Paris to the Moon

Rating:
Summary: Boring & Pretentious
Review: I've read many books about Americans in France since I am an American in France myself and this has got to be the worst. I was annoyed hearing about the author's son and how precious we should think he is because he puts his dirty feet on bar stools to play pinball and pulls on lace curtains at restaurants. No wonder a stool magically appears under the pinball machine -the owners were probably sick of this American brat messing up the chairs for other customers! The author also reveals his thoughtlessness by "forgetting" to return six plates to a restaurant he convinces into serving him American-style take out. There is also lots of arrogant name dropping of all the famous people and expensive wines and food the author drinks and restaurants he visits. With Americans like this in France, no wonder the French hate us. The writing style was also annoying and jumped from one random thought to another. I felt like I was reading the badly written diary of a schizophrenic. The guy can't decide if he likes France or hates it. I only finished this in the hopes that it would get better but it never did. Waste of time.

Rating:
Summary: Ex-Pat in Paris
Review: Originally reviewed on October 31, 2003

A lovely memoir blending the mundane activities of life as an ex-pat with the "only in Paris" characters Adam Gropnik surrounds himself (and us) with. I loved his stories in the New Yorker when he was in Paris and the book makes me want to go back and read them again now that I know the back story.

Michael Duranko, Bootism: a shoe religion
www.bootism.com

Rating:
Summary: A Trip to Paris
Review: Featured on NPR, this wonderful book is a collection of essays about the writer's experience living in Paris with his wife and small child. Gopnik has the same love of Paris that Mayle has for Provence and gives you a similar humorous outsiders view into a foreign culture. The big difference between them is that Paris to the Moon is a collection of essays rather than a narrative book like Mayle's works. The result is sometimes disjointed, but thoroughly enjoyable. This is a book for anyone who has ever fantasized about living in Paris. Page after page he is living my dream life and it's delightful to escape into his world.

You really have to struggle through the clunky first few chapters to get to the good stuff. I quite nearly put the book down after the first couple of chapters. But after he finally gets into a grove and you settle into the odd disjointed style of a collection of essays, you're in for a treat. My favorite essay is the one about trying to get some exercise in Paris (the mere thought of which the Parisians consider unhealthy.) He has hysterical descriptions of the French view that sweat is not good for you, and all activity should be combined with a good meal and wine.

Although this is not as good of a book as Mayle's Year in Provence, it is a very enjoyable read, and a great escape to Paris

Rating:
Summary: Ex-Pat in Paris
Review: A lovely memoir blending the mundane activities of life as an ex-pat with the "only in Paris" characters Adam Gropnik surrounds himself (and us) with. I loved his stories in the New Yorker when he was in Paris and the book makes me want to go back and read them again now that I know the back story.

Michael Duranko, Bootism: a shoe religion

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the time
Review: This book is not funny nor lyrical. It does not produce what its title suggests. This book is a crashing bore. Though I finished it (due to compulsion only), I finished it in a very angry state of mind -- feeling used, abused, ripped off (as if I had been locked in a train compartment with someone who was going to show me every boring photograph of his kid, tell me every 'cute' anecdote about the kid, every scrapbook memory to demonstrate the kid's precociousness, not to mention every ho-hum anecdote to demonstrate the adoring care of Gopnik pere to Gopnik fils.)

Gopnik mere, on the other hand, is a shadow who appears most vividly once to complain about the bills monsieur accumulates to pay for hot chocolate for the kids at the Ritz swimming pool and once more to make sure she gets an epidural during labor. Madame Gopnik must be a true hero to endure this self-adoring papa.

Gopnik, fascinated by his own discovery of metaphor (not to mention his kid's same discovery at the age of 4 or 5 and about which we get to hear endlessly) really needed an editor. In an otherwise, somewhat interesting description of a new Library complex, we get to hear about 'caged' and 'chained' plants three times. Once was interesting, twice was obtrusive. Third time I almost started screaming 'Where is the editor?' Well, the editor -- and the writer -- were both 'out to lunch' as we say in New York.

Rating:
Summary: To the moon and back
Review: Earnest, quietly arrogant, and utterly charming.

Smoothly blending blending social commentary, French history (and historiography), family narrative, and je ne sais quoi, Gopnik's essay-stories are enthralling and superbly written (if occasionally bursting with asides). A book about a young family entering a new culture (that, fortunately for the reader, is fin de siecle Paris), Paris to the Moon is a dazzling and satisfying read.

Rating:
Summary: Not a book that anyone would need...
Review: This book is perfectly dispensable. I couldn't STAND Gopnik's smug, self-congratulatory tone (I am in Paris! I have made it to the center of world culture! My wife is giving birth to a girl! I now have a girl and a boy! My children will know about French culture! They will be COSMOPOLITAN! etc. etc.), but unfortunately, it took me a LONG LONG time to figure out that that was what bothered me about the book. I finally hit on it on p. 307, when Gopnik is obssessing about whether a taxi driver will be able to make a U-turn on a particular street, and therefore be able to get him to the hospital fast enough when his wife is ready to deliver their second child. He goes on like this for two pages, I suppose to show the reader how entranced and fixated he became by the whole idea of his wife's having a baby in Paris. (Just goes to show how irrelevant men really are to the whole birth process. No pregnant woman would obssess over such a detail...) Well, I forced myself to finish the book. What.an.excruciating.experience. AND I have such good friends in Paris and have always been fascinated by the city...

Rating:
Summary: Uneven read
Review: Adam Gopnick moves his wife and infant son to Paris from New York City. He works for the New Yorker so all this is possible. And although the book at times is just hilarious, funny, and insightful, many of the chapters read like they were separate New Yorker articles. There is a wonderful story of his trying to first find a gym to join, and then joining process and then the discovery of how the French use the gym. This little gem may be worth the price of the book alone. But later I found an "article" on the fashion industry just boring. I found the book to be a very uneven read that I could only recommend to persons going to visit or live in France.

Rating:
Summary: Armchair Travel at its Best
Review: What a nostalgic delight this is for anyone who's been embraced by the warm graciousness of the typical Parisian, found community in a favorite local bistro, or sampled a diminutive artistic pastry treat from Laduree at Christmas time.

Adam Gopnik makes you laugh as you also recall the first time you tried to peck out an email on a French keyboard, or had to sweat out any one of a number of strike threats, just like his pregnant wife who wanted to make sure all the anesthesiologists were very "happy" with their employment right around the time she was to give birth.

Gopnik loved the anonymity of NY, but also the Parisian way of life where you are familiar with everyone with whom you come in contact right down to the dry cleaner. He tried sprinting with other Americans in the left bank's Luxembourg gardens in an effort to engage in sports. And absent a gym, bought a summer "spa" pass so he could exercise with a swim in the pool at the Ritz where he found most Europeans simply dangling their legs while eating tea sandwiches from silver trays.

With just a few words, he embodies the lovely and luxurious ambiance of his home away from home, "Parisians are just busy 'being.'"

Rating:
Summary: Take me to Paris
Review: What can I say about a book that let me journey to Paris along with the author? It is an evocative read and even musical in tone. I love the asides such as Barney in Paris (the comparison of Barney to Bill Clinton is Priceless) and the stories about his child are charming. The only thing this book lacks (and this could be my personal bias) is a description of married life for the couple in Paris. What IS married life in Paris like for two Americans?? Wish I knew a bit more on the topic. But other than that, this is a travelogue with heart.