A Novel with Thoughts and Ponderings

PARIS IN LOVE

Author: Eloisa James ISBN: 9781400069569 4/2012 MEMOIR Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE

Paris in Love by Eloisa James
In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. Paris in Love: A Memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
 
With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina overfeeds Milo, the family dog).

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS: 4 Rose Read

Back in 2009, romance novelist/Shakespearean academic Eloisa James was ready for a change after the recent death of her mother and a good friend, and her own brush with breast cancer. She and her Italian husband took sabbaticals from their professor jobs, sold their house in New Jersey, and moved their two children to Paris for a year.

I have to say I loved this book until sour grapes slowly crept up on me. Her complaints about finances, hair dye issues, and weight get irritating to those of us not as blessed with money and thinness. But if you can get over green-eyed jealousy of a more fabulous life than yours, these vignettes and moments (originally posted on Facebook during the year) about life as an American in Paris will sweep you away to a funny, blessed year.

I especially enjoyed tales of her children, who I hope don’t read this memoir until they are old enough to find it humorous! We also learn about James’ relative, Claud, who lived in Paris and wrote about it one hundred years before she did. Her less-than-flattering opinion about him creates some narrative tension.

In conclusion, I still am not a fan of her fiction, but I would read another memoir by her, as I think her voice lends itself well to arch, quirky commentary.

Heather Hiestand

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