[.ca] Mademoiselle Benoir: A Novel (ISBN 0618574794)

Seek and Ye Shall Find:
In her novel, Mademoiselle Benoir, womans health issues author, Christine Conrad arranges with the deftness of a Japanese floral artiste, a seemingly simplistic tableau of colors and textures that when assembled creates a rich and introspective insight into the realm of the human heart. Written as a series of letters spanning a two year period, the plot focuses on thirty-eight year old Tim Reinhart, a former professor of mathematics who decides, on a studied impulse to sacrifice his solid academic life in New York to realize his dream to oil paint in the South of France. At first, Tims letters reflect the typical American fascination with the cultural differences between the older French civilization and that of the socially fledgling United States/ As in other novels and travelogues, Conrad showcases not only the French love of food but presents an amusing portrait interplaying the idiosyncrasies of pastoral life with caricatures of centuries old French types. She moves into more philosophical ground when she abandons the usual tedious albeit exuberant descriptions of chateau, farmyard and countryside and approaches the bigger more nebulous question of what ultimately delivers happiness in the realm of human existence. When Tim meets Catherine, a woman over twenty years his senior, the tone of his letters waxes contemplative. With great proficiency, Conrad enlightens the reader to Tims growing affection for this regally beautiful woman prior to his realization that what he feels for her is more than just respect and admiration. In fact, this illustrates but one example of Conrads forte as a writer; her ability to depict nuanced personality traits through the medium of letters allows her audience to understand each characters perspective without a third person description of physicality or motivation. Complimenting the pleasant cadence and development of her plotline, Conrad successfully weaves in meaningful quotations, ideas and appropriate French factoids without allowing these to become contrived or unnecessary eye-rolling displays of too thorough research asides or isnt that interesting minutiae that shows off the writers knowledge of subject matter yet detracts from the overall presentation. Indeed, this womens health advocate truly understands the importance of proper balance in life---hormonal or otherwise. Her sublime working of her own personal philosophy through the mouthpieces of her characters speaks well of her transition from youth to wisdom. To this readers great pleasure, Conrad reworks the usual American living abroad scenario to address larger issues that face all of us as we mature and realize that stuff and its accoutrements belong to a material world and have little to do with the unconscious drive for further development, both artistic and spiritual, that ultimately facilitates a human life worth living. As the fox in Saint-Exupérys Petit Prince dictates, one can only truly see with the heart. Conrads Mademoiselle Benoir bypasses both the material and the physical world and operates solely in an ideal world where essentials count as the true pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Bottom Line? Mademoiselle Benoir surpasses my expectations, covering more ground than I thought possible in its prettily packaged 230 pages. Each of the players through a thoughtful revelation and analysis of fact reveal themselves as fully fleshed our individuals. The events that link their lives together form a cohesive story to which the reader connects automatically, alternately through smiles and tears. If she fails she does so only in attempting to facilitate the scenery as an additional character. Her strong portrayals circumvent this need and perpetuate in the mind of the reader Balzacian models for human vice and virtue. Hopefully Conrad will not ruin this effort by revisiting the characters in a sequel. In this instance, Conrad has written a near perfect story which needs no reprisal. Recommended highly. Diana Faillace Von Behren reneofc