Viper in the Fist

Viper in the Fist (French Vipère au Poing) is a novel by Hervé Bazin. It is the first and best known of a trilogy, the rest being La Mort du Petit Cheval and Le Cri de la Chouette. These three novels are largely autobiographical. When published in 1948, Vipère au Poing was an immense success and also the cause of a considerable scandal. It is nowadays considered a classic novel in France, read by students in high school. Synopsis Young Jean lives with his grandparents. When his grandmother dies, his parents come back from China (French Indochina in the 2004 film adaptation) where his father (Jacques) teaches law. He and his brothers then discover that their mother Paule is a horrible woman, who hates her life and her children. She is extremely severe with them, deliberately unfair to the point of cruelty. Their father is a weak man who, except on rare occasions, submits to his wife's will. He spends his time in entomology studies.