About book The Foundling Boy (The Foundling Boy #1) (2013)
A C20 take on "Tom Jones", this novel's original French title of "Le jeune homme vert", denoting the hero Jean's initial natural naivety, has been lost in translation to become, "The Foundling Boy".Jean is discovered in a Moses basket on the doorstep of a simple, kindly childless couple. The wife Jeanne claims him as her own to bring up, taking a stand against the attempted interference of Mme de Courseau, the imperious lady of the local manor. Jean turns out to be handsome, robust, charming and irresistible to women, yet somehow manages to remain fundamentally decent and unassuming. Despite doing quite well in his school leaving exam, Jean begins to drift through life with no clear aim. He takes the opportunity to travel, mainly to England where he accepts the hospitality of some wealthy or dubious (sometimes both) characters. When he needs money to live, or wishes to stay near his parents in rural Normandy, Jean works at a variety of dead-end jobs of the kitchen porter or nightclub bouncer variety. In the process, he learns a good deal about life, human nature and love. The urge also grows to discover his real parentage: he is not too bothered about the identity of the father which may never be known, but is keen to know who is mother is. The insights jotted in his private journal reveal a certain cynicism. For instance, he notes that keeping friends separate from one another is often a good idea.The story rambles along with so many digressions that I began to suspect the author of padding out a thin plot. Some of the early chapters are hardly about Jean at all, but rather the local landowner Antoine Courseau. Bored with his cold wife and the duties of his inheritance, Antoine keeps taking off, often at high speed, in his latest Bugatti, drawn inexorably to the warmth and light of the Mediterranean coast and to his waitress lover Marie-Dévote. Perhaps a little shell-shocked by World War 1, Antoine seeks out old comrades-in-arms with whom he has more in common than his family.The appeal of this book lies its powerful evocation of time and place, in particular France on the brink of World War 2, sleepwalking into disaster with the complacent assumption that, if it comes to it, the Germans will be beaten back in a few weeks. The coverage of events in England is less convincing, as are some of the more exotic characters leading an often extravagant lifestyle such as the mysterious Prince with his black chauffeur Salah, or the conman Palfy.The author's tendency to reveal the future fate of a particular character, or to note whether or not he/she will reappear in the story later is an irritating distraction - like having an over-enthusiastic person leaning over your shoulder to tell you what's going to happen next - and this unnecessary device tends to break any sense of immersion in the story.Yet, despite this and the occasional "longueurs", I enjoyed many of the vivid descriptions, quirky characters, wry humour and amusing incidents enough to want to read the sequel, "The Foundling's War" - "Les Vingt Ans du jeune homme vert" in French. Written very much from a man's viewpoint e.g. of women, I suspect this is likely to appeal more to male readers.
Things are torrid at work at the moment as we hurtle towards the end of the school year, so much as I love a book that challenges me in style and form and content, I just wanted a story to read in bed as I try to wind down at the end of a long day. The Foundling Boy has been just perfect for that. First published in 1975 but only recently translated into English, it is a beautiful coming-of-age story set between the wars in France, thought-provoking enough to be interesting, but easy reading.As it happened, there was a rare instance of a newborn being abandoned by its mother here in Australia in the same week that I read this book. I can’t comment on it because matters are in the hands of the courts and social services, and quite rightly, the privacy of this tragic act is being respected. There is an assumption that with support and care the mother and child will be reunited, and if not there will be an adoption process to find a loving family for the child. But the fact that the courts and social services are involved contrasts markedly with the situation in the Michel Déon’s novel. A baby is found mewling on the doorstep of childless Albert and Jeanne Arnaud – and they simply keep the foundling, with the blessing of the local abbé Le Couec and their wealthy employers the de Courseau family. There is some rivalry for possession of the child from Madame Marie-Thérèse du Courseau, but there is no question of any official intervention at all.So Jean grows up in Grangeville, Normandy, enjoying the love and devotion of his adoptive parents and a close relationship with the family at La Sauveté where there are three children, Antoinette, Geneviève and Michel. Playing with the reader’s suspicions about the paternity of the child, because Monsieur Antoine de Courseau is an incorrigible womaniser and it’s possible that he might be the father of Jean, Michel Déon portrays Michel as a hostile rival to Jean, and Jean’s would-be amorous relationship with the girls before he discovers his uncertain identity seems more than problematic. The France that Déon depicts is relaxed about sexual liaisons but presumably not about incest, and the small town setting where this might unintentionally occur brings the matter into focus. The abbé knows who Jean’s parent is, but he’s bound by the confessional, and the secret can’t be revealed by him.To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2014/12/07/th...
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3.5I enjoyed the way the story began. Jeanne is dreaming … which mirrors the reality of a baby wailing on the doorstep. The first person she goes to advice is employer Antoine du Corseau. Antoine and his life features heavily in the first half of the book. He drives for three days to visit the intriguing and absent daughter Genevieve. With the story set not long after the ending of WW1, he shares war stories with the people he meets on his stops. He’s bored being back on his estate after the war and I imagine quite a few had lost their purpose in life …We don’t find out much about Jean (apart from Antoine’s son, Michel, being very jealous of Jean) at first. When he’s older, his first trip is from Dieppe to Newhaven to visit Genevieve. The mysterious Genevieve is absent and he spends time sightseeing with the chauffeur. When he travels again, he meets some interesting characters in Italy and England! Palfrey leads an interesting life and certainly added colour to the story.During both Antoine’s and Jean’s travels we’re exposed to this time period in history – the art, politics, cars and sports. I found this interesting.There are loose ends that need tying up (we do find out one important thing – I hadn’t guessed exactly although the clues are there) and we find out that there is another book.The Foundling Boy is written with a dry sense of humour (which I enjoyed). It was easy to get a feel about life on a French estate and the places travelled to. Villefranche sur Mer is one of my favourite places – this had a brief mention in the story. I enjoyed seeing the changes of the small French villages on the Côte d’Azur in 1919 to how they are now. Romance comes not only from Antoine but also Jean’s teen feelings. It would be good to see how Jean develops into a man and the path his life will take in the following story.
—Shaz Goodwin
In 1919, Jeanne and Albert live in Normandy (France) and work as a house servant and gardener for a wealthy family when they find a newborn baby boy left at their front door. They name him Jean. The book follows Jean's life from birth until age 20 or 21. It's very episodic in a Dickensian way with truly entertaining first person diversions from the narrator who omniscient and unknown, not a character from the book. While the episodes are interesting, the book makes its greatest impression from the breadth of interesting characters from rogues to prostitutes to a fabulously wealthy prince and a priest with some dark and mysterious connections. A fun read.
—Jim
In 1919 a baby is found on the doorstep of a childless couple, who decide to keep him, and name him Jean. The wealthy family for whom the parents work take an interest in his education. The story is set in rural France and, as he grows up, Jean and his bicycle travel to England and then over Europe and down to Italy. He meets all sorts of unusual characters on his travels and has many adventures. The book ends in 1939 when Jean and a friend are just beginning their military training, and I was somewhat disappointed to discover that there is a further volume, as there are a number of loose ends which need tying up! This is an interesting book about interesting times in Europe, although the author's occasional digressions, when he tells you whether new characters are going to reappear and, sometimes, their future life stories, is rather distracting.
—Alison Evans
