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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting and amusing frolic through Paris, September 30, 2007
This review is from: Left Bank (Mass Market Paperback)
This book is a change from those I usually read - generally I only pick books where I can relate to the main character in some way - and I am about as different from Madison Malin and Anna Ayer as a person can be! However I found myself entraced by Muir's writing and read on, convinced that truth under the artifice would eventually seep through into the story, and on this score Muir did not disappoint. Like peeling back the wrapper on a glorious and well aged cheese (or perhaps like unraveling the pastry from one of Olivier's prized patisserie treats) the truth of the Malin family is revealed one gourmet sized portion at a time. When I first began reading I was firmly in Anna's corner - identifying with the troubled nanny who befriended the lonely Sabine and took on the mother's role when Madison could not (or would not). However as the story unfolded, I got over my initial dislike for the self centered and gastronomically challenged Madison and by the end of the book it was her I felt closest to, and her I respected the most. This book would obviously mean a lot more to people who have been to Paris (sadly, I am not one of them!) and can recall the famous landmarks where the story takes place. For me, the attention given to setting was all generally lost, with one French named location blending into all the others. This would be a lovely book to take to Paris and read while you are there! I agree the ending was predictable, and I would have liked all of the characters to have gained a measure of self awareness, but such is life.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Petty Parisians., September 22, 2007
This review is from: Left Bank (Mass Market Paperback)
Amusing story about a self-obsessed couple living and working in a wealthy neighbourhood in Paris. The couple in question, Olivier and Madison Malin are characters I could find no sympathy for or connection with. He is an aging philosopher who may spout intelligent rhetoric but completely lacks integrity, especially when it concerns his wife and child. Madison is a distant mother and an egomaniac in her own right, that is until her daughter Sabine goes missing briefly from an amusement park. That seems to be a catalyst for her to realize what is important (and I'm sure the fact that she's an over 40 actress highlighted it). Attractive looks and slender physiques don't transfer well on the page and when that seems to be all these characters have in the way of strengths they end up watercolour people. I really wanted to like the character of Anna, english nanny to Sabine but when she started an affair with Olivier I found any emotional connection that had been made by the auther rudely broken. It all seems so stereotypical. The descriptions of Parisian life are lovely, especially those inside cafes and restaurants or recounting Olivier's passion for cheese..how utterly french! The ending seemed sad and predictable.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
terrific satire, July 4, 2007
This review is from: Left Bank (Mass Market Paperback)
In Paris Olivier Malin is old generation French with a family motto; he is the author of Chechnya: Beyond Philosophy and renowned for his love of cheese, wine, and slender tall women. His wife Madison is a product of Hollywood via the Lone Star States; her family proves you can take the Texan out of Texas, but can't take Texas out of the Texan. Residents of the Left Bank consider Olivier and Madison as the perfect couple and with their perfect daughter seven-year-old daughter Sabine make up the perfect family. The biggest issue facing Olivier is the cheese right; for Madison is age as the camera makes her look old performing in the nude. However, that changes when Sabine vanishes at a theme park. As her parents panic while searching for Sabine, concierge, friends, family, well wishers and servants tear the couple apart with their specialized compassion including a few providing physical passion. Sabine seems increasingly more like a lost trophy than a missing child. This is a terrific satire of French and American family values as the rescue of Sabine seems insignificant to her parents once the retinue shows up. The story line fries French and Texas frontier pretenses in which the image is everything and Botox is god. Kate Muir uses the mixed cultural couple to lampoon the dysfunctional historical and modern relationship between America and France symbolized by the Statue of Liberty as much as by Congressional name changing to frontier fries. Harriet Klausner
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