- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books; Penguin Red Classics edition (31 Aug 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0141025905
- ISBN-13: 978-0141025902
- Product Dimensions: 18 x 11 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 390,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Madame Thouret had no trouble identifying her husband's body. What puzzled her was that he was wearing light brown shoes and a garish tie she'd never seen before. Maigret masterfully reconstructs the secret life of a vulnerable man who has made a desperate attempt to evade the failure and isolation of his rigidly conventional life. 'A truly wonderful writer ...marvellously readable - lucid, simple, absolutely in tune with that world he creates of run-down hotels, cold, dark barges, quaysidecanal-taverns, lurking prostitutes, pot-bellied burghers, taciturn youths, slippery barmen.' - Muriel Spark, "Sunday Times."
About the Author
Georges Simenon was born at Liege in 1903. He published over 160 books and his work has been admired by almost all the leading French and English critics. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages and more than 40 have been filmed.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Where gigolo and gigolette
Can take a kiss without regret
So they forget their broken dreams." Harry Warren/Al Dubin.
Georges Simenon was prolific in both his literary and public life. Simenon turned out hundreds of novels and his obsession with writing caused him to break off an affair (he was prolific in this area of his life as well) with the celebrated Josephine Baker in Paris when he found he could only write twelve novels in the year they were involved. Although perhaps best known for his Inspector Maigret detective novels, Simenon also wrote over a hundred novels that he referred to as `romans durs' (literally "hard novels"). These hard stories typically involved a person's descent from normality (or a life that seems to bear the appearance of normality) into nihilism and despair.
When Louis Thouret is found murdered just off the Boulevard Saint-Martin Inspector Maigret is called to investigate. Maigret thinks of this as a run-of-the mill stabbing that occurs but when Mrs. Thouret is asked to identify the body she seems shocked by the fact that he is not wearing the same clothes (including some shockingly racy brown shoes his wife would never have permitted him to wear) he had on when he left for work that morning but his wallet contained far more money than he normally carries. These oddities pique Maigret's interest. What brought Thouret to this Boulevard? What caused him to wear a second set of clothes and those fancy brown shoes? How did Thouret manage to acquire the hefty wad of cash found in his wallet? As the plot develops Maigret seeks to unravel the mystery of Thouret's murder and also the explanation behind what appears to be Thouret's double-life as it played itself out on and around the streets and alleys near the Boulevard Saint-Martin.
The tone and style of Simeon's hard stories differ significantly from his Maigret mysteries. In "Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard", however, we have a character, Thouret, whose dual life seems to mark him as someone who could have been the subject of a hard story. Here, it seems as if Maigret appears just when the hard story ends, and his investigation takes a look back in time to discover how this life ended the way it did. I enjoyed this connection between the two types of Simenon stories. I always enjoy the Maigret mysteries but this walk along a boulevard of broken dreams was, for me, one of Simenon's best Maigret efforts.
Can take a kiss without regret
So they forget their broken dreams." Harry Warren/Al Dubin.
Georges Simenon was prolific in both his literary and public life. Simenon turned out hundreds of novels and his obsession with writing caused him to break off an affair (he was prolific in this area of his life as well) with the celebrated Josephine Baker in Paris when he found he could only write twelve novels in the year they were involved. Although perhaps best known for his Inspector Maigret detective novels, Simenon also wrote over a hundred novels that he referred to as `romans durs' (literally "hard novels"). These hard stories typically involved a person's descent from normality (or a life that seems to bear the appearance of normality) into nihilism and despair.
When Louis Thouret is found murdered just off the Boulevard Saint-Martin Inspector Maigret is called to investigate. Maigret thinks of this as a run-of-the mill stabbing that occurs but when Mrs. Thouret is asked to identify the body she seems shocked by the fact that he is not wearing the same clothes (including some shockingly racy brown shoes his wife would never have permitted him to wear) he had on when he left for work that morning but his wallet contained far more money than he normally carries. These oddities pique Maigret's interest. What brought Thouret to this Boulevard? What caused him to wear a second set of clothes and those fancy brown shoes? How did Thouret manage to acquire the hefty wad of cash found in his wallet? As the plot develops Maigret seeks to unravel the mystery of Thouret's murder and also the explanation behind what appears to be Thouret's double-life as it played itself out on and around the streets and alleys near the Boulevard Saint-Martin.
The tone and style of Simeon's hard stories differ significantly from his Maigret mysteries. In "Maigret and the Man on the Boulevard", however, we have a character, Thouret, whose dual life seems to mark him as someone who could have been the subject of a hard story. Here, it seems as if Maigret appears just when the hard story ends, and his investigation takes a look back in time to discover how this life ended the way it did. I enjoyed this connection between the two types of Simenon stories. I always enjoy the Maigret mysteries but this walk along a boulevard of broken dreams was, for me, one of Simenon's best Maigret efforts.
Format:Paperback
This 1953 entry in the Maigret series is enjoyable and a typically evocative piece of writing from Simenon. Once more, he captures the essence of Paris with beautiful clarity, and engages the reader's sympathy in unravelling the story of a murdered man and a secret life he lived away from his wife and family.
More than most crime writers, Simenon tackles the lives of his victims with a real sense of empathy and understanding; as a result they seem real, believable, people you want to know about. Maigret goes about his business with the usual understated precision, but the story is badly let down in the last couple of chapters when the plot is tied up with a quite unsatisfactory and almost rushed ending. There was a slight sense of being cheated here, and more than a hint that Simenon had grown bored with this one, or not sure himself how to end it well.
A tad disappointing, but enjoyable enough from the sheer pleasure to be gained from reading Simenon's no-nonsense prose. Crime writing from another age; but strangely timeless and enjoyable on many levels.
More than most crime writers, Simenon tackles the lives of his victims with a real sense of empathy and understanding; as a result they seem real, believable, people you want to know about. Maigret goes about his business with the usual understated precision, but the story is badly let down in the last couple of chapters when the plot is tied up with a quite unsatisfactory and almost rushed ending. There was a slight sense of being cheated here, and more than a hint that Simenon had grown bored with this one, or not sure himself how to end it well.
A tad disappointing, but enjoyable enough from the sheer pleasure to be gained from reading Simenon's no-nonsense prose. Crime writing from another age; but strangely timeless and enjoyable on many levels.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book gripping and although I wanted to race to the end in anticipation, the journey was enjoyable.
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