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Jane D. (Boulder, CO)
A Window on Paris
This book gives a delightful picture of an American family's year in Paris. The brief episodes are entertaining and frequently thought provoking. My only regret was that I sometimes found myself wishing for a more detailed story.
Carol N. (San Jose, CA)
A Quick Read
After a bout with cancer, romance novelist Eloisa James takes a sabbatical and moves her family to Paris to enjoy a year of nothing but experiencing life in the City of Lights. While there she “Tweets” and updates her “Facebook” followers with the quirks and joys of Paris living ... this book is a collection of those posts. Most of her posts are no more than a few sentences long, consisting of witty, observant updates on food, shopping, her kids, her Italian husband and a plump little dog. However for me, these loosely connected paragraphs, no matter how well written, are not the kind of material I want to experience when I sit down with a book. Perhaps her well-polished posts would make great reading for times when only a few minutes are available such as waiting for an doctor’s appointment, getting your hair done, or experiencing the commute travel to the city.
Kristen H. (Baltimore, MD)
Paris in Love
The best part of this book for me was that it made me nostalgic for Paris, where I lived for a year following college. I loved reading about the places and customs and traditions and idiosyncrasies that we're such a joy to experience, when I was there. But beyond the personal memories, I enjoyed the book. The intimate nature of the writing makes the reader feel like they are part of the family - and in some ways the story could be a year in the life of the family in any city in the world. I liked the book, but I wished that it had been deliberately written as a memoir of her life in Paris, rather than a collection of extremely short missives. I would have preferred the story with slightly more real narrative. I don't think I will read it again, and I am not sure that it was memorable enough for me to recommend to anyone else.
Christine
Paris Deserves Better
A book written about Paris deserves more than tweets and facebook updates with the occasional essay thrown in. Eliosa James had some lovely descriptions of her experience in Paris but the format for the book was unsatisfying. It was hard to feel connected to her as she jumped from what she saw from her apartment window, to the exploits of her daughter in school, and then to a cooking experience or shopping trip. The part I liked the most were the essays. Read those and skip the rest.
Mary G.
Recommended only for your bedside
I agree wholly with the reviewer above (I think it was Carol N), but have to lower my rating a bit. The writing style has charm, the vignettes are mostly interesting, but it isn't a "book" book that will keep you turning pages to find out what happens. Save it for bedside reading, and yes, for doctor visits, perhaps for commuting, but if you need to be wrapped up in a good read for the afternoon look elsewhere. In fairness, I should mention that I am no gourmet, so spend my own time in Paris looking for croque monsieurs and simple crepes; it seems food is much more interesting to many readers today. And doesn't the parenting rattle some of the readers? It rattled me...but then, I have to confess to being in my 80's and I accept that Eloisa and Alessandro live in a different parenting world. Maybe that's a good thing?
Helen M. (Petaluma, CA)
What's missing?
I was so looking forward to a memoir about a year in Paris but this book fell short for me. I found the method of very short posts that Eloisa wrote in distracting and more often left me wanting for more. Sometimes it was appropriate but more often it felt disjointed. On the positive side, there were bright and beautiful insights to the people, the places and the food. I always just wanted more. Or perhaps, the thread that connected the whole work was what was absent. Absolutely delightful insights into parenting and a light sense of humor did keep the pages turning. People who love Paris, or just love to travel will enjoy the read if they can stick with the format.
Nancy E. (Whitehouse Station, NJ)
Not What I Expected
I must have enjoyed Peter Mayle's books about Provence too much, as I was expecting this would be about Paris in a similar way. It is not. I enjoyed the first few pages of the book but as it went on it became very boring. The little snippets of information became annoying to read, and there was too much about the author's children and was of little interest to me, although I can understand a mother's desire to write about her children.
Lora O. (Antioch, CA)
Unsatisfying look at Paris.
I was very disappointed in the book which turned out to be a series of blogs about the year the author spent in Paris with her husband and two children. The author does write well, the descriptions are colorful and she has a sense of humor, but there is no connecting narrative.
Reading it was like reading a facebook description of a vacation. The book does contains a handful of narrative chapters that are much more interesting and show more thought than the blog entries. There is one chapter about the death of a friend I found quite moving. The author writes a lot about her children, ages 15 and 11, and while some of those relate to attending school in a foreign country, most would be the reactions of teenagers anywhere.
I found these blog entries to be very superficial, the writer doesn't seem to be interested in understanding the country she's living in or it's people. Even after a year, she can't communicate fluently in the language. Throughout the book, her major concern seems to be food, fashion and her "bad hair year".
I read every book I can find on living and traveling in Paris - and this is the most unsatisfying. I could not recommend this book and probably would not read anything else by this author, especially since I learned she writes romance novels.
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