Customer Reviews

Et si C'etait Vrai

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

 

 

Marc Levy, if I remember correctly, had all four of his novels on the French bestseller list recently. When I asked him last month which one I should read, he shrugged his shoulders as if they were all the same and replied: The first one? As it turns out, Et si c'etait vrai... has been translated into English (If Only It Were True) and DreamWorks has bought the movie rights. The movie, called Just Like Heaven, is currently filming with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo in the lead roles and is scheduled for release this fall.

With Witherspoon and Ruffalo in the mix, you can guess that this is not War and Peace. Et si c'etait vrai... is a fantasy about Lauren, a young, attractive San Francisco doctor who has a car accident and is pronounced dead (a lesson that young, attractive doctors should definitely wear their seatbelts). She manages to come back to life, but only to be in a coma indefinitely. We flash forward a few months to her apartment, recently inhabited by Arthur, a young, attractive San Francisco architect who is taking a bath. He opens his bathroom closet to find Lauren snapping along to the music and learns that only he can see, hear, and touch her spirit while her body remains in the hospital. Antics ensue, there is a bit of banter back and forth between Lauren and Arthur, and finally a denouement develops that is enjoyable and satisfying enough.

Levy sticks to what he knows in his first novel: he lived in San Francisco for almost a decade and he was an architect before becoming an author. The novel is flawed, in particular when it gets off track from the adventure of Lauren and Arthur to delve into Arthur's past and the psychological scars it has left. But it is light reading and a good chance for Americans to work their French and to get a glimpse of French pop culture. Yes, there is such a thing, and Marc Levy is in the heart of it.

Et si c'était vrai...juste après avoir lu la dernière ligne de ce livre c'est exactement ce que l'on se dit.Et on y réfléchi longtemps après. J'ai aimé ce livre parce qu'il m'a amené à me poser des questions sur la vie et la mort et l'âme. L'histoire est captivante parce qu'elle est unique aussi. C'est une aventure hors du commun et qui peut-être possible.L'auteur a eu beaucoup d'imagination pour penser une histoire pareille et en plus il a été capable d'amener le lecteur à une profonde réflexion. J'ai passé un très bon moment à lire ce livre.

Ce livre etait tres interessant. On pense beaucoup au sujet apres avoir lu. Je le recommende.

This book was thought provoking and a real page turner. I highly recommend it.

Un des meilleurs livres que j'ai lu! Je l'ai trouvé drôle, triste, comique, et il m'a amenée sur toute une piste de réflexion... J'ai adoré!

Ce livre est tout simplement excellent. Parmi les meilleurs que j'ai lus !