Rating: 
Summary: Charm without pretension-how refreshing
Review: I actually read this book a number of years ago. I am a francophile, and do read many books of this ilk, but this was by far my favorite. I learned the author had died after I had read the book, and I did feel a personal loss with this woman I had never met. While the Peter Mayles and France Mayes of the world are wonderful fluff, sometimes you want the real meal and not just the pastries. This book is the real thing, no guile, no patronizing bemusement, but a charming candid experience of a perceptive woman in a culture she finds appealing, perplexing, frustrating, and alluring. She doesn't pretend that she is simply painting a water color on neutral canvas, but honestly and unselfservingly describes her own biases and perceptions. A wonderful recounting of a foreigner dipping into a new and different culture.
Rating: 
Summary: Gobble it up!
Review: I do not recommend this book - unless you are like me and must gobble up every spoonful you can get about the French and their lives and customs, especially if you are looking for info about the French paysans and not Parisians per se.The author is a skilled writer, and many of her insights and stories are interesting. On the other hand, there aer some places in this book where the only thing that kept me driving through to read it was my insatiable appetite for the information she had to present. Reading this book will not make the reader fall in love with France. You have to already be in love with it.
Rating:
Summary: Gobble it up!
Review: I do not recommend this book - unless you are like me and must gobble up every spoonful you can get about the French and their lives and customs, especially if you are looking for info about the French paysans and not Parisians per se. The author is a skilled writer, and many of her insights and stories are interesting. On the other hand, there aer some places in this book where the only thing that kept me driving through to read it was my insatiable appetite for the information she had to present. Reading this book will not make the reader fall in love with France. You have to already be in love with it.
Rating:
Summary: An easy read for anyone interested in French culture.
Review: I found that this book was highly descriptive and informative in the everyday lives of the French in a small town. The author bought a house in France and this story tells of the adventures and problems that she faced as a foreign home-owner. Wonderful read that is hard to put down. Flows from chapter to chapter with delightful insights and you will laugh outloud...
Rating:
Summary: At home with Ann Barry
Review: I found this book thoroughly enjoyable. Unlike so many books in this genre (The Tuscan Sun comes immediately to mind), it neither romanticizes nor patronizes the locals, it is blessedly free of "authentic" recipes and the minutiae of "improvements", and the author is plain likable, despite--or because of?--her periodic failings as a "proprietaire." If she's far more interested in the genealogy of the cottage's previous owners than the genus and species of the winter intruder that left a trail of "caca," (see Kirkus review), I, for one, do not fault her. Knowing that she died before her lovely memoir was published leant a poignancy to my reading--how sad to think that her beloved cottage opens to her no more. (Does anyone know circumstances of her death?)
Rating:
Summary: At home with Ann Barry
Review: I found this book thoroughly enjoyable. Unlike so many books in this genre (The Tuscan Sun comes immediately to mind), it neither romanticizes nor patronizes the locals, it is blessedly free of "authentic" recipes and the minutiae of "improvements", and the author is plain likable, despite--or because of?--her periodic failings as a "proprietaire." If she's far more interested in the genealogy of the cottage's previous owners than the genus and species of the winter intruder that left a trail of "caca," (see Kirkus review), I, for one, do not fault her. Knowing that she died before her lovely memoir was published leant a poignancy to my reading--how sad to think that her beloved cottage opens to her no more. (Does anyone know circumstances of her death?)
Rating: 
Summary: It's A Shame
Review: I know many people will buy this book based on a longing for personal, up close portraits of France -- but this one will disappoint, because it is a story of a woman who visits France, not lives there, despite the fact she owns a house there. Why is this such a big distinction? First of all, she never really comes to appreciate the French way of life; her time in France strikes one as swimming on the surface rather than complete immersion, something that is evident in her lack of understanding of "time" in France. Second, she never really gives herself over to the experience, which is demonstrated by her neighbors using the formal pronoun "vous" with her for so many years. Her writing, which constantly projects a sense of standoffishness and loneliness, makes it apparent why she was not so easily welcomed into her neighbors' family life. Maybe, if she had lived a happier personal life of her own, she would have been able to really indulge in the amazing, colorful, welcoming, and diverse place that France is. I speak from personal knowledge, having lived in Provence. If you want to get a glimpse of that France, buy A Year in Provence -- but not this book.
Rating:
Summary: I want this life
Review: I want this woman's life. I want her house in France. Probably the main reason I enjoyed this book so much is that I romanticize France to death. If you do, too, then this book is recommended to you!
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, Warmly Human, Ultimately Bittersweet and Moving
Review: I was very moved by this memoir and would recommend it to anyone (it feels far more immediate and emotionally rewarding, for instance, than Frances Mayes' "Under the Tuscan Sun"). Unlike some that explore the same territory here (culture shock, setting up housekeeping in a foreign land, quirks of the locals, history of the region and its landmarks, discovery of cuisine and surroundings), there is subtle artistry in the way it's written, gentle looks into the basic human goodness of the French people in her circle, and knowing that the author died of cancer in middle-age before ever seeing this book published brings a bittersweet feel that grows as the last page nears (mentioning in passing in the final chapter, for instance, that she will skip a planned trip to a spa that year due to an event taking place in the village and that the spa will always be there next year has a strong resonance, as you immediately realize and want to call out protectively to her, Yes it will be there, but you will not]). Aside from the introduction to French life and characters, I found myself more transfixed by what I saw in Ann Barry herself -- a loner who never feels so right in the world as when she is on her own, and especially when in France as her truest self, even relishing that she has no telephone and can't be infringed upon by the outside world. Knowing that Ms. Barry will die after 12+ years of sharing her journey, I found myself not just reading the story but considering questions of self and meaning in life, and feeling a bit sad for a woman who never connected with a significant other and that the scars of childhood in a somewhat dysfunctional family were far-reaching, as is the case with so many of us. (That sounds depressing, but it's more a consistent subtext here that one attuned will see, and that, to me, enriched my interest in the work. Many people may read the book not coming away with that at all.) If you enjoy vicarious life and episodic memoir of someone who DID IT rather than THOUGHT ABOUT IT, I can think of no finer memoir that I've read of late, and I'm sure I will continue to think about the questions this raised in me about how we live our lives and what it all means and what good we can do for this world before we leave it, and for that I'm grateful to Ms. Barry for this work.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, Warmly Human, Ultimately Bittersweet and Moving
Review: I was very moved by this memoir and would recommend it to anyone (it feels far more immediate and emotionally rewarding, for instance, than Frances Mayes' "Under the Tuscan Sun"). Unlike some that explore the same territory here (culture shock, setting up housekeeping in a foreign land, quirks of the locals, history of the region and its landmarks, discovery of cuisine and surroundings), there is subtle artistry in the way it's written, gentle looks into the basic human goodness of the French people in her circle, and knowing that the author died of cancer in middle-age before ever seeing this book published brings a bittersweet feel that grows as the last page nears (mentioning in passing in the final chapter, for instance, that she will skip a planned trip to a spa that year due to an event taking place in the village and that the spa will always be there next year has a strong resonance, as you immediately realize and want to call out protectively to her, Yes it will be there, but you will not]). Aside from the introduction to French life and characters, I found myself more transfixed by what I saw in Ann Barry herself -- a loner who never feels so right in the world as when she is on her own, and especially when in France as her truest self, even relishing that she has no telephone and can't be infringed upon by the outside world. Knowing that Ms. Barry will die after 12+ years of sharing her journey, I found myself not just reading the story but considering questions of self and meaning in life, and feeling a bit sad for a woman who never connected with a significant other and that the scars of childhood in a somewhat dysfunctional family were far-reaching, as is the case with so many of us. (That sounds depressing, but it's more a consistent subtext here that one attuned will see, and that, to me, enriched my interest in the work. Many people may read the book not coming away with that at all.) If you enjoy vicarious life and episodic memoir of someone who DID IT rather than THOUGHT ABOUT IT, I can think of no finer memoir that I've read of late, and I'm sure I will continue to think about the questions this raised in me about how we live our lives and what it all means and what good we can do for this world before we leave it, and for that I'm grateful to Ms. Barry for this work.
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