Customer Reviews (2)

A French teacher views _Maigret et le clochard_
I'm a French teacher, secondary level, and have taught this book perhaps fifteen times. The first Easy-Reader EMC version [mine was (C) 1970] had a 1500-word vocabulary level and was very enjoyable to teach. I received copies of the latest version [(c)1997] (this is written in 2009) and discovered that the book had been rewritten at the 1200-word vocab level, and the narration using the passé simple was replaced by the more banal passé composé. Many more illustrations were added as well. I am using this at a French 4 level. In its original form it was perfect for a good Fr3 class; in its present form it is more appropriate for early Fr3 or a very strong Fr2, but we have nothing else except Le Petit Prince, which will be taught later this year. The Maigret story is straightforward, has its welcome twists and turns, and ends as a psychological "thriller" should, with the reader coming to his or her own conclusion about why the clochard refused to testify. An interesting assignment is to have the students write chapter 9 (the book has 8 chapters), indicating what happened to the various characters, y comprise la femme richissime du clochard. This teacher believes in teaching literature as of late Fr2 (500-word vocab level).

First experience with Simenon
I have to confess, I read this book because it was an assignment in my French IV class. Being the open-minded, enthusiastic reader I am, I was excited to read my first French detective novel. (Keep in mind, this is sort of a beginner level French book.) I have now finished the book and can honestly say I think it deserves 3.5 stars out of 5. It was intersting. And it was short. It started out being pretty detailed but then Maigret, the detective and main character, decided he had done enough investigating and went after the main guy he'd been talking to the whole book. The ending was the thing that got me. When I read a detective story, I assume there will be an interesting ending that the rest of the book led up to. I found the ending to this book to be very abrupt and unsatisfying. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and I wouldn't mind picking up another of Simenon's 350 or so books. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Driven to crime
Set in smalltown USA and written while Simenon was living there, The Clockmaker (L'horloger d'Everton) nevertheless has all the familiar characteristics of Simenon's unique approach to the crime novel. The central crime incident takes place "off-stage", when Ben, the 16 year-old son of watch repair man Dave Galloway disappears with a car, a gun and the 15 year-old daughter of his neighbour and soon becomes a fugitive from the law. Simenon's focus however is on the factors underlying Ben's out of character behaviour, examining the background of Dave Galloway family background, his own broken marriage and his relationship with his son, and as well as the monotony and watchfulness of the small community in which they live and their own peculiar form of rebellion against social and bourgeois expectations.

If it doesn't reveal anything significant or different from other Simenon novels with a similar subject matter, the novel's American setting brings in another in a further aspect outside the usual Simenon case - that of the nature of press reporting and the whole circus of the US judicial system.

Routine Transformed to Chaos
Dave Galloway is a watch repairman in the mythical city of Everton, New York. His life is one of familiar routine--he goes through the same motions every day at work and at home. But this comfortable existence is unexpectedly thrown into chaos when Dave's 16-year-old son Ben runs away from home. We learn that Ben has left with 15-year-old Lillian Hawkins and they plan to get married in Illinois, which recognizes marriage between young teenagers.

While Dave reflects that Ben has abandoned him, we learn that Dave's wife had abandoned him as well, when Ben was just one year old. The story takes an uglier turn when police break the news that Ben has shot and killed someone and taken his car. While the police chase Ben, the news media interview Dave and he agrees to pose for pictures and answer all their prying questions. Soon, Ben is captured by the police after a shootout and is taken to Indianapolis. Dave travels there only to suffer more embarrassment when Ben refuses to see him and the police tell him they are moving Ben back to New York and he traveled to Indiana for nothing.

Dave hires an expensive lawyer for Ben, who since his capture has expressed no remorse for his crime, seems proud of what he has done, and acts as if he wants to sit in the electric chair. A psychiatrist evaluates Ben and determines he is sane and can stand trial.

While these events transpire, Dave examines his own mind to try to discover some sense to Ben's crime, which seems completely pointless and unnecessary. Much of the novel has Dave retracing the signal nerve points of his own life in an attempt to extract meaning from Ben's actions--his own father's one night of cheating on his mother; his own decision to marry the cheapest woman in town who had already slept with all his friends; and now Ben's murder of a stranger for his car and a few dollars. All three of these events were solitary acts of "rebellion" by three men of the same genetic line who otherwise spent all their lives getting "whipped" in life. Unsatisfied, they needed to temporarily revolt against their own nature. The question is left at the end whether this cycle would turn in the other direction in the future.

The Clockmaker, also published in English as The Watchmaker (first published as L'horloger d'Everton in French in 1954), is a psychological thriller written without Simenon's most famous character, Inspector Maigret. Only 124 pages, it can be read in a few sittings. Simenon forces the reader to consider if Ben's actions were already somehow foreordained; the culpability, if any, of his father; and if the similar psychology of Dave, his father, and his son, will change or remain the same in future generations. The New York Review of Books has reissued a number of Simenon's novels in recent years and this would make a fine addition.
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Customer Reviews (2)

Not My Style
Georges Simenon's "The Venice Train" is a character study rather than a conventional mystery.True there are crimes, but no actual detection.

The characters are excellent; even the minor characters have personalities. The settings are great with ample but not superfluous description.

If this were a motion picture, it would be a cult classic.Either you would love it or hate.I did not love it.

GREAT RIDE
I have read many Simenon novels and this is one of his best. It deals with a moral dilemma and has a great set up with incredible suspense. A man mysteriously ends up with a suitcase full of moneybelonging to amysterious stranger and goes on the run with it. The ending is a littlebleak and I think could have been a little more satisfying, but the journeythere is definitely worthwhile. An interesting psychological portrait of aman dirven by inexplicable impulses that he cannot come to terms with. Whywe lie? Why we cheat? WHy we do self-destructive things? Those are thequestions which plague Simenon and ourselves. ... Read more

Product Description
Seminararbeit aus dem Jahr 2002 im Fachbereich Romanistik - Französisch - Literatur, einseitig bedruckt, Note: 2-, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf (Romanisches Seminar), Veranstaltung: Zur Geschichte des Kriminalromans, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Inhalt und Wirkung des Kriminalromans „L`affaire Saint - Fiacre" von Georges Simenon stehen in dieser Analyse des Werkes im Mittelpunkt, wobei im Einzelnen die Besonderheiten dieses Romans besprochen werden. Es wird vor allem herausgestellt, wie Maigret hier dargestellt wird; nicht etwa wie der fast vollkommene Detektiv, der durch genaue Beobachtung, Vernehmung und Detektion seine Fälle löst, sondern eher menschlich, verletzlich und von seiner Erinnerung eingeholt. Ebenfalls ist der Aspekt wichtig, dass Maigret in diesem besonderen Kriminalfall nicht derjenige ist, der das Verbrechen auflöst und den Mörder überführt. Hierfür sind auch seine Jugend von Bedeutung und seine Gefühlslage in Anbetracht seiner „beschmutzten Kindheitserinnerungen", wie er es selbst sagt. Die Verrätselung und Enträtselung sind ebenfalls von besonderem Interesse: In diesem Roman findet die letztere nicht vollständig statt, sondern lässt dem Leser Freiraum für eigene Überlegungen. Besonders fragt man sich zum Schluss, ob auch tatsächlich der richtige Verbrecher überführt worden ist. ... Read more