This is a perfect summer book - chick lit. It is set in Paris and follows the trials and tribulations of Annie, an expat whose husband tells her he is leaving her and then dies in a car accident. She is widowed with small children and can no longer afford her life and lifestyle. To make ends meet, she decides to offer room and board in her home. Two women, Lola (and her kids) and Althea, answer her ad and move in with all of their literal and figurative baggage. Lola is a former fashion model whose husband is verbally abusive to her. Althea is a 20-something anorexic. Among these three characters, most contemporary issues are addressed. Not to mention the two male characters and a variety of secondary characters. Regrettably, Paris was not an integral part of the novel, and others have questioned the accuracy of the references to Paris landmarks. The story is a good distraction which will make most readers feel their lives are not nearly so chaotic. It's a bit like an old-fashioned soap opera with a modern twist. The book is good for when you don't want to think too much - like on the beach on vacation. Look - I'm obsessed with just two things at the moment. Light, easy reads - preferably women/friendship centred and France. So this was a no-brainer for me. In fact, a month or so ago I bought literally about 20 books written about people moving to Paris or Provence. Almost all of them fiction and as light as this.And it's fine. It's not the Great American Novel. But it's not supposed to be, is it? The book centres around an American woman, Annie - who moved to Paris 12 years ago to marry Johnny. It's 3 years on and she's widowed now and her life is a mess. She is falling apart, has almost no friends other than a debonaire Frenchman named Lucas. Her entire life revolves around her 3 sons, her beautiful-but-falling-apart home in the 16th Arrondissement that she can't afford to keep anymore.Determined not to give in to Lucas' insistence that she sell the house and either move to the dreaded suburbs - she takes drastic action for a hermit - she advertises for three boarders. And so follows the story of Annie, Lucas and his godson Jared, the beautiful but terrified Lola and her two damaged children - and perhaps the most damaged of them all - Althea. We follow over the next months as they all start to heal {or not} in their own way. I've read criticism about Lucas' character - first that they could not believe him attractive as the author gave no insight at all to his physical appearance, nor his love for Annie in those first chapters. We hear how he is there, a constant presence in her life, every morning checking on her and the house - showing what she sees as his disapproval of her. They express surprise chapters later when we read the first chapter told from his point of view. But it makes sense to me. The state that Annie is in - mentally, emotionally, even physically means that she would be unable to perceive his presences as anything other than a)annoying or b)a sign of his disapproval. Because her husband's death and the events immediately preceding it left her shattered, her confidence dashed entirely, her belief in her own worth died with him. So of course, in her POV chapters, we won't see that Lucas might love her. How could we if she could never imagine herself lovable? And in that same vein, she isn't ready to see him as beautiful {at least on a sexual and available-to-her way} because she's isn't ready to let go of what happened with her husband and allow herself to feel that way yet.So in this way, her reactions to him, his steadfast frienship and discreet love for her were, to me more beautiful than the story might have been had they just described him as a delicious but vulnerable man and amped up the unresolved sexual tension. Anyway. I was invested {if somewhat irritated by Lola and became fascinated even by Mark's development. I wanted to parent Lia where her mother couldn't and I wanted to hug and cheer on little Simon. I was less invested in Althea {and really not at all in Jared} though I had hoped for a last-minute scene of her father reaching out to her, so perhaps I was a little invested in her story too.Again. 3 stars. It's not Grapes of Wrath or Persuasion but for a fun, rainy day read for someone obsessed with France {and who's ready to read lots of French inside the story} - it did the job.
What do You think about Pariisis Peidus (2011)?
Read March 2013. Hard to get into, but ok once 1/2 way thru.
—Mana
