Claudine in Paris

1901
Colette
Claudine in Paris
C

More twisted than the original, and not in a fun way.  The worst is Colette's friend Luce being abused by her sister and then escaping to Paris, where she becomes the reluctant mistress of her 60-something uncle.  It's clear that she's mostly doing this as an alternative to starvation.  Claudine herself falls in love with an "uncle," Renaud, the middle-aged widower of her first cousin, after a flirtation with her "Breton nephew," Renaud's gay son.  She's quite clear that Renaud is a father figure for her, since her own father, who studies slugs, is an absent-minded professor type.

I do like the portrayals of Papa and Melie, who's sort of like Juliet's nurse.  Fanchette has a larger role here, as she deals with Paris and pregnancy.  (Colette is probably the best writer about cats until Doris Lessing comes along.)  I want to like this story more than I do, but there's so much unpleasantness, especially in the second half, and some pointless retconning (e.g. suddenly she's known Luce at least since they were 14), I can't.