Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining and educational
Review: "Almost French" is a remarkable story of a woman who goes to France to visit an acquaintance, a French lawyer. It is the romantic nature of the city of Paris that rapped her. She came to enjoy the day to day regular life of , strolls in the city, dinner parties, meeting friends, enjoying the flow of the city, finding employment, meeting new people, traveling, learning more about the French, cooking, the night life, shopping and many other activities. This is one of the books that do not paint a false picture of living in France, and tells it the way it truly is. Living in a foreign country and culture is hard. Before you get used to it, there are times when you almost get reduced to tears, when you feel lost, when you feel like venting your listlessness at the 'friendly locals. This book is a fascinating series of accounts told from a journalist's point of view. For anyone harboring romantic visions of becoming an expatriate, more so in a country like France or a city like Paris, I recommend this book. Even for those who have already visited Paris, and those yet to visit, this is a book to read.
This memoir of Sarah Turnbull's move to Paris from Australia is a fun to read book. I was amused by her recount of her dog. I am looking forward to more books by this author.Also recommended: THE USURPER AND OTHER STORIES, LIVING AND WORKING IN PARIS, SIXTY MILLION FRENCHMEN CAN'T BE WRONG, DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining Read!
Review: A charming story concerning an Australian journalist's experiences adapting to living with her French boyfriend in Paris. Her easy-to-read writing is filed with poignent and often funny anecdotes, interspersed with wry commentary on the cultural differences that separate Anglo-Saxons from Gallic citizens. Overall, an entertaining read. I highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Always wished you could live in Paris - Here's a realistic
Review: account of what it's really like. I think Americans are so used to putting themselves down when it comes to history and culture that a book like this, with it's heavy dose of realism, is an eye opener. Yes, I know that Mme Turnbull is Australian, but the two countries seem to share many of the same attributes - openess, friendliness and casualness. So, while the idea of living in a breathing museum of beautiful buildings and tons of history is appealing (also being able to take your dog ANYwhere) - what about people taking no real interest in you or confronting a huge lack of curiousity about anyone that one hasn't known since high school! Good grief! A small, throw-away passage from this book really helped in an area I've been working on. Specifically when the author is so pleased at having come up with the mot juste in the patisserie when an old man snarls about her dog being allowed inside. Like all of us living in tight spaces with many people it's a struggle to remain civil and courteous and this episode, in an under-handed way, reminded me that it's
good discipline to do so. Thanks Mme Turnbull for pulling the gauze off the illusion that Le Vie Parisienne is tres romantique!
Rating:
Summary: Very Insightful
Review: Almost French is the story of how Sarah Turnbull, an Australian, moves to Paris and slowly becomes French herself. She covers many of the cultural differences that served as stumbling blocks for herself and anyone else who might find themselves in the same situation. She manages to lift the veil on the reason why Parisians are generally considered rude......the simple fact that they don't know you and that it takes time (alot of time) to build a friendship there. It also serves as an informative eye-opener for anyone who may be considering a visit to France with its abundance of useful information for getting by. Definitely recommended for any Francophile or potential visitors.
Rating: 
Summary: An informative view of life in Paris that lacks spice
Review: An informative read but the writer gives a very bland, sanitized version of her experiences leaving out the juicy romantic details of what it is like to be in the most romantic city in the world in a romantic relationship with a frenchman. The story goes from their first meeting, to her arrival in Paris straight to spending a week together in the french countryside without ever mentioning a word about how their romance and subsequent relationship blossomed. Perhaps the writer might say this is because the french are private about such matters, in spite of their love of sexually charged "witticisms" but frankly, the audience of the book is clearly Australian, English and American, all of which would be interested in such information. Informative and insightful in some aspects and disappointing in others.
Rating:
Summary: Australia Invades France
Review: An young Aussie journalist charges into France, determined to win it over. France resists. Some of the best non-fiction of any kind is written by journalists. Turnbull's open and straightforward style works well here. Her narrative reads like a series of letters from a good friend, but the writing is too good for it to have been dashed off. I loved reading about her dinner parties (disaster), getting along with her future in-laws (disaster), and learning to reconcile Australian casualness with Parisian attention to appearance (less of a disaster once her boyfriend talked her into tossing the sweat pants). I was especially taken with how Turnbull managed to re-started her career in a country whose language she had flunked in college. What determination!
Rating:
Summary: I laughed outloud
Review: As an American and a part-time resident of Paris, I had to laugh at the many funny situations described in this book. It must be universal to make the same mistakes culturally and lingustically. It gives me a lot of hope that some day I too will be absorbed enough in the country and culture to deem myself, Almost French. It's a beautiful country.
Rating:
Summary: Romance, the hard way. In French
Review: Does a love affair with a lovely Parisian sound like heaven? In Sarah Turnbull's charming memoir, Almost French, it clearly wasn't the pie-in-the-sky experience she'd hoped for. Her lover's friends don't exactly welcome her and no matter how hard she tries, Sarah always seems to be committing some social gaffe. Through Turnbull's prose, we get a funny and delightful look at her experience of living among the French, and what it's like to be Almost French...almost, but not quite.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, funny and at times also educational.
Review: I am part of a newly started book club. The number of girls attending our dinners vary between 3 and 12, all Australian but me. We had problems choosing a new book last time, but in the end, we settled for "Almost French" by Sarah Turnbull as our third book to read. All member of our book club are foreigners, living in England, so we figured we could and would sympathize with another "expat". Sarah met Frederic while on a (very late) gap-year in Europe. They had a good time and agreed to meet up in France later. In short, they meet up, fall in love, and Sarah never leaves Paris. Moving to another country is a massive challenge. You are bound to do all the "Top 10" big no-no's probably within the first 2 weeks. Sarah's portrait of Parisians is hilariously funny, from the snobby shopkeepers, old ladies with their well groomed dogs, uptight cocktail parties where no one really mingles, and unfriendly dinners with Frederic's friends to mention a few. However, when we discussed this book, we all commented that it was not very balanced - 90% Sarah and 10% the rest. With that ratio, we get to know Sarah quite well. Honestly, she tends to whine quite a bit. We go through the motions with her - lonely, bored and feeling useless and not welcome (I got tired of the author asking over and over and over again "why don't they like me?"). However, her frustration for not being able to speak the language I can sympathize with. I have been in the same situation myself. I studied Spanish in Latin America. Trust me, when you only can speak in present tense with a very limited vocabulary, you sound like an idiot and the conversation dies quickly... But the most pathetic incident is when she realizes that she doesn't actually live in Paris but outside the city limit (defined by the postcode). She makes such a big fuzz about it. I cannot understand the big deal, and how Frederic is putting up with it (and in the end agrees to move) is beyond me... But there is so much more - what about the relationship, it must have been very difficult for the rest of the people involved, not just Sarah.. Surely, we could have gotten to know the lovely Frederic better, his parents, his friends and the rest of it. We all fell in love with Frederic. My favorite scenes are when they are pulled over for a minor traffic violation in Paris, and Frederic are trying to pretend to be an Australian. The way he is doing this is to take the jumper off his shoulders and tie it around his waist! I laughed out loud, it is so true! The ever so correct French have their jumpers neatly around their shoulders, and the less formal Australian would just tie them around the waist. The other scene is when Sarah one Saturday morning is running to the bakery to get fresh bread for breakfast. On her way out, Frederic catches a glimpse of her and nearly has a heart attach. "Are you going out like that, wearing your gymnastic pantaloons?" he asks. Sarah completely oblivious to his horror says, "Yeah, I'm just going to the bakery". Frederic says "But, that's not nice for the baker man...". Say what you like, this book did change my life. I am now much more aware of how I am dressed when I go out, even if I am only getting the newspaper. I even went out and bought a new coat! I swear, I will never again wear sweatpants going to the store. Pants I thought were quite cute earlier are now in the pile "not to be found dead in". Read the book, have a laugh. I read it in 50 page gulps; it is funny and quite educational when it comes to French etiquette.
Rating:
Summary: Seduced by Paris
Review: I don't know if Sarah Turnbull author of "Almost French" could be described as 'spoiled' as one reviewer suggests, but I do know that reading the memoir of her years adjusting to life in Paris provides enough proof to allow me to categorize her as 'adventurous' perhaps, 'impulsive', throughly 'enamoured' with her adopted city and possessing that "je-ne-sais-quoi" that gives us pause.
Meeting Frederic while on a journalistic assignment in Bucharest throws a curve ball in Australian-born Sarah's easy-care wash-and-wear lifestyle where getting dressed up means making sure there isn't any caked mud embedded in the soles of her Doc Martens. On a romantic whim, she takes Frederic up on his offer to visit him in Paris, and suddenly Sarah finds herself living in the City of Lights where her honed communication skills become meaningless in the whirlwind of French.
Language is not the sole barrier keeping Sarah outside the proverbial candy store window with her nose pressed up against the glass. She doesn't quite understand the French social situation where quiet mannered restraint is the order of the day. In chapter after chapter of amusing Anglo-Saxon vs. French/Latin anecdotes and speculations, Sarah allows us a sparkling glimpse of her personal epiphanies: how acquiring a dog allowed her otherwise forbidden entry, why wearing sweatpants in the street lowers the standards of an entire city, how she could NEVER eat low-fat again, how the Latin interpretation of the law leads to furtive games played opposite the French authorities, how wording something in seemingly flowery language lands her the money needed to sponser her journalism course and why becoming "almost French" isn't nearly as important as "just being yourself." Sarah is certainly not 'spoiled', she's just a victim of intense culture shock. Her revelations are imparted with a cozy friendly narrative sprinkled with just enough dialogue to imbue each character with some depth. I would like hear more from her in a further book as the shock wears off or new shocks electrify with new situations.
Readers expecting the details of Sarah's personal relationship with Frederic, her future husband, to be spun out like a rich romantic fairytale, be warned; even though the book is subtitled love and a new life in Paris, the love portion remains private; she relates only that they met in Bucharest, connected and suddenly were living together in France. The reader catches glimpses of Frederic as the quintessential Frenchman; the memoir focuses on Sarah's adjustment, not to Frederic, but to his country and its occupants. It makes for charming light reading and is recommended to all who like travel essays and don't mind a change from finding the provincial country idyll to discovering the heartbeat of a city.
|
