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Book: The Wide World
Author: Pierre LeMaitre
Reviewed by: Phil Bolton, founder and publisher emeritus, Global Atlanta
For a riveting insight on colonial life in post-World War II Saigon, read Pierre LeMaitre’s The Wide World, the first in an ongoing series about French life at home and abroad.
The third in the series, somewhat reminiscent of the “feuilletons” French newspapers used to publish on behalf of 19th-century authors, is soon to be available. The description of life in Saigon, however, is confined to the first volume.
These books trace the lives of the Pelletiers, a prominent French family living in 1948 Beirut.
While each member of the family is intriguing in their own right, the experiences in Saigon of Pierre, the youngest, captivated me for their exposure to the many facets of French colonialism. Its layers are peeled back like proverbial onion skins.
Pierre is exposed to the business shenanigans of colonists as well as cafe society in French Indochina. But through his idealistic investigations into a covert scheme to channel smuggled goods, he is soon over his head and the pawn of the Viet Minh.
I doubt an American could write a book so revealing of the mindsets of the period and the relationships among the various characters.
But any American familiar with Saigon would be intrigued by the descriptions and complexity of life there during the post-World War II years.
Editor’s notes: Global Atlanta will receive a 10 percent commission on any purchase of this book through the links on this page.
Each year, Global Atlanta asks influential readers and community leaders to review the most impactful book they read during the course of the year. This endeavor has continued annually since 2010.
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