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ilovestory's review
3.0
Enjoyed the hints about Paris, and insights into what it would be like to live my dream of living a year in Paris.
victoriathuyvi's review
3.0
Fun, light-hearted, but a very luxurious and privileged depiction of Paris.
dns24's review
4.0
This is the perfect memoir for those who hate memoirs! After overcoming breast cancer, James takes readers on the adventure of a lifetime as she and her husband take a year long sabbitical in Paris, dragging their unwilling children along for the ride. Her style is witty, original, down to earth, and hilarious (like the time she realized she had been washing her dishes with salt instead of dishwashing detergent all because of a lack of French language skills). If you want an uplifting read, this is it.
tessisreading2's review
3.0
A collection of anecdotes that had its basis in Twitter and Facebook posts. It shows - they're mostly very short. Fun and easy to read, but not a lot of background information given; I still have only the vaguest idea of what James' academic discipline is or what articles she was writing, and if I didn't know she was a romance novelist, and hadn't already read some of her books, I would have been confused by some of her comments about her writing in progress. Mostly anecdotes about her children, honestly; the occasional philosophical digression is actually less fun to read, because she's never established herself as a character (if that makes any sense) so I don't know where she's coming from. All in all, a pleasant read but not anything to look for if you're not already a fan of hers.
deecreatenola's review
5.0
I really wanted to give this book a lower rating. When I started it, I was disappointed, honestly, since it was told more in a series of long social media posts. More individual thoughts and images than any kind of narrative. But by the time I finished the book, I was crushed that I was at the end of it. I didn't want the family to leave Paris and I didn't want to leave the family. I wouldn't want every book written this way, but it sucked me right in! At night, I would dream lovely dreams about being in Paris. It was a beautiful story and even in the way it's told, it's about so much more than their time in Paris. There's death, grief, health concerns, marriage. So much. Lovely, lovely book.
balletbookworm's review
4.0
This book is really funny in places and I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting the descriptions of food, of jaunts to tres Parisian parks and museums, of meditating on French style but not the humor. It's not deliberately funny - it's funny only in the way that a mother reflecting on her half-Italian ten-year-old's dramatic recounting of a playground spat or that her teacher mocked her (I laughed myself silly when "Papa Bear" when off to defend "Baby Bear" but come to find out Baby Bear might have been exaggerating a wee bit). Or that Eloisa's husband (Alessandro, a fellow academic) tells her he bought some sweaters that are "different" - three are black and one is gray/black.
Somewhere I heard this described as a "cancer memoir". It's not (and the intro pretty says that, too) - it's about what comes when the treatment is finished and the doctors have declared remission. What happens then? Do you slip back into your previous life? Can you? This was her break, the chance to refocus.
Somewhere I heard this described as a "cancer memoir". It's not (and the intro pretty says that, too) - it's about what comes when the treatment is finished and the doctors have declared remission. What happens then? Do you slip back into your previous life? Can you? This was her break, the chance to refocus.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
A great weekend listen - and read by the author :)