Mourlevat, Jean-Claude. 2006. The Pull of the Ocean. Translated by Y. Maudet. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0385903642
Yann is the youngest of seven children. They are all boys and poor. His older siblings are three sets of twins, which makes Yann unique. Yann is also unique in that he is as small as a two-year-old, a miniature person. In reality, he is ten. In this modern retelling of the classic French version of Tom Thumb, Yann and his brothers go on a quest to find the ocean. However, as with any fairy tale, danger awaits them.
Critical Analysis
The plot is simple; the children are escaping their parents and trying to find their way to the ocean. The story is structured in that each chapter is told from the point of view of different characters in the story, Yann’s brothers, a truck driver with whom the children hitch a ride from, a social worker who is concerned about the children’s safety, etc. They all contribute to the story and highlight major struggles within the story.
The Pull of the Ocean is the modern version of the French author Charles Perrault’s “Little Thumb” or “Le petit Pouçet.” This version of Tom Thumb is well known to the French and told to their children in the same way as our own version of the tale is known in America. Mourlevat modernizes the tale to present day and identifies the French culture by the towns in which Yann and his brothers travel through to get to the Atlantic Ocean, such as Périgueux and Bordeaux. A quick look at a map helps readers not familiar with the area to relate to Fabien when he says, “Turns out Bordeaux isn’t by the ocean. Not one bit … You think it is if you don’t look at the map closely, but it’s not” (Mourlevat 2006, 137). These kids are tired at this point and have a long way to go. In addition to the location, the names of the characters are all French. The Doutreleau brothers are named Yann, Rémy, Fabien, Pierre, Paul, Max, and Victor. The other characters in the story have French names as well.
Like all fairy tales, there is the ultimate evil villain. However, good triumphs over evil, which gives readers a satisfying ending. On the other hand, the story has depth in that the reader questions the intentions of others. Unlike the average fairy tale, good is not perfectly good. Two of Yann’s brothers are bullies. Evil is not perfectly evil. One does not know if the children’s parents are truly bad people. They could just be poor and struggling with a bitter attitude towards life due to the hardness of it. More complicated characters make the fairy tale more appealing to older readers because they are closer to reality.
I find this book extremely interesting. I was so worried about the Doutreleaus, that I read it all in one sitting. This is because the siblings are so interesting. They are all not perfectly innocent or good, but they are children who ran away for their lives. I wanted them safe. The strength of this book is that although I am not French or familiar with the French culture, it is an interesting story without having to know anything about the culture. The only weakness for me was my need to get some background on the original French Tom Thumb story. I was curious enough to look for it on the Internet as I was reading because I kept thinking that this is not the Tom Thumb story I know. His parents love him! However, once I understood that the French have their own version of this classic children’s tale, I was able to sit back and enjoy a good read as well as appreciate the author’s ability to follow his cultural fairy tale exactly but with a more mature and modern day twist. Maybe an inclusion of the original story in its entirety will cure international readers’ curiosity.
Awards Won & Review Excerpts
- Mildred L. Batchelder Award, 2007
- Prix Sorciéres (French award for the best in children's and YA literature)
- Booklist: “The ending leaves readers a bit at sea, but the story is intriguing, and the relationship among the brothers is heartwarming.”
- Kirkus Reviews: “The prose is nightmarish but occasionally lovely, and older readers will appreciate its dark magic.”
- Readers who are unfamiliar with France may have trouble visualizing the Doutreleaus’ long journey. Try to chart their course on a map. How far is the Atlantic Ocean from their home?
- Read the French version of Tom Thumb and compare to how it differs from the versions of other cultures such as in America or England.
- This is an interesting website about Charles Perrault, the author of the version of Tom Thumb that Mourlevat uses for his story. It contains the story of Tom Thumb and some other fairy tales he put in writing. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault.html
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