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Tita
Tita is seven, and she wonders what wrong with her. She has perfect parents. She puts on plays with her friends, spies on adults, challenges her teacher, and even manages to read forbidden books. She should be happy. But she dreams of a world without meals, and keeps worrying about her mother’s whereabouts, spoiling her own life for no reason at all. Tita wants to be good - but how?
As her small town vibrates to age-old Latin rituals on the verge of slipping away, Tita finds refuge - and a liberation- in books.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR TITA
Like opening the door to a secret garden, TITA transports the reader straight into life in a small town in the south of France during the 1950s, as seen through the eyes of a precocious seven-year-old heroine not soon to be forgotten. Houzelle's prose is unfailingly deft and refreshing. This book is a delight! - Anne Korkeakivi, author of An Unexpected Guest
Marie Houzelle is a master of the first-person narrative. In Tita she has created a strange, utterly original child whose deadpan certainties are a beguiling invitation to readers of all ages. Like Louise Fitzhugh's classic Harriet the Spy, the story is powered by a precocious and independent loner whose observations and reports are both charming and moving. Tita is a remarkable debut.- Katharine Weber, author of Triangle and True Confections
The best book I read this year. Witty, wry, and clever, Tita s young voice captivated me from the first page. Tita poignantly portrays small-town life as well as the end of the Catholic church s grip on France, revealing cracks in society that a decade later become the riots of 1968. A rare novel written in English that gives a real taste of French culture. I cannot recommend it enough! - Janet Skeslien Charles, author of Moonlight in Odessa
This book has a charm so unique and powerful, it pulls you in simply, effortlessly, like following a tree lined path on a summery day. The language is utterly original and quietly moving and very very funny and it makes you want to follow Tita onward past the last pages and into the years beyond. I loved it.-Nicola Keegan, author of Swimming
As her small town vibrates to age-old Latin rituals on the verge of slipping away, Tita finds refuge - and a liberation- in books.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR TITA
Like opening the door to a secret garden, TITA transports the reader straight into life in a small town in the south of France during the 1950s, as seen through the eyes of a precocious seven-year-old heroine not soon to be forgotten. Houzelle's prose is unfailingly deft and refreshing. This book is a delight! - Anne Korkeakivi, author of An Unexpected Guest
Marie Houzelle is a master of the first-person narrative. In Tita she has created a strange, utterly original child whose deadpan certainties are a beguiling invitation to readers of all ages. Like Louise Fitzhugh's classic Harriet the Spy, the story is powered by a precocious and independent loner whose observations and reports are both charming and moving. Tita is a remarkable debut.- Katharine Weber, author of Triangle and True Confections
The best book I read this year. Witty, wry, and clever, Tita s young voice captivated me from the first page. Tita poignantly portrays small-town life as well as the end of the Catholic church s grip on France, revealing cracks in society that a decade later become the riots of 1968. A rare novel written in English that gives a real taste of French culture. I cannot recommend it enough! - Janet Skeslien Charles, author of Moonlight in Odessa
This book has a charm so unique and powerful, it pulls you in simply, effortlessly, like following a tree lined path on a summery day. The language is utterly original and quietly moving and very very funny and it makes you want to follow Tita onward past the last pages and into the years beyond. I loved it.-Nicola Keegan, author of Swimming
312 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 12, 2014
Halfway through this beautiful book, Marie Houzelle's novel. Full disclosure: I read much of Tita in manuscript after Marie and I took a workshop together. I love Marie's series of short stories about Parisian life and mores, which you can find online at Narrative magazine. Marie's fiction acts as a sort of immersion portal into the French way of life, and I feel like I've had an education in how French culture works that I couldn't get in any other way. Tita is narrated by a precocious child living in the provinces, and through her eyes drops the reader into not only her world but the world of her family and the culture around her. Marie's style is one of a kind-- witty, thoughtful, a mix of humor and deep feeling. Her prose is beautiful yet accessible for any kind of reader, just eminently readable on every possible level. I will write more when I get to the end of this enchanting novel--
January 1, 2015
Novel set in southernmost FRANCE
Author Marie Houzelle grew up in the south of France, near the setting of Tita. Her work has appeared in Best Paris Stories, Narrative Magazine, Pharos, Orbis, Serre-Feuilles, Van Gogh’s Ear, and in the chapbook No Sex Last Noon. Her short story “Hortense on Tuesday Night” was chosen by Narrative Magazine as one of the five top stories of 2011.
Her novel Tita is set in Cugnac, a fictional small town in the extreme south of France, somewhere between Perpignan and Carcassonne. It tells the story of an extremely bright and independent seven-year-old girl in a traditional wine-producing town the south of France in the 1950s. Tita – whose is really called Euphémie – is a young girl living in the bosom of her family, with her younger sister. She is a ‘petite fille modèle” and this is her story, her experiences, her life. Father is struggling with his wine business, and Mother is disconnected woman who seems to struggle with her role as parent. And gradually it becomes apparent that Tita struggles with food, spurning milk products because they feel “intimately mammalian”. Food smells cause her to heave and steer herself to the furthest corner away from the gagging smells that assault her nostrils. So there is clearly some issue that is causing her distress and there are several examples of Mum not really being emotionally available for her daughter….
She is a bright, focussed little girl who is wonderfully endearing and Houzelle is terrific at capturing the ambience of rural France in the 1950s, and the nature of a young girl who is avidly engaging with the world around her. The book has a real old fashioned feel to it, it is beautifully written, it is funny, astute and warm, and the locale is very much an enveloping character in the book – you can almost smell the garrigue. A delightful read! Enjoy.
(Marie Houzelle talks to us about locale on our blog: http://www.tripfiction.com/tita-novel...)
Author Marie Houzelle grew up in the south of France, near the setting of Tita. Her work has appeared in Best Paris Stories, Narrative Magazine, Pharos, Orbis, Serre-Feuilles, Van Gogh’s Ear, and in the chapbook No Sex Last Noon. Her short story “Hortense on Tuesday Night” was chosen by Narrative Magazine as one of the five top stories of 2011.
Her novel Tita is set in Cugnac, a fictional small town in the extreme south of France, somewhere between Perpignan and Carcassonne. It tells the story of an extremely bright and independent seven-year-old girl in a traditional wine-producing town the south of France in the 1950s. Tita – whose is really called Euphémie – is a young girl living in the bosom of her family, with her younger sister. She is a ‘petite fille modèle” and this is her story, her experiences, her life. Father is struggling with his wine business, and Mother is disconnected woman who seems to struggle with her role as parent. And gradually it becomes apparent that Tita struggles with food, spurning milk products because they feel “intimately mammalian”. Food smells cause her to heave and steer herself to the furthest corner away from the gagging smells that assault her nostrils. So there is clearly some issue that is causing her distress and there are several examples of Mum not really being emotionally available for her daughter….
She is a bright, focussed little girl who is wonderfully endearing and Houzelle is terrific at capturing the ambience of rural France in the 1950s, and the nature of a young girl who is avidly engaging with the world around her. The book has a real old fashioned feel to it, it is beautifully written, it is funny, astute and warm, and the locale is very much an enveloping character in the book – you can almost smell the garrigue. A delightful read! Enjoy.
(Marie Houzelle talks to us about locale on our blog: http://www.tripfiction.com/tita-novel...)
December 3, 2014
Full review at http://thebookshelfgargoyle.wordpress... (Dec 8)
I received a digital copy of this title through Librarything Early Reviewers Program
Ten Second Synopsis:
Tita muses on life and relationships while wrestling with the vagaries of a convent education
Tita is a precocious seven-year-old who is greatly interested in the workings of the adult mind and the way the social world works. Fortunately for the reader, while Tita is precocious, she manages to be so without the usual irritiating attitude that goes along with it – in a sense, Tita knows how much she doesn’t know and is perfectly happy to annunciate the gaps in her knowledge in order to fill them.
I can best describe this book as charming. Tita is a sensitive and astute narrator and the reader is left to ponder her observations, particularly those relating to the relationship between her father and mother, from an adult perspective. I very much appreciated the introduction to French culture and language that I received in reading this book – I have always considered it a particular failing that of the many languages that I have studied, French was (and is) conspicuously absent. Houzelle has redressed this to some extent, as the French language and its influence are threaded through almost every scene in this book. There’s also a little glossary at the back, so non-French-speakers can better understand particular phrases or references.
This is a gentle read, where events move at the pace of a Sunday morning breakfast and I suggest that’s exactly the sort of feeling you should adopt when embarking on Tita’s journey of musing.
I received a digital copy of this title through Librarything Early Reviewers Program
Ten Second Synopsis:
Tita muses on life and relationships while wrestling with the vagaries of a convent education
Tita is a precocious seven-year-old who is greatly interested in the workings of the adult mind and the way the social world works. Fortunately for the reader, while Tita is precocious, she manages to be so without the usual irritiating attitude that goes along with it – in a sense, Tita knows how much she doesn’t know and is perfectly happy to annunciate the gaps in her knowledge in order to fill them.
I can best describe this book as charming. Tita is a sensitive and astute narrator and the reader is left to ponder her observations, particularly those relating to the relationship between her father and mother, from an adult perspective. I very much appreciated the introduction to French culture and language that I received in reading this book – I have always considered it a particular failing that of the many languages that I have studied, French was (and is) conspicuously absent. Houzelle has redressed this to some extent, as the French language and its influence are threaded through almost every scene in this book. There’s also a little glossary at the back, so non-French-speakers can better understand particular phrases or references.
This is a gentle read, where events move at the pace of a Sunday morning breakfast and I suggest that’s exactly the sort of feeling you should adopt when embarking on Tita’s journey of musing.
July 1, 2014
I was fortunate to receive this book as an ARC prior to its coming publication release in September 2014.
Tita is a seven year old girl living in southern France in the 1950s. She tells us in great detail about her family, her school, her likes and dislikes, and her thoughts about the future. In doing so she gives the reader a birds-eye view of the idiosyncrasies of the French school system as well as the perceived differences between those who live in Paris and the larger cities and the rest of the residents.
The character of Tita is likable and well-rounded and brought me back in time to being Tita’s age during that same time period. But Tita is also a very chatty girl who likes to ask insightful questions of her father and her teachers and this serves to grate on her mother’s nerves. Tita’s mother is one to put on airs and will never admit to being wrong. Tita’s younger sister Coralie is the epitome of younger sisters in that she is very demanding and likes to get her own way (takes after her mom). Tita is more like her father. Tita’s schoolmates are a likeable lot and they have some wonderful adventures.
While I enjoyed reading the story of Tita, her family,and friends I felt a bit deflated when I got to the end of the book. I wanted to learn what further adventures Tita would have when she returned to school the following semester; I wanted to learn more about the other family members as well.
Tita by Marie Houzelle is a well-written, immersive read that will certainly leave the reader wanting more.
Tita is a seven year old girl living in southern France in the 1950s. She tells us in great detail about her family, her school, her likes and dislikes, and her thoughts about the future. In doing so she gives the reader a birds-eye view of the idiosyncrasies of the French school system as well as the perceived differences between those who live in Paris and the larger cities and the rest of the residents.
The character of Tita is likable and well-rounded and brought me back in time to being Tita’s age during that same time period. But Tita is also a very chatty girl who likes to ask insightful questions of her father and her teachers and this serves to grate on her mother’s nerves. Tita’s mother is one to put on airs and will never admit to being wrong. Tita’s younger sister Coralie is the epitome of younger sisters in that she is very demanding and likes to get her own way (takes after her mom). Tita is more like her father. Tita’s schoolmates are a likeable lot and they have some wonderful adventures.
While I enjoyed reading the story of Tita, her family,and friends I felt a bit deflated when I got to the end of the book. I wanted to learn what further adventures Tita would have when she returned to school the following semester; I wanted to learn more about the other family members as well.
Tita by Marie Houzelle is a well-written, immersive read that will certainly leave the reader wanting more.
September 11, 2014
Beautifully written and evocative of an earlier time when the line between what could and could not be done in "good" society was all that mattered. Marie Houzelle is a terrifically talented writer, particularly since English is not her first, or even second, language. Her characters are pitch-perfect and fully engaging and bring the reader effortlessly into their world, a small town in the French south, circa 1953. I would have liked to have seen more of that world, in fact, the postwar transition to mechanization, the political edginess between right and left, or even a stronger sense of the South. A fuller backdrop would have been a solid complement to the interiority of Tita's point of view. Marie Houzelle has demonstrated narrative mastery by telling the story from this point of view, that of a seven-year-old girl, and keeping the reader hanging onto every line. (Personally I did not find the age of the narrator persuasive, so I set it aside mentally and considered her to be 10 or so. I understand from a published interview that Marie Houzelle was herself a precocious and highly advanced child for her age, but this is supposed to be a novel, not a memoir.) I highly recommend this book for young adults and adults alike.
September 23, 2020
Tita - a glimpse of life in rural France circa 1950s.
After spending three years living in Paris, I was thrilled to receive a copy of Tita through the Early Reviewer Program on Library Thing. I was looking forward to reading about a girl's life in a small town in Southern France and I enjoyed every page.
With its generous use of French words, explanations of customs and descriptions of daily rituals, I really felt as though I was living French life right alongside Tita. Her trials and joys are easy to relate to even though I'm just slightly (read: much) older than she and there are glimpses of adult life through her eyes as she deals with her family members and their friends.
This beautifully written story starts as though we simply join Tita one day and ends with a seemingly random scene in the car with her family. It truly is a glimpse of her life. I, too, as other reviewers have mentioned, longed for more of the story. I think that speaks to the writing as well as the way the author brings readers into the story making us engage with the characters.
Really enjoyed this book and look forward to more from Marie Houzelle!
After spending three years living in Paris, I was thrilled to receive a copy of Tita through the Early Reviewer Program on Library Thing. I was looking forward to reading about a girl's life in a small town in Southern France and I enjoyed every page.
With its generous use of French words, explanations of customs and descriptions of daily rituals, I really felt as though I was living French life right alongside Tita. Her trials and joys are easy to relate to even though I'm just slightly (read: much) older than she and there are glimpses of adult life through her eyes as she deals with her family members and their friends.
This beautifully written story starts as though we simply join Tita one day and ends with a seemingly random scene in the car with her family. It truly is a glimpse of her life. I, too, as other reviewers have mentioned, longed for more of the story. I think that speaks to the writing as well as the way the author brings readers into the story making us engage with the characters.
Really enjoyed this book and look forward to more from Marie Houzelle!
January 13, 2015
Marie Houzelle’s Tita is one of those delightful books that presents a child’s view of the world in a way that is both highly entertaining and deeply convincing. Tita is seven. She thinks deeply and is outspoken, which makes her a rather challenging pupil at the small Catholic school she attends. Tita’s favorite reading materials are dictionaries, grammars, and books on word origins. In fact, she knows more about these topics than her teacher does. When her teacher incorrectly tells Tita she’s misspelled a word, Tita refuses to accept the teacher’s authority: “if Pius XII himself told me I’d made a spelling mistake and I had the Robert, my favorite dictionary, on my side, the Robert would win. The Pope can decide that the Assumption of the Virgin Mary will be dogma, but he is not infallible as far as spelling is concerned.”
There isn’t much of a story arc to this novel, but it doesn’t really need one. Just Getting to listen to Tita as she watches the world around her is reward enough.
There isn’t much of a story arc to this novel, but it doesn’t really need one. Just Getting to listen to Tita as she watches the world around her is reward enough.
August 5, 2014
I can't think of another book this compares to, which is just one of its charms. It provides a delicious refraction of a French childhood through the lens of an acquired but accomplished English. The result is a unique perspective that combines the rigor of French sensibility with the elasticity and generosity of English. Tita's voice is precocious yet with everything to learn, and the story follows her through several months of trials and triumphs while she comes with increasing skill to maneuver the fast-changing provincial world around her. The writer's touch is deft and light, yet incisive. We enter into Tita's world as into a painting, where color and texture effectively evoke lost time. For English speakers, this is a rare and elegant portal into a particular French world.
August 8, 2014
Tita is one of those extremely rare child narrators who, despite all her oddities and obsessions, has absolute authority. So convincing is her voice that I feel that I've lived in her small French town, met her friends, sat and had tea with her (somewhat difficult) mother, and suffered beside her under the pinched gaze of her teacher. I'm rooting for her too, to find her way, to break free, to go out and live the life her talents would seem to destine her for.
Marie Houzelle has done something really special in this novel. I think she is an exceptional talent that people who love books will be very glad to discover.
Bravo!
Marie Houzelle has done something really special in this novel. I think she is an exceptional talent that people who love books will be very glad to discover.
Bravo!
March 5, 2015
'Tita,' by Marie Houzelle, was a very enjoyable book. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the main character, Tita, who is wise beyond her young age. With Tita as the narrator of the book, we follow a period in her life growing up during the 1950's and learn her perspective of her parents, the French country-side, and growing up.
Part a coming-of-age tale, and part a portrait of rural French life during the 1950's, 'Tita' is charming and engrossing. I enjoyed Tita's take on her life, and her willingness to learn and grow. My only issue was I wished it was longer!
I am reviewing this book for the Early Reviewers program.
Part a coming-of-age tale, and part a portrait of rural French life during the 1950's, 'Tita' is charming and engrossing. I enjoyed Tita's take on her life, and her willingness to learn and grow. My only issue was I wished it was longer!
I am reviewing this book for the Early Reviewers program.
September 3, 2014
This is a true delight: a French writer who has written in English (and thankfully not Latin!). Tita is a novel about a seven year old girl in a small Catholic town in the south of France set during the 1950s. It opens up to us a very different take on what France is like. The language is delightful, right down to Tita's glossary from her point of view! Tita is a courageous heroine who charms us in surprising ways.
February 28, 2015
So, what do we have?
We have a chic French roman about a precocious little girl named Tita/Lakme/Euphémie and a few months spent with her in a small village near the Pyrenées. It could be called a fable, if there was a moral at the end. It could be called a coming-of-age story, if there was any character development on the part of Tita. It could be called a story, if it was more than just a series of vignettes about growing up in the south of France in the 1950s.
The good: I may not be Charlie, but I'm pretty sure I am Tita. Or I was. Not that I was reading Proust at seven (I barely got through one book of Proust at thirty-three), but I was about as proto-nihilism as she was when I was about seven too:
I'm not sure I have a heart. There is no "deep down" in me. I wonder if I even exist.
Tita just wants to read and learn and be left alone by meddling teachers. I was that kid. I love Tita. I loved every little thing about her. I love how she looks up phrases in the grammar dictionary to correct her teacher (which is a good review of French grammar for me). I love how she sneaks grown-up books away and reads them secretly (as I did with Stephen King and John Irving novels). I love how she writes plays and stories on the typewriter in her father's office (like I did, although it was my mother's typewriter and I wrote in her closet). I love her little bons mots sprinkled throughout the text. In short, j'adore Tita. Her little adventures and misadventures and thoughts and schemes. Everything Tita. Je t'adore.
The bad: But nothing happens. Nothing happens and then the book ends. The last forty pages are a glossary of French terms and an interview with Houzelle. I was left with a "Well, that's sudden" feeling that still hasn't gone away by the next morning. Okay, so we build up this character, her back story, some proto-conflict (yes, I'm using proto again. It's the prefix I'm stuck on today) regarding her parents' financial situation and the fallout from the school choice, and then final stop end, here's some French (which after many years of French immersion, I didn't need anyway). I could compile a list as long as the book with unresolved issues:
Why have the father be divorced once and with children from the first marriage when they play so little a role in the story, especially the brothers Etienne and Maxime?
Tita has three names, her birth name Lakme, her baptismal name Euphémie, and what everyone calls her, Tita. Was that really necessary?
The timeline with Tita's birth and her father's divorce and her parents' marriage is never one hundred percent resolved. Or that issue with what Tita's last name was when she was born.
Her father's business is failing. Maybe that should be addressed?
There seems to be a class difference between Tita's mother and Tita's father. Not a huge one, but it's never really developed.
I'll stop, but I could keep going. Why put such a clever character into a muddle of a story? Tita, I love you, jump free of my kobo and put yourself in a story where you will thrive.
Also, every time I read books about French parenting, I'm always struck by how utilitarian and cold it is. It seems like there are rules for everything and the parents seem so haughty. Sometimes I think all Tita needed was a hug. I'd give her a hug if I were her mother.
I was going to comment on the translation, and even wrote little notes about the translation in my kobo, only to get to the end and realize that the book was written in English originally. So oops on my part. It's a bit random whether French used in the text is immediately translated or not. Sometimes it is, other times non-French speakers have to look it up in the Appendix. I like consistency. I would have rather an all-or-nothing in terms of translated words in the text.
If it weren't for Tita, I think I would have despised this book. But my love for Tita knows no bounds. Oh Tita. I could feel the Mediterranean sun on my cheeks as I read about you. It warmed me to the very core.
Tita by Marie Houzelle went on sale September 15, 2014.
I received a copy free in a librarything giveway in exchange for an honest review.
October 30, 2014
***I received a copy of Tita as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All of the opinions expressed her are my own.***
Tita is about a little girl who lives in Southern France. She is an extremely intelligent child, enjoys reading and books, but hates eating and most foods.
Tita is an interesting character and has some good character development. I enjoyed the relationship between her and her father, as he encourages her education and is less strict with her than her mother is.
This book was fairly slow for me, and I didn't particularly enjoy the storyline or plot. I felt like it was just a bunch of moments from this girls life thrown into a book. It was written well, however, just not something I enjoyed.
Tita is about a little girl who lives in Southern France. She is an extremely intelligent child, enjoys reading and books, but hates eating and most foods.
Tita is an interesting character and has some good character development. I enjoyed the relationship between her and her father, as he encourages her education and is less strict with her than her mother is.
This book was fairly slow for me, and I didn't particularly enjoy the storyline or plot. I felt like it was just a bunch of moments from this girls life thrown into a book. It was written well, however, just not something I enjoyed.
February 19, 2015
Despite the fact that this book has a lot of things going for it (France, 1950's, child narrator, precociousness, a real sense of time and place) that I normally love, I'm giving up on Tita. Maybe it's me, maybe it would be better if it was a physical copy instead of an ebook, I don't know. I'm bummed that I didn't like this, and bummed that I couldn't get past the halfway point after literally months of trying.
I seem to be the only one that was in LOOOOVE with this book, though, so take this review with a grain of salt.
I seem to be the only one that was in LOOOOVE with this book, though, so take this review with a grain of salt.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews