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| My childhood version. The Dutch title translates as: Alone in the world |
When I was
little, my parents had a big blue book on their bookshelves with beautiful
drawings.
I loved the story of the young orphan Remi who was sold by his mean
stepfather when he was ten years old to a musician, Vitalis, who travelled
around with Joli-Coeur the little monkey and the dogs Capi, Dolce and Zerbino.
Nodoby’s boy is a beautiful story and I read it many times. Only later did I
find out this was a world famous French classic, translated into many
languages.
The story
is probably known: Remi is an orphan and that is why he does not belong to
anybody. But fortunately for him he does encounter many people who help him, sometimes for a short while, but often for a longer period of time.
Vitalis is
a good man, but during a cold winter’s night when they could not find shelter,
he dies. Gardener Alcuin takes Remi into his family, but when a heavy storm
destroys the glasshouses, father Alcuin has to go to prison and his family is
split up.
Remi is back on the streets, but luckily he meets Mattia, a boy he
met before and who is really musical. Together they will travel through France
to meet up with the members of the Alcuin family, but in the meantime Remi also
learns more about his own family.
Of course,
Nobody’s boy is a 19th century novel and there are too many
coincidences, everybody knows eachother and in a city of millions you always
find the one person you needed to see. And if you are really critical you could
call the ending way too sentimental. But all this is of course not the point of
the novel.
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| Remi, Capi and Joli-Coeur do a play, while Vitalis does the music |
Hector Malot wrote
this book to point out the horrible
living conditions of the poor in France. That is why Remi is travelling, so he could meet as many different
people and their situations as possible. The poor farmers, the people who have
to scrape from meal to meal, the travelling musicians, the people suffering
under strict and unjust laws, the harsh conditions of the miners, the bitter
poverty of the boys living on the streets of Paris and the way orphans were
treated.
He did not
write Nobody’s boy as a children’s
book, but somehow it is seen as one. I read it many times as a child and a
while ago I asked my parents if I could borrow it again.
And again the story
would not let go, and this time I also saw how much love Hector Malot used to write this book and how hard he tried to make
the characters real. Remi is neither a selfish brat nor a sickly-sweet orphan,
he is a real boy and as life-like as can be, and this is the case for most of
the characters.
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| Remi and Mattia play at a wedding to make some money |
As a child
I had to cry every time Vitalis died, and I could not hold my tears this time
as well. In just a few scenes Hector Malot manages to give us some idea of the
background story of this man, who has such a good heart and who died in such
tragic circumstances. I also adored the dog Capi again, and I really want a
white poodle now, that I will name Capi J.
When Remi
finds his family again and finds where he belongs, you will be relieved, all is
well in the last chapter.
A beautiful
classic!
Original
French title: Sans famille
Published
in 1878
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