In May 1968, a brother and sister, young, clever and aristocratic, and incestuously involved, become friends with an American who is studying film in Paris. When their parents go on vacation, they invite the American to stay with them in their flat, where they start to play games.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The title characters of this rich, furiously concentrated first novel, set in Paris during the student uprisings of 1968, are 17-year-old twins Guillaume and Danielle and their friend Matthew, a 19-year-old American film student studying at the Cinematheque Francaise. Living in a huge apartment and virtually unnoticed by their father and his new wife, bored sophisticates Guillaume and Danielle pursue an obsessive incestuous relationship that becomes even more complicated when sexually confused Matthew moves in; in the author's deft phrasing, he is in love "with the single person Guillaume and Danielle would have been had they not been born twins." On their own, the three explore avenues of homosexuality, rape, incest and sadism that pull them away from the outside world and into starved, frightened squalor. When they finally reemerge, the Paris they see is almost unrecognizable. Adair depicts this scorching sexual triangle and the games that lead into it with knife-point psychological precision and gorgeously spun prose, but he also portrays the teenagers with a compassion that keeps the title (a reference to Cocteau's The Holy Terrors , which parallels and clearly inspires this work) from being wholly ironic.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intense and unforgettable,
This review is from: The Holy Innocents (Paperback)
The story of a US student drawn into the fantastical lives of twins during the street riots of Paris in 1968. Matthew is soon partaking in erotic affairs of the French brother and sister. A story that is utterly evocative of the entire era, with free love and liberal thoughts, with a sprinkling of music and old movies described in detail by an obvious fan of those mediums. Adair has written a controversial masterpiece. This was filmed a few years ago quite faithfully, to the credit of the filmmakers, who didn't shy away from the sexual content (thanks to the willingness of the young actors involved).The Dreamers (Original Uncut NC-17 Version)
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incestuous Pleasures,
By Craigston Mullen (Cambridge, Massachussetts) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Holy Innocents (Hardcover)
If you like Cocteau, and you like "Pierre" by Melville, and you like "The Kiss" by K.Harrison then these "punters" ought to be just your cuppa tea. Nothing like a little incest rendered into "art" to keep things moving in a healthy direction. In short...these are just my kind of people and I enjoyed spending time with them. Also...this books obeys the first law of show business to the "nth degree" which is of course..."Always Leave Them Wanting MORE!!!" This little tome is short, sweet, and complete. Bravo...Bravo!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Original,
This review is from: The Holy Innocents (Hardcover)
The best part about this edition is that it is the author's original version. Gilbert Adair, while writing the screenplay for Bernardo Bertolucci's 2003 film adaptation, revised this novel more to his liking and re-published it under the title The Dreamers (another change the author preferred). For a completest, this is a necessary read. Its a real treat to compare both versions of the novel as a physical example of creative evolution. Paired with the film there is an enriching gradation from original novel to screenplay to film to revised novel. I found a mint copy (hardcover for $60 at an amazing rare bookstore) so I don't know why these are all priced quite so high but if you gotta have it, then you gotta have it. You wont regret it.
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