A review by eakuntze
Jules et Jim by Henri-Pierre Roché

3.0

At first this book is charming. The author has a unique ability to describe moments of tender intimacy--particularly the friendship between Jules and Jim and some of the descriptions of their life in Paris and relationships with various women. But after 100 pages it was like listening to a friend who is in new relationship and can't talk about anything else--boring and self-indulgent. I think we have all known a person like the character of Kate. While the main characters seem to be enthralled by her unpredictable actions and overflowing sexuality; from outside the love triangle she seems to be cycling endlessly through manic/depressive outbursts. I did not read her as a liberated woman straining against convention but rather as someone who didn't see beyond her own petty manipulations. It really isn't even about love or romance but codependency and self-indulgent bourgeois tedium. Perhaps that was the author's intention although since it ends with a hint that the he may have been planning to write Kate's diaries I doubt it. What I really would have wanted was a book from Lucie's point of view; she seemed like a much more complex and fascinating person.