Book Review: "The Blood of Others" by Simone de Beauvoir

It's the end of April 2025 and I have to admit something, on this particular day I've been quite sick so I've been in bed for most of the day. I did cook and read, but apart from that I've not been feeling great. I've been watching some YouTube videos and reading this book until it was finished. I've drank probably about three litres of water and as of yet, I still feel pretty terrible. Hopefully my condition improves by tomorrow but it's a bit crap for now. Sickness really is just inconvenient more than painful. Well, that being done and explained, let's get on with the review for this book.

Jean is the main character of this story and he feels a bit upset about the life he has led up until now. He has had quite a privileged youth and upbringing and so, often feels cut off from the real world. I can say that in our times of being led by the privileged top university class of the USA we can definitely see that there are some ways in which this is true: being part of that class is akin to being very detached from the normal person. This becomes more of an issue as France crumbles beneath the weight of Nazi Occupation and he realises that his silence on this is basically like compliance. Obviously, in reality silence is not compliance - some people simply don't talk about things they don't know about, but please give this book a chance on this part.

Hélène is Jean's lover who was first concerned with her own happiness and the novel really does present her as this kind of airheaded character only wanting to be in the world if they don't have to deal with the social responsibility of the cultural movements in politics and current affairs. Now, I don't like the way Beauvoir turns these two characters into representatives of resistance. Even though I agree the Occupation was wholly bad, present the middle class as being revolutionary is basically making Victor Hugo turn in his grave. We know from all walks of history, movements usually start at the roots and there is a whole new story down there Beauvoir can't tell because she doesn't know. I have my issues with Beauvoir, there are some things I can take but there are some things I cannot. This is one of the things I cannot take.

Set against the Occupation, it also deals with its title: The Blood of Others. Marcel is a man who dies fighting for the resistance movement and this is one of Jean's friends. Part of Jean's 'spiritual awakening' therefore is Marcel's death and that is a weird thing to catapult you into a resistance movement against a force like the Nazis. But I think we do have to give Beauvoir some credit for depicting the realities of being a privileged youth in that it has to be on your doorstep for you to care about it enough to do something. For the poorer people of France, I can't imagine they had much of a choice. In their case silence isn't compliance, it is survival.

Yes, I will say that Beauvoir is depicting that true resistance to tyranny is your ability to engage with the struggles of others, but I'm not sure about how this is being portrayed by the character of Jean. I found Jean to more than often be annoying and whiny. I studied Simone De Beauvoir in university for a little bit and though it wasn't in huge detail, I did like The Second Sex. However here, I think de Beauvoir is campaigning for the university middle class liberals to run the show and I mean, look how it's been turning out so far - not great for the working class.

The whole book revolves around the death of Hélène and how she ditches her personal happiness to give herself to a cause. I think it was an interesting concept it's just that the writing around it is pretty bland. It's not say, the death of Enjorlas in Les Miserables which is a dramatic event with intense Christian symbolism. It's more a subdued experience. I'm not sure what de Beauvoir is trying to say by making it so bland - is she saying that Hélène's death was one of many, or is she saying that her death was part of the privileged class's exercise in futility when it comes to relating to the real world or, even weirder - is she martyring Hélène?

All in all, this book does have some good points, one of those is that it is quite interesting to read. But I think that when it comes down to the key philosophies of the book there is something really quite strange about it. I'm not sure I really liked it very much because the suggestion is presented as positive. We can see in society though, that it isn't all sunshine and rainbows.