Customer Reviews

My French Life

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I just returned from two weeks in Paris. As I was dreamily describing my adventure, someone asked, "Have you read My French Life?" I thought, just another book about I bought a house in France (or Italy) and this is how I dealt with the locals fixing it up, but this book is different. First of all it is so tastefully decorated, from its padded cover to its lovely photographs. In other words, so artistically French! I found myself reading it quickly when I opened it, and then I thought, slow down and savor this like an afternoon in a cafe. I buy a lot of books, read them and then pass them on, but this one I will keep to dip into over and over when I need a boost of French art, civility, and culture.

My French Life is one of those book gems....good looking not only on the coffee table but also a book capable of providing a wealth of easily read information on just what the good life in France can be like. In fact my partner has one copy and we also have another copy that we have placed in our Le Petit Hotel here in New Zealand for guests to enjoy. We are a long way from France but having a book like My French Life simply enables francofiles and others who value the best of French life, to dream of that far away land with its distinctive and quite different culture. Recommended reading.

The photos are absolutely gorgeous - no question! Due to it's size and the beautiful photographs, it would make a wonderful coffee table book.

Unfortunately, as for the text, it is shockingly bad. It is disjointed, uninteresting, and the writing style reminds me of the overly flowery writing of a high school student who gets extra credit for every "unique" adjective they use.

It's a rather expensive book, so if you are purchasing it solely for the photos, by all means, it is recommended. If, however, you were hoping to be inspired to visit France, gain some insight into the country or way of life, or just be entertained.... then please save your money.

I remember doing a search quite a while back for French Life (or something similiar) and found this book right before it's release. I immediately put it on my Wish List and kind of forgot about it.

A few months later, I found it again (going through my list) and decided I didn't want to spend $35 for this book so after much waiting it became available thru inter-library loan.

Let me tell you that I am so glad I was able to get it this way rather than pay for this overly-plush, terribly written book. Such a letdown..boring writing with heady photographs.
You will not learn anything new about the French in this book. It's the same thing: French style, food, politeness, slow pace, etc. And I got really sick of the author's constant referrals to her olive farm.

Best book on French style: Veronique Vienne's French Style: How to Think, Shop & Dress Like a Frenchwoman...magnificient OOP book but absolutely worth the inflated price.
Best book on French cuisine and life: Robert Arbor's Joie de Vivre.

Don't waste your time with this one. You'll just be paying for padded fluff.

I have never read anything so utterly pretentious -- how wonderful that Ms Archer found this paradise and, at untold cost, restored it brick by brick, stone by stone, using the best local craftspeople,artisans, antiquarians and the like (and who all, along the way, became her new best friends)-- and telling us in the most mundane style how lucky she is to be able to sit and watch the olives grow while also tripping off to Paris or London (her now home).

Her ultimate coup, it seems, and which Ms. Archer proudly tells us she has received, was recognition,by the French Security person at the airport,of her HERMES BERKIN handbag. He informed her that she had bought the most perfect item in the whole world, made with utmost craftsmanship at Hermes-- and she has the privilege of owning it! MON DIEU!!!

Luckily, I got this book from my local library and thus have not added a centime to her rather full coffers. SAVE YOUR MONEY! BETTER TO DONATE IT TO A WORTHY CAUSE!!!!

I had hoped the book was written to inspire a trip to France and explore the French lifestyle. Really, the writing left me unable to appreciate the lush photos; so self absorbed and boastful. My first ever return to Amazon.

This book touches the fantasy of every Francophile of moving to the south of France (or Paris) and living in a style seen only in film or lifestyle magazines. In this case, the Australian author, with husband and children, found a 400-year old farm in Provence and improved it to its current gorgeous state. The real star of the production, however, is the photographer who has put together the most appealing views of countryside, city scenes, food, life in Paris (see cover photo) seen outside a gallery.

The book is broken down into sections: finding and falling in love with the old olive farm, the beautiful countryside and garden, preparing for a wedding, visiting a friend in Paris, going to a bullfight in the southwest of France, etc. The text is chatty and certainly "right on" from the experiences of this Francophile. You can savor this for the tales of food alone, or visits with French craftsmen, or the insights into French life so beautifully documented by the photographs. A nice padded cover adds to the perfect gift package.

Afraid I have to agree with all the negative reviews on this book. I was hoping from the cover that this book would be about fashion, food and the french lifestyle, with lots of nice photos. But in my opinion, it was really more of a celebration of self album. I almost hate to say that because it sounds so bad but it really is. It's like I am successful and this is why.
Masquerading as a book on france.
In some of the other reviews there are comments like 'padded fluff' 'I, me, my' and 'how I restored an old (magnificant) farmhouse stone by stone and became best friends with all the locals in the meantime.' This sounds so catty but it really is the sort of book you'd expect by someone who read too many fashion magazines and after many years is feeling the need to prove herself. (She is/was a writer for a popular australian fashion magazine.)

It does have some nice photos though. However the cover gets your hopes up for something that unfortunatly just doesn't deliver.

The author seems like a nice person, but books are supposed to be there to give something to the reader, not masquerade as something that does under an effort to bolster a self-worth that's been slowly eaten away by a lifetime in a superficial industry.

I agree with the other reviewers who hated the writing...overly boastful, and really just bad, bad, bad. Does not give a glimpse of what french living is really like.

My two stars were for the photos, but even the good photography couldn't fix what I felt what a huge problem with the mas- it is too perfect. One of the things that makes those old farmhouses in France so beautiful and charming is their imperfections-- things aren't arranged perfectly, the yard isn't manicured. So the farmhouse really didn't look all that french to me.

This woman has really missed the mark.

that the cover photo is of Paris but the book is supposedly about her "coup de foudre" with a farmhouse in Provence which inspired her new "French life." If that is any indication of the care that went in to the writing of (or thought behind) the book, no thank you. Is THAT what your life in the south has meant to you? Paris et le metro?!?