La Femme Fardée

La Famme Fardée is about some people going on a cruise. Most of them are rich, decadent, selfish and blasé and therefore have a cruel touch. Others are out to get their money...

I'm not going to write more about what the book is about — since I've read it, I already know and therefor it's not interesting for me. I'm not thrilled about it, as I have been by the other books I have read of Françoise Sagan; Bonjour Tristesse and La Laisse. I think her style gets a bit much in such a long novel as La Femme Fardée. What I like is her way to rearrange gender roles at the same time that she is very old-fashioned in their attributes. I like her way of getting straight into the characters, at some points uncomfortably close to their weaknesses — which are, of course, our weaknesses. Sagan has a way of describing our pettiness and decadence, and at the same time our naïvité, our godlikeness and friendliness. Her strength is in her portraits if you ask me.

Although there is some prejudices in this book, such as the way she describes gay men as "womanish"... There are not many characters that are truly good, even though I would desribe some of them as evil. Sagan's world is simple, though intriguing.