The Holy Innocents

by Gilbert Adair

Book Overview

Paris in the spring of 1968. The city is beginning to emerge from hibernation and an obscure spirit of social and political renewal is in the air. Yet Theo, his twin sister Isabelle and Matthew, an... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525247882
• ISBN13: 9780525247883
• Release Date: May 1989
• Publisher: Dutton
• Length: 154 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 0.1" x 0.1"

Customer Reviews

Great, quick read!

When I saw the movie I wanted to know more about where the story came from. I found that is was written by an author named Gilbert Adair who had originally wrote a book that was more racy and perverse titled, "The Holy Innocents" that I would love to read but cannot find it anywhere else but on the internet. "The Dreamers" is a toned down version of "The Holy Innocents" but is still worth the read. I read it in about a day. I really couldn't put it down once I started. I would recommend it to a friend, but not to a grandmother of course ;)

A short text with a weighty concept. Thought-provoking although not explored in enough depth. Highly

Matthew, an American student living abroad in France, and the twins Théo and Isabelle are all cinephiles obsessed with the nightly showings at the Cinémathèque Française. When the French government suddenly shuts down the theatre, Théo, Isabelle, and Matthew turn instead to each other: isolating themselves in the twins's flat, they become consumed by theatric and sexual games which cross the boundaries of bisexuality and incest--games which continue until they are violently interrupted by the very real events of the French student riots of 1968. Contrasting the unchecked freedom of youth without society against the reality of violent youth within society, Adair's book is at times idealistic, at times uncomfortably taboo, but always thought-provoking. The limited exploration of the lofty concepts can be disappointing, but on the whole this book explores a meaningful and difficult issue. The Dreamers is an apt companion to the film of the same name and, though it is out of print, more readers should be exposed to it--I highly recommend it. I was introduced to this book via the film, and was disappointed to learn that it is now out of print. Thankfully, I was able to get my hands on a copy through inter-library loan (from across the United States). This text, The Dreamers, is an "overwritten" version of the original book The Holy Innocents and was released following the film (for which Adair wrote the screenplay). I have not had the chance to read the original text, and I can say nothing of these updates. As it stands, Adair describes the book as the film's fraternal twin--though twins, the works are not not identical. Indeed, they are similar on many points, even down to the film references and some dialog, but the book approaches the various relationships differently: most noticeably, Matthew and Théo have an explicit homosexual relationship which serves as the completion for the complex triadic coupling between the three youths. With these differences, the book and film are companions, each complimenting the other, and fans of one will enjoy the other as well. Adair's narrative voice is immediately unique and easy to latch on to. His film references, however obscure, are well enough explained in the book to make sense. His characters are at once haughty and insecure, various faces that together create the quintessential youth. These youths come to live a life which overlooks and breaks boundaries and rules--and here the text comes into itself, and details such as writing style and characterization become secondary padding to the novel's primary issues. Although sexual interaction is often less explicit in the book than the film, the trio's relationships in the book are somehow more taboo and can be uncomfortable even for the most liberal reader. The youths self-isolate into a sealed world of their own fantasies, but these fantasies are at times quite dark. Furthermore, the world of rules and boundaries is never truly forgotten, for Matthew reta