Fanfan

Alexandre Jardin plays and experiment with conventions about love and youth. His hero, also named Alexandre, has a very unconventional idea how to best love ONE woman for a life time. His pursuit of the love of his life, Fanfan, is enjoyable and funny. When other young heros cannot wait to have sex, Alexandre does the unexpected. It is rare that one comes across a book which deals with the "serious" subject of love in such a new way. Conventions are not mottos; they are hindrances! Jardin is original and writes entertainingly. In fact, this is sheer brilliance.

When you fall in love there is passion. If you do not want to let this passion slip into the every day boring life, you hold back so that passion forever remains. Is that possible you ask? Well, the character in this book seems to think so. He is madly in love and the girl loves him, but he keeps pulling back inventing stories and telling lies, just so that she keeps wanting him more and more. But how far can he go? Another view on commitment phobics.

If you've watched the movie you'll appreciate this novel's more depth and insights about Alexandre's own passion. The story is very original, while the feeling is still so REAL. I believe when Alexandre Jardin was writing this novel, he must have had Sophie Marceau in his mind already.

Fanfan est peut etre le plus fantastique des livres d' Alexandre Jardin...C'est l'histoire d'Alexandre et de sa peur de reellement aimer une femme. Sa conception est la suivante: a partir du moment ou j'aime une femme, si je l'embrasse, toute la magie de notre relation s'evapore. Donc Alexandre, profondement attire par Fanfan, s'est promis de ne jamais l'embrasser et de la seduire toute sa vie. Fanfan, elle aussi aime Alexandre, mais elle ne voit pas leur relation de la meme maniere...

Alexandre Jardin is one of my favorite authors. He is in his late twenties and writes about topics that interest young people : love, relationships with the other gender, problems in love etc. Fanfan is a young woman whom the author is in love with. But he doesn't want to "consume" this love beyond passion. So he tries everything to keep his love in this passion stage of the beginning of each relationship to avoid routine to get installed. Of course he encounters problems because she loves all the special attention she gets in the beginning, but starts to want more which he is not ready to give. It is beautifully written and could absolutely be true in our days. I think everyone should read this book (men or women) because it gives a lot of insight in how men think or should think. And it is also a great love story with all its good and bad times.