Customer Reviews

The Blue Bicycle

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a great description of France during the second world war. But it isn't only fiction. Indeed, except what happens to the main characters, everything is true. The resistance, the location, many people did exist... It is a very good lesson of history. But not only, there is also a wonderful love story, a few erotic scenes, a lot of humor... I really hope many people would read this book (and the 6 following ones not yet existing in English version). It lets you understand better what to be French is.

This book might be a lot like gone with the wind, however it is a great book about the French resistance and the horrible times the people in local wine regions in France had during wwII. The book is easy to read and to follow. The story is ficton but the locations are real. ONE QUESTION......were is the translation of the other books by Regina De'Forges?

This Book did start out like Gone with the Wind. Rumor was that there was a lawsuit concerning this book being a plagarism OF Gone With the Wind. Where are the other 2 books that were to follow? I enjoyed the content of the War from another perspective than just Jewish. This book showed not only the sufferings of the Jews but the sufferings of France as well. Very enjoyable.

It's true this book starts like Gone With The Wind but soon it becomes much more interesting and I find Lea much less annoying than Scarlett !

This book is a must read for any GWTW fan. Keep score on how many similarities you can find with Margaret Mitchell's classic novel. Plagarism? All I can say is Fiddle-dee-dee!

If you loved Gone With the Wind, you'll enjoy the Blue Bicycle. If you are interested in France during WWII this book will also be of interest to you. Lea is a beautiful, young aristocract coming of age at the onset of German occupied France. She is the 20th century French version of Scarlet working for the French Resistance' in Vichy France. Follow her as she rides her blue bicycle carrying messages to fellow members of the organization that fought to free France from the clutches of Hitler and the traitor Marshall Petain. As passionate as Scarlett, Lea takes her determination, beauty, and boldness into exciting escapes of valor and romps.

Growing up, I heard about the French resistance, but my impressions were largely the result of the public, post-war characterizations in films and books about the 'noble and brave' French partisan. Following the purchase of the 'Sorrow and the Pity' I had a lot of questions. I ran across 'The Devil Still Laughs', the third novel in this trilogy, and found it engrossing enough to purchase the first two and then reread the third a second time to better appreciate the conclusion of the story. If you have not read the three novels in the order in which they were written, the fabic of the story as the charicters weave in and out of Lea's life during the occupation cannot be fully appreciated. It is a French 'Gone with the Wind', and the plot line and character similarities are blatant--but none-the-less very enjoyable. At times sensual and humorous--the story is very dark, and the author is extremely successful at drawing the reader into the story. This is only a book that could have been written by a French author--anyone else would be called into question as anti-French. I know that there is some literary license on the part of the author in the characterizations, situations, and plot, but her detailed research is apparent. Real dates, actions and people are woven into the fabric of the narrative and it doesn't take much research to find out that Deforges' story is largely true, even if the primary characters are fictional. Get this book, get the others, read them. Profoundly affecting.