Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106899 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 261 pages

Customer Reviews

Gallic charm, Gallic pessimism
First, a word about translation. There are two versions of "L'Ecume des Jours" in English, this one and "Froth on the Daydream" translated in the 1960s by Stanley Chapman. If you manage to find the old verson on Abe books I thoroughly recommend it. This version is literally correct but misses completely the zest of Vian's style and his dazzling wordplay. (It explains the puns and inventions in extensive notes, but that's not the same thing. Who likes to have a joke explained to them?) Because of this kind of density, "Froth/Foam" is a book that repays careful reading.

Vian was writing just after the war, a time when there was an explosion of liberation-fever; wild jazz clubs in St-Germain-des-Pres, which had during the Occupation grown as a symbol of rebellion against fascism but now came into the open. Sexual freedom, philosophical doubts exemplified by Jeanb-Paul Sartre, whose work had also been a focus of resistance when circulated in illegal copies during the war. For a few brief years Sartre has the kind of rock-star reception which Vian describes in this book. The chaotic lecture is absurd and OTT, but also accurate to the spirit of the time. Equally accurate is the pre-occupation with food - Parisians continued to starve long after the war, so it was a constant source of talk and a general obsession.

The book centres on two couples, Chick and Lisa, and Colin and Chloe. Colin is rich at the start of the book, and the first third inhabits an almost Wodehousian world with a lavish Butler/Cook to tend to his and Chloe's every need. The two are desperately in love, and the world seems to bend before them to satisfy lovers' whims. But Chloe is sick. She has a lily growing in her heart (Vian had a weak heart himself and lived in constant expectation of an early death). All Colin's money goes on trying to save her; the only thing which will keep the lily from growing and killing Chloe is the overwhelming presence of other flowers in her room. So he loses all his money, their beautiful flat literally shrinks and the windows get smaller and smaller, blotting out the light. Forced to work for the first time in his life, Colin gets a job giving his body-warmth to grow gun-barrels in hothouse conditions.

In parallel, Chick spends all the money Colin has given him on collecting Jean-Sol Partre's extensive memorabilia. Soon they too are destitute.

Put like this, it seems a pretty bleak book, but Vian's great strength is the way he uses his wordplay and his surrealist sense of humour to keep sentimentality at bay. He can turn the mood of a story on a sixpence.

So "Foam/Froth" is funny, sometimes hilarious. It is also a very romantic love story, and the relationship between Colin and Chloe is credible, sexy and tender. In some ways it reminds you of Evelyn Waugh's bright young things of the 1920s, but without Waugh's hang-ups, both sexier and tougher.

Vian was only 26 when he wrote this book, and he was writing to his own generation. Enjoy it while you can, he says, because out there the world of work will get you and kill you. No amount of money can protect you from heartache.

I chose this book for my Book Club and I'm pleased to say it got a unanimous thumbs-up, and I know several people have re-read it already.

Plant a tree, raise a child, read this book
A symphony of love, dream, music, imagination.
I haven't seen life the same way since I read this book. It makes new eyes grow, take my word for it. Or better, don't. Read it.
You don't know what magic is until you finish this masterpiece.

A breath of fresh air...
This is one of my all time favorite book. I first read it in my own language and was afraid to read it in English should find it disapointing. But this book is just fantastic in any language. I love all the carachters, the story but most of all Vian's fascinating surreal world. I find this book very easy to read despite the unusual scenes. This books feels to me like a long big breath of fresh air, flowing and will blow you away...