Short Reign of Pippin 4 [Hardcover]

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Reed MM Ito
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074931785X
• ISBN-13: 978-0749317850
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,687,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars French politics, Texas millionaires, and teenage novelists, July 19, 2003

By 

Govindan Nair (Vienna, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Short Reign of Pippin 4 (Hardcover)

For those familiar with John Steinbeck's other works, this book, his only satire, may come as a surprise. I myself have always been wondered why this may be Steinbeck's least known work.

This farcical tale describes French politicians allowing the return of the monarchy to power, after political parties are unable to break a deadlock and agree on a new government. The story may not seem that far removed from the reality. In the 1950s, in which the novel is set, extraordinary government instability in France led to a rapid succession of several governments, which ultimately brought General De Gaulle to the Presidency, as France wrestled with its Algeria crisis.

With his characteristic grace and wit, Steinbeck creates a marvelous cast of characters. They range from Pippin Heristal, the astronomy-crazed Parisian who relucantly yields to Parlimentary pressure to assume the throne, as a descendant of the ancient French ruler Charlemagne, even while he prefers to pursue his late night sightings in the skies; the disciplined Frenchwoman who is his wife and who confides in Sister Hyacinthe, a childhood friend turned nun; Clotilde, their wild teenage daughter who falls in love with the son of a visiting Texas poultry industry magnate while in her quest of stardom; and others who resemble characters we may have encountered on the Left Bank or in some sunny French provincial town. While the caricatures are unmistakable, Steinbeck, a former Parisian in the vein of Ernest Hemmingway, Gertrude Stein, and others of the same era, has a knack for making these characters entirely believable.

There is a particularly hilarious description of the raucous debate among multiple political parties in the French National Assembly, which leads to Pippin's appointment. Steinbeck hurls brief satirical passages into the saga, as when the cold war politics of the era lead both the United States and Soviet Union to rush to support this new regime and departure from la Republique.

Ultimately, Pippin's frustrations over being a figurehead propels him to discover popular discontent through his forays into the ranks of French workers and peasants, disguising himself as a reporter for the French communist party daily, among other persona. But, Pippin later immerses himself in his long-waited sighting of a rare meteor shower, unaware of the political fallout from his attempts at reforms which lead to his downfall. Those allergic to the excesses of the French revolution however need not fear for Pippin and his family a similar ending which befell his predecessors from an earlier regime (namely, Marie Antoinette and her ill-fated husband).

Over the last twenty years, I have offered this book as a gift to more than twelve friends, and re-read it at least fifteen times. There are simply too many charming one-liners for me not to periodically spend another afternoon with this slim novel.