The French have been rided and derided to considerable lengths on their presumed special affinity with amour and its ramifications, but Sagan's books (it is difficult, in discussing generalities, to treat them separately), deal with nothing else, and it would be silly to ignore the insinuation that this, together with her pungent, cynical manner of handling the subject, might account, in substantial measure, for their fascination among French readers…. Our fascination, in the case of A Certain Smile, tends to spring more from wonderment rather than interest: wonderment in the first place, why anyone should want to write a book, even a very short one, about a not-very-unhappy, one-sided, inconsequential love affair, and secondly, why it should be acclaimed by a nation which is reputed to know so much about the subject already.

The conviction apparent in both of Sagan's books arises from an honesty in elaborating situations...