The Merry Month of May

by James Jones

Book Overview

"Jones's best novel after From Here to Eternity." --Denver Post, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and others.

"The only one of my contemporaries who I felt had more talent than myself was James Jones. And he has also been the one writer of any time for whom I felt any love." --Norman Mailer

Paris. May. 1968. This is the Paris of the barricaded boulevards; of rebelling students' strongholds; of the literati; the sexual anarchists;...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1888451459
• ISBN13: 9781888451450
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Akashic Books, Ltd.
• Length: 298 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

based on jones' life in paris

I haven't read this book, but came here to read the reviews because i plan to read it in the near future. However, i just finished a disturbing book called "Savage Grace" (a film of the same name/subject matter came out in spring 2008). "Savage Grace" is a "true crime" book which tells the story of a troubled American family (the Baekelands) who spent a lot of their time in Paris during the relevant time period. James Jones and his wife Gloria were close friends of the Baekelands and Jones portrayed them and others of their "set" in "The Merry Month of May".

Perhaps his best

For those of us who thought James Jones could only write war stories, this relatively obscure title is a nice surprise. Of course, there is a warlike element to the story's backdrop of 1968 Paris, but ultimately the student riots are just that - a backdrop. The main focus of the story is on the descent of an American expat family into chaos, in part as a reflection of the generational divides laid bare by the riots. There are bits of sex and violence thrown into the mix (although far more of both are referred to indirectly without actually being portrayed), but the story is more concerned with changing values and the bonds of family and friendship than with anything melodramatic. It turns out that Jones was far better at telling such a tale than his earlier and better known novels had let on. Since most of the lead characters are defined by their uglier sides, there aren't many people to root for. But as the story progresses, it increasingly becomes a story of the well-to-do American community in Paris as a whole, which makes for a somewhat more sympathetic picture. Jones also did a great job of bringing in real-life events of May-June 1968 on both sides of the Atlantic to influence his fictional characters and their story, which is told from the point of view of an intimate observer of the chaos just a few weeks after it's all over. Is it really the end of an era for the Americans of Paris, or just for one dysfunctional family? For once, as the reader, you're free to decide on your own.

A Great Novel -- Could Be A Great Film

A classic that stands the test of time. Note the parallels with Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. Courageous, unflinching portrayals of Americans in Paris. Bertolucci's upcoming film covers the same time period. But this novel's the Real Thing.

I'm tired of dumb...reviews

... "The Merry Month of May" is a brilliant, perfectly structured novel which was misunderstood when it was first published, and is apparently still misunderstood. Like Jake Barnes in "The Sun Also Rises," Hartley is a wounded man who finds himself emotionally impotent to help the people he loves most, even when his own godchild's future is in question. He is an observer, in the tradition of Barnes, or Nick Carraway, and to observe is his JOB. His own feelings of guilt and shame come from the very fact that he can't bring himself to act, take sides, or take a stand, even when his friends demand it of him. This is actually, in my estimation, one of the few novels of its time that deals honestly and compassionately with women's true roles in the "sexual revolution" of the Sixties.