high-society of the 1960's. Lucile must decide between the mad passionate love of Antoine and the secure luxury of the life provided by older Charles. Her path to a decision and ultimate choice have made this a classic in France and would provide interesting fodder for a book club discussion looking for a lighter book. The translator's essay at the back adds a layer of interest about the art of translation.
It's been a long while since I read Bonjour Tristesse. Nothing in the novel really places it in the time frame of the 1960's rather it reminded me of Colette... especially the 'Cheri' stories which I just read (as well as seeing the movie.) This has a languid and romantic appeal. I haven't yet finished the accompanying essay on translations, but it is very interesting.
This is a story of a young French woman who lives with her 50 year old benefactor. She drifts through a high society, pressure- less life until she meets a young man that is also a rather kept man in the same social circle. This book is quite sensuous and follows their affair and the decisions that she makes.
Currently reading the German translation, but I have the French one as well & hope I'll read that one as well!
I enjoyed this bit of light reading a lot, the language and descriptions are rather beautiful and of course I loved having the film version with Catherine Deneuve in my mind while I was reading it.
I enjoyed this bit of light reading a lot, the language and descriptions are rather beautiful and of course I loved having the film version with Catherine Deneuve in my mind while I was reading it.
A sweet and intense french love story, with a wonderful style moving easily in and out of the characters' minds and relationships. Lovingly translated with a long translator's note that captures a small sense of Hofstadter's "Le Ton Beau de Marot".
This book takes a bit to get going, but the conclusion is a compelling read. Loved the characters, Francoise Sagan's writing and plan to read the rest of her books.
It's so refreshing to read a book with a protagonist full of flaws, kind and loving, yet weak and not noble. Lucile has little self determination, just a survival instinct and yet still, you like her and hope things turn out alright for her.
It's so refreshing to read a book with a protagonist full of flaws, kind and loving, yet weak and not noble. Lucile has little self determination, just a survival instinct and yet still, you like her and hope things turn out alright for her.
It's become increasingly more important to me in a book the quality to present a world that is otherwise inaccessible, whether because its settings are in the distant past or because it describes a social world or landscape distinct and faraway. This, and more, was what I found here, a lovely introduction into Parisian high society of the 1960s, which is the backdrop to a young woman's journey through love and passion. I also thought the characters were wonderfully and richly developed. As fo...more
The language is so rich, metaphorical and descriptive, I'm sorry to see this beautiful albeit tragically romantic story come to an end.
I bought this book as a gift but couldn't keep my hands off it, particularly after reading the opening paragraph (which is too long to excerpt here, but imagine "a spring wind, the very first one," fresh from the thickets, forests, and streets of Paris, sweeping briskly in through an open window). Ah! Set in high-society Paris during the 1960s, this follows impulsive young Lucille as she tries to navigate her future while caught between two contrasting lovers. Printed upside-down in t...more
Even minor Sagan is better than most writers major work.
The essay on translation is brilliant.
Πραγματικά πολύ καλύτερο απ αυτό που περίμενα. Δεν είναι ένα ακόμα καταθλιπτικό δήθεν κουλτουριάρικο διήγημα για έναν αποτυχημένο έρωτα. Καλογραμμένο και με συνοχή στην παρουσίαση των σχέσεων και των συναισθημάτων των ηρώων.
High-society Paris in the 1960s. Sagan’s talent is her ability to make vacuous and self-absorbed characters colorful and interesting.
Again, I am a huge Sagan fan and I wrote a review of this book in my blog: www.andreafsper.wordpress.com. Check it out!
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers Also Enjoyed
Born Françoise Quoirez, she grew up in a French, Catholic, bourgeois family. She was an independent thinker and avid reader as a young girl, and upon failing her examinations for continuing at the Sorbonne, she became a writer.
She went to her family's home in the south of France and wrote her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse, at age 18. She submitted it to Editions Juillard in January ...more
More about Françoise Sagan...
She went to her family's home in the south of France and wrote her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse, at age 18. She submitted it to Editions Juillard in January ...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
