The Open Road

<b>A nomad and a swindler embark on an eccentric road trip in this picaresque philosophical novel by the author of <i>The Man Who Planted Trees</i>.</b><br><br>The south of France 1950: A solitary vagabond walks through the villages towns valleys and foothills of the region between northern Provence and the Alps. He picks up work along the way and spends the winter as the custodian of a walnut-oil mill. He also picks up a problematic companion: a cardsharp and con man whom he calls &#147;the Artist.&#148; <br><br>The action moves from place to place and episode to episode in truly picaresque fashion. Everything is told in the first person present tense by the vagabond narrator who goes unnamed. He himself is a curious combination of qualities&#151;poetic resentful cynical compassionate flirtatious and self-absorbed.&#160;<br><br>While <i>The Open Road </i>can be read as loosely strung entertainment interspersed with caustic reflections it can also be interpreted as a projection of the relationship of author art and audience. But it is ultimately an exploration of the tensions and boundaries between affection and commitment and of the competing needs for solitude independence and human bonds. As always in Jean Giono the language is rich in natural imagery and as ruggedly idiomatic as it is lyrical.