Paris to the Moon

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Summary: look elsewhere for a view of paris
Review: Having appreciated many of Gopnik's articles in the NY'er, I expected quite alot out of this book and was quite disappointed. I appreciated neither the way the book was written (sloppily) nor the author's attempt to portray Paris (snobbily). While the book offers a few particular insights to french politics and a sense of the generalized aura that scratch a bit below the surface of what a typical tourist might experience, it doesn't go nearly as deeply as a reader would honestly hope or expect from someone who lived in Paris for five years.

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Summary: Paris to the Moon... Back to New York
Review: I thought I was going to love this book with this romantic title. It turned out to be that the author did not enjoy his stay and always compared Paris to New York--the apple city always won, of course. When his son had curiosity about soccer, the author panicked and taught him to play baseball. He even disliked the way he was greeted at any Parisian Cafe, "how's madam" and instead missed the aloofeness of any Cafe in New York where he could get a cup of coffee without anyone bothering to say hi.

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Summary: An American in Paris, but still very much an American
Review: No doubt an erudite, Gopnik dwells on French culture as much as on American. I was very impressed by his width of knowledge and interests, but expected them to go deeper into the French culture rather than cover the American as well in a book about Paris. For example, his chapter on food proclaims the innovation and superiority of restaurants in New York and Berkeley (!?!). The chapter on fashion is an impassionate account of a season's fashion shows. Suspiciously missing is a chapter on amour and affairs. His suggestions about further reading on Paris are excellent.

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Summary: loved it. if you have been to paris you must read it.
Review: A very popular book in our family. Paris is a popular destination for our family and this is a book that brings back all the memories.

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Summary: Courageous Wit
Review: Adam's memories of Paris should delight anyone with an appetite for life outside their own borders. One gets the sense that the Gopnik family immersed themselves into French society rather than simply sit on top of it like many Americans do (his Canadian blood I suppose - bless him). I particularly enjoyed reading about how Adam's young son Luke developed during the family sabbatical. Paris to the Moon shows a different way for a Father and Son relationship to grow, and that is, by simply experiencing many new things for the first time, together.

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Summary: Nothing like A Year in Provence
Review: This book was a big disappointment. Mr. Gopnik explains the nuances of Paris/French culture by invariably comparing it to American culture. By doing so, he slams one or the other culture each time. He also intersperses his American political views. For example, I was enjoying his explanation of cooking for Alice Waters, only to have the spell broken by his need to tell me that the Starr Report was "extreme puritanism." I didn't want to hear about Kenneth Starr, I wanted to "escape" for a moment and hear about dining with Alice Waters in Paris! If you are looking for something with the charm of Peter Mayle or Frances Mayes, this isn't it.

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Summary: Something about the family dynamics...
Review: I read this book as part of my preparation for a trip to Paris. And yes, I believe that it will enhance my Parisian experience, but I found it difficult to become fully immersed in the book. I think the problem was that there is an underlying tension in the Gropnik marriage that repels the reader. I was expecting the last chapter to reveal a pending divorce. Or perhaps the Last Chapter for the Gropnik family is yet to be written. I truly wish them well, but my point about the book still stands.

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Summary: Pure Paris, pure delight!!!
Review: PARIS TO THE MOON is a wonderful story about a young couple and their toddler who leave New York to go and live in Paris for five years, through the millenium. This is a fun and thoughtful look at the culture of Parisians and their government. It is the story of a man who is an observer of life wanting very much to fit in and be accepted by Parisians and doing it as successfully as one can, and realizing he will always be "The American". The descriptions of Paris are beautiful and wondrous and honest and tough, all at the same time. It is like a gentle rollercoaster ride through Paris with stops at all the critical, cultural high points, to point out the differences in the Parisian way and the American way. In the beginning he is very tough on the American way and yet in the end they head back home. I think that it is also the story of a "couple with a child" growing and maturing into a family. This is a wonderfully written book that will be thoroughly enjoyed by anyone with any interest in Paris. If someone has been to Paris you will love this even more. When the shops, the restaurants, the parks and gardens and the streets are mentioned you can see, hear and taste Paris in your heart and soul, all over again.

Rating:
Summary: a wonderfully 'drole' little book
Review: As an ex-expatriate I recognised a lot mr Gopnik wrote about. The only difference is. I am a European who's lived in the US for a while. There are differences between our cultures but we also have a lot in common. This book shows in a very nice and mostly funny way that all those differences can be overcome if you set your mind to it and accept it. I really liked this book.

Rating:
Summary: Drama King
Review: I suppose Proust is Gopnik's model in this mostly entertaining, occasionally frustrating memoir of his five years in Paris with his wife and son. The stated modus operandi of "Paris to the Moon" is to tackle larger themes of French culture by examining the minutiae of everyday life: thus a caramelized tomato serves as the seed for an exegisis on culinary stagnation, and the error message displayed on a fax machine serves as an example of France's view of where responsibility should be placed. Anyone who attempts to relate his or her personal experience to grand themes risks being labeled a snob, but Gopnik is a self-deprecating fellow, and he uses his outsider status to good effect in choosing subjects that a French native might take for granted. Not everything, though, can be a Madeline, and the author's constant search for Meaning capital M in pinball machines and shower caps and sugar cubes can seem a little forced. Too, Gopnik retains the magazine writer's yen for ending every paragraph with a clincher or punchline; fine for a 1500 word article, but wearying at length. Still, the writing on the whole is insightful and, at times, exceptionally touching. Those moments redeem whatever other faults the book may have. A minor complaint: given the constant references to the city's geography, a map of Paris would have been more helpful than the "Reader's Group Questions".