Indirect Style For The French

In class we discussed indirect style and how this was a feature of Flaubert's style. At first I hadn't noticed it and I took it for granted. After I saw it explained in class and tried to implement it in my short story I realized this was a new way of showing things. The beauty of it (I believed) was that it made the reader think rather than give him everything. I decided to go back to the book (in French this time) to experience this in its original language. The style was almost the same and it had a very similar effect on me. I decided to ask my French teacher what she thought about this (what I thought was a "new" and "unique") style. The answer was completely different from what I expected. She explained to me (from her experience) that the French (in what might be a rather harsh generalization) do like to use that style. In fact, she said it was rather common and used in a slightly different way on daily speech. They won't tell you the whole idea but rather expect you to infer it from the clues they give you. I don't expect this generalization to be completely true. Still, their stereotype in Europe is that of Argentineans in South America so it might not be completely false either. Could it be that this style we see in Flaubert's writing be nothing more than a reflection of the general way of expression he saw in the French people at the time?