Rating: 
Summary: A comedy of international manners
Review: A comedy of manners with more than a dash of French farce, "L'Affaire" follows Johnson's previous two novels of Americans in France, "Le Mariage," and "Le Divorce" in skewering the minutiae, posturing, and misunderstandings of culture clash.Young dotcom multi-millionaire Amy Hawkins has come to France to improve herself, by skiing in the Alps, taking cooking lessons, learning French, and becoming a sophisticated shopper. "[She[ could not forget that nouveau riche was a term so dismissive that for English speakers it had been left in the original French, like terms for other harsh concepts - coup de grace, or savoir faire." After this application of culture she intends to run her own foundation to promote the idea of civilization through social cooperation, as promulgated by the theories of Prince Kropotkin. But first there's the cocktail party to get through on her first Sunday evening at the ski chateau, where she makes a huge gaffe by laughing when someone suggests the day's avalanche - which gravely injured two hotel guests - was caused by the overflight of American military planes. A maelstrom of human activity soon flutters around the comatose couple - an English publisher, Adrian Venn, and his much younger American wife, Kerry. Gathering around the hospital beds are: Kerry's bewildered 14-year-old brother, Kip, left caring for his 18-month old nephew; the grown British children from Venn's previous marriage; an illegitimate French daughter and her suave, cynical husband, and - from afar - the mothers of these disaffected offspring. Johnson moves from one character to the next, sketching their aspirations, disappointments, grudges, and libidinous urges. Venn's English lawyer, Osworthy, insists his client - declared brain-dead by the French doctor - must be moved to a better-equipped English hospital. Amy, with American can-do spirit, puts her money to a good purpose and organizes the move. But is Osworthy trying to save his client's life, or just have him pronounced dead on British soil? Belatedly, Amy discovers that French and English laws differ widely in the disposal of a man's affairs. The French, following the Napoleonic code, disperse property among blood relatives, regardless of the wishes of the deceased, and to the detriment of the spouse. The British, like the Americans, allow a person to leave their property as they wish, vindictive or nonsensical as their desires may be. With sharp wit and masterful, but kindly, ambivalence, Johnson lets her characters loose on each other in the throes of self-interest, guilt, sorrow, anger, longing, attraction, and all the other messy emotions divorce, new families, death and property engender. Cultural misunderstandings, insecurities and chauvinisms flourish among rash and sometimes regretted couplings. A delightful, sophisticated, comedy without brittleness or brutality.
Rating: 
Summary: Have "L'Affaire"
Review: After experiencing "Le Divorce" and "Le Mariage," readers can experience "L'Affaire," the latest Henry-James-does-chick-lit book on France by Diane Johnson. "L'Affaire" is a fun read with some witty insights, though it putters out near the end. Amy is an American dotcom exec who has become a millionaire, but she feels oddly guilty about her newfound wealth. She vacations in Hotel Croix St. Bernard, a ski lodge in Valmeri, France, and encounters an odd gaggle of people including a lustful count, likable poet Robin, and sexy TV executive Emile. But things take a nasty turn when an English publisher, Adrian Venn, and his young wife are nearly killed in an avalanche. When it seems that Venn is probably going to die, his assorted children show up, including an illegitimate daughter married to Emile, who is having a fling with his wife's half-sister. Now it's a fight between the French and the British -- the inheritance will be divided differently, depending where Venn dies. Amy, trying to do a good deed, ends up ensnaring herself in a bitter family feud. Diane Johnson seems to have a bit of a love-hate relationship with France -- love everything about it except the attitude towards Americans. Blaming American planes for an avalanche is only the start; the cultural clashes between France, England and the United States are at the core of the novel, adding spice to a typical family feud. Johnson's writing is fresh and detailed, and for much of the novel she intrigues with stories of sexy Eurotrash, chic ski lodges and extended families linked by one loathed man. And she manages to wriggle in some cultural insights: how different cultures are seen across the world and how those viewpoints can be wrong -- like lumping all Americans into one big group. Unfortunately, things start unravelling near the end. The plot simply starts meandering, as if Johnson couldn't figure out what to do to wrap up the storyline. There's a shocker lawsuit and divorce thrown in to maintain tension, but "L'Affaire" simply runs out of plot twists. So it grinds to a halt in a flurry of legalspeak. Johnson tends to create characters by type: the French tend to be calculating and obnoxious, the Brits tend to be bitter, and the Americans nice but a bit dumb. Amy seems like a nice if bland character, until she starts sleeping around for no good reason. The supporting characters tend to be rather obnoxious, except for well-meaning teenager Kip, who just wants his sister and nephew to be all right. "L'Affaire" loses steam at the end, but it's an amusing light read with a twisted family and a young woman just trying to help. A flawed yet entertaining social commentary novel.
Rating:
Summary: Have "L'Affaire"
Review: After experiencing "Le Divorce" and "Le Mariage," readers can experience "L'Affaire," the latest Henry-James-does-chick-lit book on France by Diane Johnson. "L'Affaire" is a fun read with some witty insights, though it putters out near the end. Amy is an American dotcom exec who has become a millionaire, but she feels oddly guilty about her newfound wealth. She vacations in Hotel Croix St. Bernard, a ski lodge in Valmeri, France, and encounters an odd gaggle of people including a lustful count, likable poet Robin, and sexy TV executive Emile. But things take a nasty turn when an English publisher, Adrian Venn, and his young wife are nearly killed in an avalanche. When it seems that Venn is probably going to die, his assorted children show up, including an illegitimate daughter married to Emile, who is having a fling with his wife's half-sister. Now it's a fight between the French and the British -- the inheritance will be divided differently, depending where Venn dies. Amy, trying to do a good deed, ends up ensnaring herself in a bitter family feud. Diane Johnson seems to have a bit of a love-hate relationship with France -- love everything about it except the attitude towards Americans. Blaming American planes for an avalanche is only the start; the cultural clashes between France, England and the United States are at the core of the novel, adding spice to a typical family feud. Johnson's writing is fresh and detailed, and for much of the novel she intrigues with stories of sexy Eurotrash, chic ski lodges and extended families linked by one loathed man. And she manages to wriggle in some cultural insights: how different cultures are seen across the world and how those viewpoints can be wrong -- like lumping all Americans into one big group. Unfortunately, things start unravelling near the end. The plot simply starts meandering, as if Johnson couldn't figure out what to do to wrap up the storyline. There's a shocker lawsuit and divorce thrown in to maintain tension, but "L'Affaire" simply runs out of plot twists. So it grinds to a halt in a flurry of legalspeak. Johnson tends to create characters by type: the French tend to be calculating and obnoxious, the Brits tend to be bitter, and the Americans nice but a bit dumb. Amy seems like a nice if bland character, until she starts sleeping around for no good reason. The supporting characters tend to be rather obnoxious, except for well-meaning teenager Kip, who just wants his sister and nephew to be all right. "L'Affaire" loses steam at the end, but it's an amusing light read with a twisted family and a young woman just trying to help. A flawed yet entertaining social commentary novel.
Rating: 
Summary: This Witty Book is a Rollicking Good Time
Review: Amy Hawkins, strikingly rich, blond and American, comes to believe she has no sense of culture. Having sold her share in a tech company that netted her an obscene amount of money, she takes herself and her good intentions off to France where she thinks she can learn things of value for meaningful living. While she waits for a suitable apartment in Paris to be fitted out for her, she dons a silver ski suit and hooks up with a handsome instructor at a small but highly fashionable resort in the French Alps. An entertaining couple of days into her stay, the weather turns wicked, loosing a cavalcade of snow that gathers itself into a dodgy avalanche, burying several skiers lacking the requisite speed to get out of its way. One couple, Adrian and Kerry Venn, are among the unfortunate stragglers, leaving their infant child and her teenage brother to fend for themselves in the Hotel St. Croix Bernard at the foot of the slopes. While the couple lies in a coma, their combined children gather around with conflicting motives and with a common purpose: to protect their stake in the theoretical inheritance. Despite Kerry's signs of stirring, the outlook for Adrian is grim. Not sure whether or not to root for his survival, the children hover in an attempt to ensure their portion of the estate, which will be divided far differently depending on whether he dies in France or England. Never mind his desires stated in the will, and never mind his new wife. Laws are laws. That's when benevolent American Amy Hawkins steps in to save the day. She believes airlifting the near-dead Adrian to the highly regarded Brompton hospital in England will give him a better chance at recovery, so she shells out the exorbitant sum for the trip. However, Amy's actions backfire on her. No one hails her as a heroine; in fact, they frown on her more as a meddler. She is, after all, American and the rumor has it that American warplanes caused the avalanche in the first place. Now this prying, uncultured --- albeit beautiful --- woman has interjected herself into the wretched family's personal tragedy. Even her earnest enrollment in French language and cooking lessons is viewed by the skeptical foreigners as vastly self-serving. What else would you expect of an American? Meantime, with the snow swirling at the windows, the hotel guests seem to fall in love --- ... --- with the ease of skis sliding downhill. They find themselves amusing each other in highly inventive ways when they are not taking cheap potshots at one another. But their sights remain always on the treasure. With a subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) humor that creeps up on you and overtakes you like the avalanche that overtook the Venns, L'AFFAIRE exposes a surfeit of life's absurdities. It explores the notion that traveling --- or worse, attempting to live --- abroad can become decidedly challenging. This witty book reads like one would imagine a French soap opera. There's plenty of ... , social barbs, partner switching, an illegitimate child, a divorcee or two, and some royalty thrown into the mix for good measure. It is, as the English poet Robin Crumley (Hotel St. Croix Bernard resident) might have said, a rollicking good time. --- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
Rating:
Summary: Anglo-Gallic situational parlor offering
Review: Diane Johnson's latest novel is one of cross-cultural manners. She's taken a bunch of wealthy and attractive characters, stuffed them into a luxurious ski resort in the French Alps, landed a wealthy British man and his much younger American wife in comas - and then she lets all the numerous offspring and ex-wives deal with the internecine scheming for control of the estate. But the best part is the snappy and witty dialogue that reveals character, country of origin, still strongly-held stereotypical opinions, etc.
It's a good read.
Rating:
Summary: "A L'AFFAIRE To Remember"
Review: European culture clashes head-on with American attitude in the delightful "L'AFFAIRE" by entertaining storyteller Diane Johnson. Award-winning author of Le Divorce tells the story of a young woman in search of a little excitment in her life so she leaves California for a ski resort in the French Alps, but (by the skin of her chin) surviving an avalanche on her first afternoon at the ski resort is not exactly what she had in mind on her quest for excitment...nor was falling in love a part of the equation. (Fun Story...Fun Writer!)
Rating:
Summary: "A L'AFFAIRE To Remember"
Review: European culture clashes head-on with American attitude in the delightful "L'AFFAIRE" by entertaining storyteller Diane Johnson. Award-winning author of Le Divorce tells the story of a young woman in search of a little excitment in her life so she leaves California for a ski resort in the French Alps, but (by the skin of her chin) surviving an avalanche on her first afternoon at the ski resort is not exactly what she had in mind on her quest for excitment...nor was falling in love a part of the equation. (Fun Story...Fun Writer!)
Rating: 
Summary: Weak
Review: Going over much of the old ground found in her earlier books. Starts interestingly enough but the ending just drops from no where. Ms Johnson would definitely benefit from finding a new theme. The main problem, like many stories, is that the initial idea had some grip, but the author had no grasp of how to bring to a satisfactory conclusion.
Rating: 
Summary: Very boring
Review: I found this book very tiresome. The writing was not especially witty or graceful, and the characters often seemed more like "types" than people. The book was neither as amusing as it might have been if the author had set out to write a comedy of manners, nor as intellectually and emotionally compelling as it might have been if the author had written about characters with depth and complexity. Use your money to buy a better book and your time to read something engaging.
Rating:
Summary: Very boring
Review: I have greatly enjoyed all of Diane Johnson's books especially since "Le Divorce." Her style is unique and fresh, and the subject matter engrossing and captivating. I believe she is one of the great new voices of American fiction, even if her subjects involve Americans lost and bewildered by alien surroundings and customs. I agree, none of her novels are "fast" reads, if that is what is important to you. But I was engrossed from the minute I began savoring this and her other novels.
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