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A Place in Normandy (Paperback)

~ (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)


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  Hardcover, December 31, 1996 -- $7.20 $0.12
  Paperback, September 14, 1997 -- $7.50 $0.75

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Place in Normandy is the story of the author's struggle over whether to retain his grandfather's home in Normandy-, France--a place that evokes enchanted childhood memories--or sell it. The farmhouse was the place where his grandfather, Impressionist painter Frederick Frieseke, created some of his greatest works. (His other grandfather was the poet Joyce Kilmer.) Nicholas Kilmer recalls several days in late spring he spent preparing the house for summer renters. As he considers his wife's arguments for selling the house, he weighs his own attachment to its quaint quirks, the beautiful surrounding countryside and the history and traditions the family home embodies. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


From Publishers Weekly

What distinguishes this account of the trials and joys of fixing up an old French farmhouse from many others like it is that Kilmer didn't buy the place but inherited it; also three generations of his family spent memorable years in it and in its Norman village of Mesnil, near Pont l'Eveque. Long established, warm relations with the villagers protect Kilmer from regarding them as quaint or exotic. Even more unusual, although he and his wife, Julia, appreciate the excellence of French produce, Kilmer doesn't dwell on the familiar marvels of French cuisine. Instead, while shoring up the neglected place?roof, plumbing, bearing walls, electric wiring?is the impetus for his book, it also becomes an excursion into family history and a meditation on French village life since the 1920s, when his grandfather, American Impressionist painter Frederick Frieseke, bought the house. He traces each generation's structural additions and alterations, the gardens they planted, their parties, weddings, funerals, communions, crises and pleasures, and the distinctive beauties of the countryside. This quiet book subtly catches the rhythms of life and the flavor of an American family at ease in another culture. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (September 15, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0805055320
  • ISBN-13: 978-0805055320
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #789,844 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Nicholas Kilmer
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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (3)
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Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Memoir of an extramarital affair with an ancient farmhouse, May 10, 1997
By A Customer
This review is from: A Place in Normandy (Hardcover)
Kilmer comes from a line of poets and artists on both sides of his family. His extramarital affair with an ancient farmhouse in western France is erudite, witty and passionate. It is at once meandering and suspenseful. Wentworth Foster
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Perfunctory and disappointing, May 4, 2006
By Andrew S. Rogers (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
De gustibus non est disputandum, I suppose, but I really don't see why so many reviewers were so enraptured by this book. As a painter as well as a writer, Nicholas Kilmer has a flair for description and a talent for metaphor. But I never felt more than the smallest connection to his Norman home and the train of friends, relatives, tradesmen, and ancestors who marched through it during his few days of residence.

More to the point, I left the book without even feeling like I knew much more about Normandy than I did before I arrived. Unlike Peter Mayle's year in Provence, Kilmer's week in Mesnil seemed to open few doors to a broader understanding of the region and its people.

I think the comparison to Mayle is instructive because of the popularity of the foreigner-buys-a-house-in-France genre, lately expanded to Tuscany and other parts of Europe. Though American, Kilmer isn't entirely a foreigner: the house in Mesnil has been in his family for three generations. And so the reader could hope for some insights -- some sense of connection -- deeper even than the fish-out-of-water tropes of the other books. But I didn't get that at all. It felt more like the author's thought process was "People are writing books about houses in France; I have a house in France; therefore I will write a book." Unfortunately, the book turned out to be far more about collapsing bathroom floors and the mystery of the missing silver tray than about a passion for Normandy or even for a house. Does Kilmer really love the place? Or will he buy it from a sense of family obligation? I haven't the slightest idea.

I am going to be visiting Normandy in a few weeks, so I hoped this book would form a suitable introduction to the place and the people. Unfortunately, unless I end up standing in the author's upstairs bathroom, I'm afraid this book won't have much relevance at all. And I find that disappointing.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars My brother's charming & humorous memories .

, December 10, 1996

By A Customer
This review is from: A Place in Normandy (Hardcover)
This book is particularly interesting to me because I share many of my brother Nick's memories. I delight in his sense of humor and his eloquent style.

The first hardback trade edition, printed on acid-free paper, has excellent black and white reproductions. The New York Times recommended this book for Christmas giving. It's a keeper, and still widely available as a used or collectible book.

To see many images of paintings by our grandfather, F. C. Frieseke (Frederick Carl Frieseke), do an internet search. Also search for more Frieseke books here at Amazon.com.

Miriam A. Kilmer
Rising Dove Fine Arts and Services

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Deeply Unsatisfying
Quite frankly, I wish I hadn't bothered to buy and read this book. I read dozens of travel books each year and this so far is this year's least satisfying. Read more
Published on June 21, 2002 by Beth Johnston

5.0 out of 5 stars A gem of a book that is too little known
I found this book delightful, and so have passed it on to several people, all of whom think it is a great read.
Published on June 13, 2001

2.0 out of 5 stars It ain't Tuscany or Provence
After rebuilding ancient houses with Mayle in Provence and Mayes and Mate' in Tuscany I was rather disappointed in a repetitious recital of the problems with the floor, the rain,... Read more
Published on February 2, 1999 by Tbaynes@Juno.com

5.0 out of 5 stars A full-contact love affair with a romantic house
Nick Kilmer's lush, exuberant prose takes the reader through an eventful week, during which, by means of flashbacks and vignettes, we experience his dithering over the purchase of... Read more
Published on July 17, 1998 by Anne Hillis

4.0 out of 5 stars Update: good reproductions ; recommended for Christmas gift.
The first trade edition, printed on acid-free paper, has goodreproductions. I'm up-grading my rating to an 8. Read more
Published on December 19, 1996

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