Rating: 
Summary: nothing new, nothing spectacular
Review: I would not like to sound repetitive therefore I should refere everyone to Dec.5th review. It sums up my own opinion on Gopnik's book brilliantly. Bravo to the reviewer! Quite frankly I am concerned that this material is considered spectacular by some. I found myself untouched by the author's reminiscence on his son's first swimming lesson at the Ritz-Carlton de Paris. As a Parisian (!) I think of Gopnik's use of French phrases throughout the book (I mean Mon Dieu!every other sentence!)quite pretentious.
Rating: 
Summary: Incredibly insightful work
Review: I found this book to be an excellent and balanced look at the experience of the enlightened American in Paris. Gopnik certainly admits to the commonly held frustrations of the American expatriate in France-- the constant desire to throttle the person across the counter from you, for example-- but he also understands the reasons for those frustrations, and he looks past many of them to communicate his deep appreciation for French culture. Gopnik is definitely an intellectual, and while a knowledge of French isn't necessary at all, it does help one catch a few more of the references and allusions.I have to disagree with the review that was posted on December 5: this book was much more than a personal narrative of a man who took his family to Paris for five years. For every indulgent detail of the author's life there is a broader statement of national identity, cultural values, or something at least at that level. I feel that this book is an excellent piece of writing and cultural commentary!
Rating:
Summary: For anyone who savors Paris
Review: This wonderful little book will transport you to Paris in an instant. While it's certainly a fine introduction for people who have never been there, I recommend it especially for those who have visited many times. Adam Gopnik has a talent for describing those little details about Paris that make the city so charming, so complex and at times, a bit infuriating. I felt as if he were sitting across from me in my living room, talking about his latest discoveries. Bravo to Adam for this lovely book.
Rating:
Summary: Both witty and thought provoking
Review: Buried within this series of essays about the author's life in Paris, and in between laughter at Gopnik's tremendous wit, I found incisive commentary about culture and humanity. You don't need to be a Francophile or Paris-lover to find this book striking. With a combination of brilliant writing, humor, and seriousness, Gopnik both presents and editorializes upon personal anecdotes and major events in France. Gopnik takes a fair look at both France and America, and sees the good and the absurd in both. It's not for nothing that Gopnik is one of the most loved writers for The New Yorker, and I for one could not put this book down.
Rating: 
Summary: C'est super cool
Review: What a wonderfully delicious book to finish by the fire on Christmas Day. Gopnick loves food, wine, his family, witty conversations, the little people and civilization. He gives us so many universal insights into our psyche... Paris to the Moon is a great read.... but especially for someone who has some background with the French and the City of Lights. Tres charmant. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Moony Over Paris
Review: Just as the world is divided into New York City haters and lovers, so are we divided over Paris. Adam Gopnik, his wife, and young son Luke decamped to Paris in 1995 to let Luke grow up, if only for a few years, in a great city besides New York, and this is their story. It's a family tale, or a variety of them, and the theme is always the City itself. And why not? If ever there was a city that deserves its own chroniclers, it's Paris. Gopnik does it right: He's got a genius for turning the personal into the general, and for bringing to fruition some terrific insights into French character (at least, where that intersects with Parisian character). "Trouble at the Tower" is without equal -- maybe only O'Henry, in his New York stories, could pull off something equal. If you loathe Paris, fine, buy another book. But if you're educable and recognize that cities and their residents can demonstrate the best and most contradictory sides of human society, then dig in. -- Incidentally, now back in New York, Gopnik's work remains the best reason to subscribe to the New Yorker; his essay on The Map of The City (November 2000) was a treasure. My only regret? That some of the favorite pieces he wrote in Paris weren't included (viz: The Virtual Bishop...).
Rating:
Summary: fatuous smug navel-gazing
Review: Adam Gopnik went to Paris on The New Yorker's coin. His kids like Barney, despite his best efforts at censorship. He had to practice cab rides to an exclusive maternity hospital in the suburbs. He ruined dinner for Alice Waters because he was too preoccupied with the Starr report arriving on his fax machine. If this interests you, then buy this book. Does it matter that it was set in Paris? Gopnik could have written similarly self-absorbed and banal insights from a plush Westchester suburb. His relentless insertion of personal detail into every paragraph turns the book's focus from life in the City of Light to the preoccupations of a neurotic bourgeois. An all-too-common example of the "me" journalism of the '90s.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and thoughtful
Review: This funny and thoughtful book examines the little things that make Paris what it is, and Parisians what they are. It's smart and clear-headed--much more than a typical travel narrative--by a writer who is clearly inspired by his subject. I'll look for more by the author in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Beautfiul story of Paris and growing up
Review: I'd never before read any of Gopnik's work, but this was a wonderful introduction to this light and insightful writer. The five years he, his wife, and his small son (eventually joined by another baby) are chronicled by Gopnik through "New Yorker" essays and journal entries and all are so very well done. The small things in life, the simple pleasures, the minor inconveniences don't escape his eye or ours. I'm heading to Paris in a few months and this was a lovely tribute to the culture I cannot wait to get to know (and perhaps be exasperated by) as well.
Rating:
Summary: Paris like you've never seen it before
Review: After reading this book, I want to do two things: 1) go to Paris, and 2) have lunch with Adam Gopnik. A surreal blend of travel literature, history, and even philosophy, _From Paris to the Moon_ will almost certainly contain anecdotes and observations unknown to even the most diehard Parisian-trivia buffs. For those of us who haven't been studying the city for a lifetime, Gopnik provides an accessible overview of his subject before delving into the nitty-gritty. Beautifully written and tremendously engaging.
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