I just read Georges Simenon’s novel The Blue Room this week.  It may be the third or fourth book of his I have read, and maybe in the second or third language.  I don’t know if The Blue Room will work in my classrooms, but this guy Georges  knew what he’s doing.  Before he died, he had written over 400 novels.   Somewhere I learned his writing process began with his outline of a novel on the side of a manila envelope.  Maybe he used two sides.  I’m not sure.  But, the idea is he only allowed himself to develop something focused, tense, and spare; then, he checked into a remote hotel and didn’t  leave his room for ten days or so until he had a finished novel.  Voila.

Simenon wastes no time bringing us deep into the Blue Room.   From the first page Tony carries on a torrid affair with Andree in a hotel room.  We know it’s hot and heavy because on Page One both of them are stark naked and Tony is bleeding from the lip.  Andre has just bitten him in the heat of passion.   That’s the HOT part.  Here is the HEAVY part: the blood is not yet dry, but Andree is already asking him if he would want to spend the rest of his life with her.

But here is the thing:  Tony is married to another woman, and Andree is married to Tony’s childhood classmate.   They may once have had  a thing for each other in high school, but now they are adults and their lives are, unfortunately,  in the way.   They work out their times for sex with a secret code. When Andree’s is feeling it, she hangs a blue towel over her balcony, and they meet up in the “Blue Room.”

Wait. Attendez!  Before I get too carried away with Tony and Andree.  This novel is more than SEX. It’s about MURDER.   By Page Three, Tony is answering questions at Police Headquarters in Triant. This a small village in the French countryside.   Apparently, Simenon has jumped forward into the future.  Tony’s has been been remanded to an ancient building that once had been known as the Chateau during the French Revolution.  He’s led to and from his jail cell in handcuffs and shackles.  For months, he has been grilled by the Sergeant, the Chief Inspector of the Forensic Branch at Portiers, and most relentlessly, the skinny psychiatrist who is also the town judge.  They all want a piece of Tony. 

This is NOT one of those standard police novels that follows a detective step-by-step to in his/her investigation.  Instead, Simenon has chosen to bounce back from the past to the future, over and over again.  In one paragraph two lovers  embrace on a hotel bed.  Andree asks the question, “Do you love me, Tony?”   It’s not clear if this first time in the Blue Room, or like the tenth time.  She constantly repeats herself:  “Could you spend the rest of your life with me?”  In the ensuing  paragraphs, Tony is often shown curled up on his prison cot mulling over what really happened between the two     Something terrible has come out of the Blue Room.  For most of the book, Tony is pressured by interrogators to live up to each and every detail of the affair.  There has been a MURDER.  We just don’t know at the beginning who has been killed.   Could it have been Andree?  Her husband?  Tony’s wife?

Tony has a lot of time to think about what happened.  Inside his cell, he relives his relationships with his wife and child.  Everything he thought he knew about Andree turned out to be horribly wrong.   He once knew her and fucked her in high school.  Ten years later, he found her stranded by the side of the road with a flat tire.  Of course, he stops to help her out, and one thing leads to another – they end up in the Blue Room where he fucks for the second time.  

From Simenon’s development of Tony’s inner dialogue, this guy doesn’t seem so bad.  He’s a good husband and a devoted father.  Clearly, he should not be cheating on his wife, but he’s not the first or the last guy make this type of mistake – especially when tempted by a woman as beautiful as Andree.   From the way Simenon describes Tony’s background, it’s hard to believe how he could be capable of physically hurting anyone.  But, the police are working hard on the case.  They know more than he would ever expect.  With each chapter, they get closer and closer to the truth

I’m not writing a book report here, but if I can avoid it, I want to stay away from anything that may spoil the ending of Tony’s trial.  But I can say this:  Tony has a much different opinion of himself than how others perceive him.   Simenon creates  a really a good psychological study of the thinking of a man who loves his wife and child.  I think Tony is age 33 when he begins his affair with Andree.  Maybe he’s been married for seven or eight years to Gisele.  His daughter must be five or six years old.  Andree is continually asking Tony if his wife suspects anything?  And if she doesn’t, why doesn’t she?   Doesn’t she care?  Does she really love him.  How could she not know?  Andree may be asking Tony these questions while he’s standing naked in front of the mirror inspecting the cut on his lip caused from the intense love-making session.  Up until his arrest, he didn’t think too deeply into the affair or the state of his marriage.  Anything said in the room shouldn’t leave the room.  Didn’t all men at one time or another in  their lives have something on the side.  Does anyone really seriously  remember what anyone says after a good fuck?

But here is what the police know:   Tony has cheated on his wife more than a few times in the past.  They found first-hand witnesses and former lovers.  They have found communications sent from Andree to Tony.  When Tony says the affair was short and over with, he is clearly lying.  If he is lying about the affair,  how could the police believe anything else from him about the murder?   I mean how could he really love his wife and daughter if he is so quick to throw everything away at the sight of a blue towel.  Maybe Tony  wants Andree so bad, he could kill for it?  That’s what the police think. There is a very interesting scene near the end of the book.   This is when Tony realizes that the entire town is against him.   There is no possible way they could understand or know what happened between him and Andree, but they all believe him responsible for the MURDER.  They don’t know HOW or WHY, but everyone believes Tony is GUILTY as SIN.  Is Tony a reliable narrator? 

I promised not to reveal anything substantial about the murder or the murderer, but I will divulge this: for all talk about the QUANTITY of Georges’s work, there is equal discussion of the QUALITY. His writing is often compared to Balzac, Dostoevksy, and Dickens.  Somewhere I read that Georges Simenon strives to keep things basic. He creates characters with problems we can all identify with.  When I read The Blue Room, I understand clearly Tony may be involved in some grisly behavior; nevertheless, I find myself rooting for him while he is in prison. Georges says he’s not into abstract words, adjectives adverbs.   They get in the way.  They are a distraction. Basically, his novels begin with a man, a woman, and a strange incident.  Georges makes the goal to see how far each character will go to fight for their love andor destroy themselves doing it.   I also read George Simenon could write 80 pages in one sitting.  He weighed himself before and after each writing session.  He claims he always lost a few pounds from the strenuous typing.   I believe it.    Every chapter of this book is intense.  Every character is real.  Every word counts. I want to read it again.  The Blue Room is a GREAT READ.