Esta história é tão bonita... Marcel Pagnol tem o dom de retratar o que há de pior nos seres humanos com perdão e empatia. Através dos olhos deste escritor lemos sobre tragédia, maldade e sofrimento, e ainda assim continuamos a acreditar que há algo de lindíssimo nas pessoas e na vida. ( )

Quatrième de couverture - Récit simple et puissant d'une lutte pour la vie, histoire d'un crime et de son châtiment, drame d'une vengeance, tragédie familiale, conflit des coeurs purs et des âmes fortes, opposant un jeune citadin plein de fraîcheur et d'enthousiasme à deux paysans durs, âpres, sournois, fermés, implacables, peinture exacte et magnifique des hommes de la terre, chant du monde, poème de l'eau, du vent, des saisons, des collines, Jean de Florette et Manon des sources sont tout cela et ils sont beaucoup plus que cela, un des sommets de l'oeuvre de Pagnol: le livre de la faute, de l'innocence et du pardon.

I love this book.

Manon des sources is the grand continuation of and conclusion to Jean de Florette. It's dramatic, it's romanticized, it's full of big emotions, and it's vigorously traditional in all its pastoral glory -- but it carries a sting! In fact, the best description I can think of for Manon is that it plays out like an arcadian tale with the full force and the inevitable doom of a Greek tragedy. Because that's exactly what it is: the unforgiving maiden, wronged by a greedy tyrant; the magic rituals of unrequited love; and the implacable doom of unavoidable fate that is brought about by the silliest of details.

This second part of the story may be perceived as slow by some, but it wasn't so for me: rather, it reminded me of an extended folksy yarn that doesn't really work until you know the characters involved -- a you-had-to-have-been-there feel. Pagnol carefully sets up the story, taking care to draw the characters with all their quirks and humanness so that by the end the reader feels as if they really have been there. Once the scene rolls around where Manon finds out about the tacit betrayal that she's unwittingly been the victim of, the plot picks up and paces speedily towards the bittersweet tragedy at the end.

And Manon gets to speak, too! Berri's movies cast her as the demure, mostly silent maiden throwing mysterious glances over one shoulder (strikingly different from her character in Pagnol's own 1952 movie), but Manon is fully fleshed out here, with articulated hopes and dreams and internal monologues and conversations and everything that a character needs to feel real.

Even though this book has a curious simplistic 19th-century taste to it -- both the good and the bad guys might as well come colour-coded -- Pagnol manages to add some wonderful characterization. The bad guys from Jean de Florette slowly morph into a cast of beautifully gray characters, and all the while Pagnol is pretending that this is a naive folk tale with clear heroes and villains in a rustic setting, he's really setting the stage for some genuine emotional involvement.

I thought the end felt a tad over-the-top, a little too rushed and simplistic for a novel that revels in graying out its villains; but that's a minor quibble among all the loveliness that Manon des sources has on offer. Read this book (and the prequel). You won't regret it. ( )

I loved these books. The first is the story of a city man who inherits a small farm in the French countryside. Since he has always wanted to be a farmer he moves his family to the cottage and begins work. However, his neighbors, who coveted the farm, conspire to ensure his failure, and observe as he literally works himself to death.

In Manon his daughter, now grown up and a goat herder in the hills above the village, learns of the machinations of the villagers, and seeks to avenge her father's death.

These novels recreate the character and atmosphere of a small French village in the first part of the 20th century. Each individual is perfectly realized, villains and heroes alike. Highly recommended. ( )