Tuesday 18 August 2015

Lit Nit Wit; Almost French

I mentioned this book a while ago and how I would review it along with Victor Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris. I was utterly fooling myself that I' d manage that book, Ill stick to the Disney movie I think, ha. If you are able to read and enjoy Victor Hugo I have a special respect for you. 
I digress, so Almost French follows the story of an  Australian journalist who meets a French man on her journey around europe and after one meeting is invited to stay at his apartment and really she never leaves. Instead of being a love story between them it looks at her attempt to assimilate herself into the Parisian culture and the trials that they both face when she is completely ignored at dinner parties who being an outsider, which surprises even her partner. His surprise at this and the extent of the snootyness I found interesting, as at least she had read a book where she was recommended to imagine the other guests as chairs because at the end of the night when no one has spoken to you, you are not surprised or sad as they were chairs and chairs can't speak.

She also writes candidly about her difficulty in finding a journalist job for a while and the affects that can have on someone so used to working and to a newly formed couple. It was also interesting to see how she integrated into her partners life, whereby some friends are not trying with his girlfriend and she and her lack of desire to regularly visit his father. One thing I didn't enjoy about the book was she didn't really talk about how she fell for this man and changes her whole life trajectory, I understand how they meet and she visits him but then it never goes into  detail about how they went from that to them marrying really. It mostly kinda sounds like they are housemates that only hang out with his friends, which makes her convincing him to move closer into the city and not visiting his father quite as  often as a bit pushy.

As someone who could absolutely see herself moving to Paris for a couple of years, more than likely as an old lady with her cats ( it has been discussed that if out of al 17 cousins I am the most likely to end up a cat lady), so it was interesting to see an actual experience, the ups and downs and ultimately was it worth it. I would recommend this book even if you never plan on falling for a French man any time soon.

No comments:

Post a Comment