The Rules of the Game [Hardcover]

Georges Simenon (Author), Howard Curtis (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1988

Set in America, this is the story of a man fighting to be accepted by the local community and coming to terms with himself.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Curtis's translation from Simenon's novel is merely competent, yet readers will feel the impact of the French original, published in 1955. The story was obviously inspired by the gifted author's temporary residence in a Connecticut town, here called Williamson. As described in spare, poetic passages, events concern the manager of the local supermarket, Walter Higgins. A caring husband and father, proud of his family and the status he has achieved after a deprived childhood in a New Jersey slum, Higgins happily anticipates joining the country club. When the committee blackballs him, the snub is a terrible blow. Higgins's wife and their children give him loving support but he becomes obsessed by thoughts of revenge against those who play a game with secret rules against those who "don't count." At this critical time, an emergency takes Higgins to his old neighborhood and the novel to a dramatically different turn. Simenon's pitiless observations of snobbish cruelty and his compassion for outcasts provoke thoughts of the pecking order that exists in communities everywhere.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 154 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; 1st edition (November 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151694753
• ISBN-13: 978-0151694754
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,235,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Discreet Harm to the Bourgeoisie, January 14, 2008

By 

Leonard Fleisig "Len" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rules of the Game (Hardcover)

Georges Simenon was nothing if not prolific in both his literary and public life. Born in Belgium in 1903, Simenon turned out hundreds of novels. Simenon's obsession with writing caused him to break off an affair (he was prolific in this area of his life as well) with the celebrated Josephine Baker in Paris when he could only write twelve novels in the twelve month period in which they were involved. Simenon's novels were immensely popular in the 1930s through the 1970s and many of his novels (particularly the Inspector Maigret stories) appeared in film and TV versions. Simenon also authored dozens of books that he described as "romans durs", roughly translated as`hard stories' that had a darker tone than his Maigret novels. Simenon seems to have fallen under the radar in recent decades but in recent years he seems to have been rediscovered by a new generation of mystery/detective story fans. Penguin Books has begun to reissue some of those Maigret mysteries and the New York Review of Books Press has reissued some of his `hard stories'. However, my appetite for Simenon has caused me to look beyond the recent reissues. A recent trip to my public library brought me to "The Rules of the Game".

"The Rules of the Game" was written in 1955 and translated and published in the United States in 1988. It is set in suburban Connecticut. (After World War II, for reasons related to accusations that he was sympathetic to the occupying forces and the Vichy Regime, Simenon moved to the United States and spent a few years in Connecticut.) Walter Higgins is a supermarket manager. He is a stolid, predictable, married father of four living in a house that stretches his economic resources to the fullest. He is also enormously (and understandably) proud of the fact that he has lifted himself through diligence and hard work from a less than happy and economically depressed childhood. He plays by the rules. He goes to church and volunteers in any number of community organizations. He seeks affirmation of his status by applying for membership in the local country club. He is told his membership is a sure-thing and is devastated when he is told that he has been blackballed, denied entry by means of a secret vote of the club's membership committee. Each member of that committee was known to Higgins and he thought of each as a friend and colleague in the community. The rejection turns Higgins's life upside down and the rest of the story takes us on the journey Higgins takes as the trauma of rejection hits him.

"Rules of the Game" provides a fascinating, contemporary look at life in the U.S. of the 1950s. Since it was written in 1955, Simenon's examination of the hidden cracks in the life-style of suburban America in the age of Ozzie and Harriet seems a bit ahead of its time. In a way, Simenon's look at the unraveling of Higgins life after the jolt of rejection is mildly reminiscent to the unraveling of Willy Loman's life in Miller's "Death of a Salesman". Higgins' reaction to `failure' (in his eyes) is not nearly as dramatic as Loman's but it does provide some warning that the American Dream does have cracks that even the most stolid members of its society can fall through.

"Rules of the Game" is a good example of the craft of Simenon. It is certainly worth reading if you can find a copy online or in your local library. My library has a nice collection of out-of-print Simenon's and I'll be back there soon for another Simenon. L. Fleisig