A Place in Normandy (Paperback)

~ (Author)

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.

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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)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

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

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.

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