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A review by albatrossonhalfpointe
Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris by Sarah Turnbull
3.0
"A delightful, fresh twist on the travel memoir, Almost French takes us on a tour that is fraught with culture clashes but rife with deadpan humor. Sarah Turnbull's stint in Paris was only supposed to last a week. Chance had brought Sarah and Frederic together in Bucharest, and on impulse she decided to take him up on his offer to visit him in the world's most romantic city. Sacrificing Vegemite for vichyssoise, the feisty Sydney journalist does her best to fit in, although her conversation, her laugh, and even her wardrobe advertise her foreigner status."
Before I worked in the Social Sciences department at Chapters, I hadn't really read much non-fiction, aside from whatever was required for school. But working there, I encountered a lot more of it, and much of it looked interesting. I especially found myself perusing the biography section fairly regularly, and found a lot of interesting-looking stuff. The bios of famous people didn't really interest me, but there are lots of stories of ordinary people who have lived interesting lives, or done interesting things, and those were the ones that always drew my attention. This was one of those. Girl visits Paris, and finds herself staying, having fallen in love with both a man and the city. But there are all kinds of obstacles and culture clashes and so on and so forth. And Sarah Turnbull does a really good job of telling them in a very entertaining way.
She tells her story more in vignettes, almost, rather than in a strictly linear fashion, and normally I don't much care for that. But it really worked for this story, and allowed her to focus each chapter on some aspect of life in Paris, like settling in, moving to a new apartment, shopping, meeting people, getting a dog, covering fashion shows, etc. And she succeeded in painting a fascinating portrait of the city and its people, and even made me snicker out loud at times, despite being on a bus full of people. Gotta love a writer who can do that. :)
Before I worked in the Social Sciences department at Chapters, I hadn't really read much non-fiction, aside from whatever was required for school. But working there, I encountered a lot more of it, and much of it looked interesting. I especially found myself perusing the biography section fairly regularly, and found a lot of interesting-looking stuff. The bios of famous people didn't really interest me, but there are lots of stories of ordinary people who have lived interesting lives, or done interesting things, and those were the ones that always drew my attention. This was one of those. Girl visits Paris, and finds herself staying, having fallen in love with both a man and the city. But there are all kinds of obstacles and culture clashes and so on and so forth. And Sarah Turnbull does a really good job of telling them in a very entertaining way.
She tells her story more in vignettes, almost, rather than in a strictly linear fashion, and normally I don't much care for that. But it really worked for this story, and allowed her to focus each chapter on some aspect of life in Paris, like settling in, moving to a new apartment, shopping, meeting people, getting a dog, covering fashion shows, etc. And she succeeded in painting a fascinating portrait of the city and its people, and even made me snicker out loud at times, despite being on a bus full of people. Gotta love a writer who can do that. :)