Blue Island (French: L'Île bleue) is a 1988 novel by the French writer Jean Raspail. The narrative is set in Touraine during World War II, where a charismatic boy gathers his friends on an island, where they play war games which become increasingly more interlinked with reality. The book was published in English in 1991, translated by Jeremy Leggatt.[1]
.jpg) First edition | |
| Author | Jean Raspail |
|---|---|
| Original title | L'Île bleue |
| Translator | Jeremy Leggatt |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Publisher | Éditions Robert Laffont |
Publication date | 1988 |
Published in English | 1991 |
| Pages | 244 |
| ISBN | 9782221056592 |
The book was adapted into the 2001 television film L'Île bleue. The film was directed by Nadine Trintignant.[2]
Reception edit
Kirkus Reviews described the books as "a touching story about coming of age under less-than-ideal circumstances. ... [T]he dovetailing here of adolescent bravado and cynicism with historical drama makes for a mostly satisfying mixture."[3] Publishers Weekly called it a "spellbinding fable", and wrote that "this is no myth-like Lord of the Flies. Contemporary history is an ever-present element, as German troops advance, France falls apart, the government evacuates Paris and refugees flood the countryside. ... Raspail (Who Will Remember the People) narrowly avoids sentimentality in this powerful depiction of an end to innocence and illusion."[4]
References edit
- ^ Blue Island : a novel. OCLC 22507271. Retrieved 2015-04-25 – via WorldCat.
- ^ "L'Ile bleue". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 2015-04-25.
- ^ Staff writer (1991-03-15). "Blue Island by Jean Raspail". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 2015-04-25.
- ^ Staff writer (1991). "Fiction Book Review: Blue Island by Jean Raspail". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2015-04-25.
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 | This article about a World War II novel first published in the 1980s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |