Résumé
Résumé de Sido et Les Vrilles de la vigne
Go deeper: the whole of Sido et Les Vrilles de la vigne
About 3 h 20 min to read.À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
You will love this book if you enjoy lyrical memoir, gardens and weather, cats and dogs, sharp portraits of women and mothers, and the sights and smells of France.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
What does it mean to be from a village, and to stay from it? Colette opens Sido with her mother arguing that very point. Sido lifts a lace curtain, spots a visitor from Paris in the street, and reads her whole life from her bosom and her tiny feet.
This book joins two works by Colette, the French writer who died in 1954. Sido is a late memoir of her mother, her father the Captain, and her two wild brothers, set in a Burgundy village of walled gardens. The Tendrils of the Vine gathers sketches from her early years as a writer, when she also worked on the music hall stage. You get a portrait of a mother who reads the winds, then a gallery of short pieces about nightingales, pets and painted women.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A provincial mother judges Paris with fierce witFree
- 2The garden is a compass of winds and voices
- 3Dawn and secret seeds teach a treasure hunter
- 4Sido is tender, defiant and never easy to define
- 5The Captain hides his sorrow behind a song
- 6Two wild brothers live apart from the world
- 7The Tendrils of the Vine turns fear into song
- 8Cats and dogs hold up a mirror to their owner
- 9Valentine and the women of Paris wear their masks
- 10The stage, the seaside and the double named Claudine
Point clé 1 sur 10
A provincial mother judges Paris with fierce wit
Colette begins Sido with an argument about pride. Her mother says that Parisians are proud of living in Paris, and she cannot help laughing at them. Then she lifts a lace curtain and sees a woman from the capital in the street. From her bosom, her chains and her tiny feet she decides the stranger must be a cashier in a big café.
Sido leaves her département only three times a year, yet her judgments land with the weight of law. Every two years or so she goes to Paris and comes home loaded with chocolate, fabric and violet perfume. Her daughter notices what the speeches hide. The smell of the gray squirrel coat leaves the child too moved to embrace her. Then Sido spots a broken geranium branch and mends it with a gold cord and a scrap of cardboard.
From her mother Colette takes a love of the provinces, with its pure code of conduct and its old house closed on every side. Pride of place can be sharp, funny and warm all at once.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Sido et Les Vrilles de la vigne
About 3 h 20 min to read.Questions about Sido et Les Vrilles de la vigne
What is Sido by Colette about?
Sido is Colette's memoir of her mother, a village woman who reads the winds, loves her garden and judges people with wit. It also draws her father the Captain and her two wild brothers, in a Burgundy village of walled gardens.
Who is Sido in Colette's book?
Sido is the nickname of Colette's mother, Sidonie. Only her husband, Colette's father, calls her by it. Colette's mother calls her Minet-Chéri, a pet name heard in the opening exchange about village identity and Parisian pride.
What are The Tendrils of the Vine?
The Tendrils of the Vine is an early collection of short prose pieces by Colette. It starts with a fable of a nightingale caught by vine tendrils and moves through sketches of love, animals, friends, the seaside and the stage.
Is Sido a true story?
Yes, Sido is memoir, drawn from Colette's own childhood and her memories of her parents and brothers. It was written late in her life. The Tendrils of the Vine blends sketches, fables and scenes from her life as a writer and performer.
Who will enjoy Colette's Sido and The Tendrils of the Vine?
Readers who love gardens, animals, French village life, and short vivid scenes will find much here. Each piece is brief and has its own mood, so you can read one at a time and enjoy the voice.
Cite this edition
Colette. Sido & The Tendrils of the Vine. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/sido-the-tendrils-of-the-vine.
Colette. (2026). Sido & the tendrils of the vine. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/sido-the-tendrils-of-the-vine
Colette. Sido & The Tendrils of the Vine. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/sido-the-tendrils-of-the-vine.
@book{colette2026sido,
author = {Colette},
title = {Sido \& The Tendrils of the Vine},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/sido-the-tendrils-of-the-vine}
}
