<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: It ain't Tuscany or Provence
Review: After rebuilding ancient houses with Mayle in Provence and Mayes and Mate' in Tuscany I was rather disappointed in a repetitious recital of the problems with the floor, the rain, the plumbing, and the flotsum and jetsam lying around the farm waiting to be decomposed or resurrected as some antique. I kept wanting them to get on with the building/restoration and the unique characters the Killmer's would have to deal with to restore the home.
Rating: 
Summary: A gem of a book that is too little known
Review: I found this book delightful, and so have passed it on to several people, all of whom think it is a great read.
Rating:
Summary: A full-contact love affair with a romantic house
Review: Nick Kilmer's lush, exuberant prose takes the reader through an eventful week, during which, by means of flashbacks and vignettes, we experience his dithering over the purchase of his family's wonderful house in Normandy. He will have two gardens (one in Cambridge and one in Normandy), two roofs that need attention, piles of books and letters and projects and paintings in every stage of finishment, and one wife who cannot say no, and cannot say yes, to this expensive disaster that is his family's ancient home. Pleasantly meandering, we visit stone-age Normandy, the days of the war, the ancient farmer's wife in whose arms (he tells us) his grandfather died, newly baptized (but still staunchly Republican ...) A fine read, growing better with each rereading. Let's have more from this writer.
Rating:
Summary: Deeply Unsatisfying
Review: Quite frankly, I wish I hadn't bothered to buy and read this book. I read dozens of travel books each year and this so far is this year's least satisfying. The main story line is an account of four or five extremely boring days the author spent in Normandy trying to decided whether or not to keep a beloved family house. As far as I could tell (though by the end I admit I was skimming the book, desperate to rid myself of it), he and his wife never did come to a decision. The best part of the book were the family photographs and stories. The author's grandfather seems to have been an Impressionist painter of some note and Kilmer's mother spent her childhood in the house in the 1920s. Aside from this period flavor, though, the book didn't seem to do anything well. There were long rambling descriptions of laundry problems. There was an unconvincing cast of characters, none of whom seemed to have a personality (other than appearing to be generally weird.) The author seemed to have little understand or appreciation for French culture or food. In the end, I had no idea who the author really was, why he was telling the story, or what I was supposed to take from it. I really hate being this critical of a writer's honest effort, but on the other hand, I want to spare others the boredom I just endured. Buy MFK Fisher, Ruth Reichl, Susan Herman-Loomis, Peter Mayle, AJ Liebling, even a Sebastian Faulks novel if you want to read something interesting about France--but don't buy this.
Rating:
Summary: Deeply Unsatisfying
Review: Quite frankly, I wish I hadn't bothered to buy and read this book. I read dozens of travel books each year and this so far is this year's least satisfying. The main story line is an account of four or five extremely boring days the author spent in Normandy trying to decided whether or not to keep a beloved family house. As far as I could tell (though by the end I admit I was skimming the book, desperate to rid myself of it), he and his wife never did come to a decision. The best part of the book were the family photographs and stories. The author's grandfather seems to have been an Impressionist painter of some note and Kilmer's mother spent her childhood in the house in the 1920s. Aside from this period flavor, though, the book didn't seem to do anything well. There were long rambling descriptions of laundry problems. There was an unconvincing cast of characters, none of whom seemed to have a personality (other than appearing to be generally weird.) The author seemed to have little understand or appreciation for French culture or food. In the end, I had no idea who the author really was, why he was telling the story, or what I was supposed to take from it. I really hate being this critical of a writer's honest effort, but on the other hand, I want to spare others the boredom I just endured. Buy MFK Fisher, Ruth Reichl, Susan Herman-Loomis, Peter Mayle, AJ Liebling, even a Sebastian Faulks novel if you want to read something interesting about France--but don't buy this.
<< 1 >>
|
