- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Minerva; New edition edition (1 Jun 1989)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0749390093
- ISBN-13: 978-0749390099
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.7 x 1.5 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 426,542 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
An elegant, nostalgic tone poem to adolescent perversity in Paris in 1968. Adair (Hollywood's Vietnam, Alice Through the Needle's Eye) writes sensuously and delicately of incestuous twins who lure a young American into a life of playacting and fluid sexual identity. Guillaume and Danielle, the twins, along with Mathew, the American, are devotees - or "rats" - of the Cinematheque Francaise. Mathew, polymorphously perverse, loves the twins as though they were one person. (He masturbates to male fantasies, but conjures up a female face at the end.) The three of them talk shop (cinema) and bring sandwiches to screenings; when the cinema is closed, demonstrators storm the place to no avail - and Mathew goes home with the twins for a dinner with their poet father. Eventually, then, Mathew voyeuristically discovers the twins' secret world - and the twins, addicted to "the cinema and each other," move Mathew in when their father goes off with his wife to write more poems. The twins also bring Mathew into their secret circle: Guillaume masturbates for his sister and Mathew; then Danielle and Mathew make love while Guillaume watches. They playact with whips and makeup, and - after a brief excursion with Rollo, an Argentinean - they return to empty cupboards and more sexual games. Guillaume, jealous of Mathew, sodomizes him, while the household finds in Mathew its "crypto-Oedipal identity": he becomes the "externalized object" of their fantasies until the Paris riots - and death - interrupt. Rather outre, but British poet/critic Adair's first novel nevertheless lives up to its title, mostly avoiding the obvious pitfalls of sentimentality and bad taste. (Kirkus Reviews)
Product Description
In May 1968, a brother and sister, young, clever and aristocratic, and incestuously involved, become friends with an American who is studying film in Paris. When their parents go on vacation, they invite the American to stay with them in their flat, where they start to play games.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Intense and unforgettable, 2 Oct 2007
By P. D. Cuming "goofyfoot" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Holy Innocents (Paperback)
The story of a US student drawn into the fantastical lives of twins during the street riots of Paris in 1968. Matthew is soon partaking in erotic affairs of the French brother and sister. A story that is utterly evocative of the entire era, with free love and liberal thoughts, with a sprinkling of music and old movies described in detail by an obvious fan of those mediums. Adair has written a controversial masterpiece. This was filmed a few years ago quite faithfully, to the credit of the filmmakers, who didn't shy away from the sexual content (thanks to the willingness of the young actors involved).The Dreamers (Original Uncut NC-17 Version)
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incestuous Pleasures, 9 Feb 2004
By Craigston Mullen - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Adair Gilbert : Holy Innocents (Hbk) (Hardcover)
If you like Cocteau, and you like "Pierre" by Melville, and you like "The Kiss" by K.Harrison then these "punters" ought to be just your cuppa tea. Nothing like a little incest rendered into "art" to keep things moving in a healthy direction. In short...these are just my kind of people and I enjoyed spending time with them. Also...this books obeys the first law of show business to the "nth degree" which is of course..."Always Leave Them Wanting MORE!!!" This little tome is short, sweet, and complete. Bravo...Bravo!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Original, 4 Dec 2011
By Aaron Mannino - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Adair Gilbert : Holy Innocents (Hbk) (Hardcover)
The best part about this edition is that it is the author's original version. Gilbert Adair, while writing the screenplay for Bernardo Bertolucci's 2003 film adaptation, revised this novel more to his liking and re-published it under the title The Dreamers (another change the author preferred). For a completest, this is a necessary read. Its a real treat to compare both versions of the novel as a physical example of creative evolution. Paired with the film there is an enriching gradation from original novel to screenplay to film to revised novel. I found a mint copy (hardcover for $60 at an amazing rare bookstore) so I don't know why these are all priced quite so high but if you gotta have it, then you gotta have it. You wont regret it.
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