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Summary: An American (Family) in Paris
Review: Adam Gopnik's highly entertaining essays of an American family's life in Paris in the late 20th century reminds us of the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle cultural differences between Parisians and Americans. Why is the food considered so superior? What's so bad about Barney (the purple dinosaur)? What are the rules of café culture and haute couture? Gopnik clues us in with witty and insightful writing. During Gopnik's 5-year stay, some of the essays appeared periodically in The New Yorker. Gopnik presents his lifelong fascination with Paris through humorous anecdotes of every day living. He can't totally leave his American sensibilities behind, either. A labor strike thwarts his compulsion to have a Thanksgiving turkey and soccer fans are rigorously compared to baseball fans. Gopnik seems to admit that maybe not everything is better--some things are just different. But his enchantment with the city is apparent in his solidarity with indignant patrons of a local brasserie when they fear its corporatizing, and through his appreciation of Paris' idiosyncrasies. Whether or not you've been to Paris 100 times or never been at all, this book is trés bien. You'll feel like you've been there when you're through.
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Summary: Perception changes
Review: This book was an eye-opener. It changed the way I felt and thought about the French. Most Americans feel the French are just snobby, yet there is another side to the story. That other side can found in Paris to the Moon. Find out the real differences between American and French culture, and what the French think about Americans, and why.
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Summary: Lost in Emptiness
Review: The title for this book should have been VAPID. This book is vapid, like the New Yorker. It's for people who want to look important being bored. Like New Yorker readers. It takes Gopnik five pages of philosophical musings on how many angels fit on the head of a pin to make a point about cracks in the sidewalk. Every chapter is like that. The most exciting part of the book is when he talks about how boring soccer is. His life is boring. All he can talk about are old pin ball machines in old bars. I've got that right here. I guess Paris is a pretty boring place. There is nothing of use in this book.
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Summary: Funny, touching book on the american life in Paris
Review: Yes it's indeed a very good book, sometimes funy, somehow touching (I'm french) but all the time pretty accurate ;-)
If you plan to come to Paris for holiday or to settle add this book to your reading list among the french guides.
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Summary: insult to injury
Review: Gopnik's book, "From Paris to the Moon" showed promise on the shelf at the bookstore. His insight is good for those who have never been to France and will never go. It's insulting to those of us who do know the language and the culture. He throws bits of French in with no translation in some places, and in others drags out a description (of a meal, for example) with the pointless translation of every item on the table. He shows his ignorance again when he adds "ing" to a French verb (mijoteing) to make it an English verb, and in translating when it's unnecessary (the Little Prince -- everybody knows le Petit Prince). It's painfully obvious that his experience in Paris was limited and his selfishness is apparent when he speaks of his desire, which only reflects his greed, to bring up his chrildren in an idealized French society, only to drag them back to States later where they speak with an accent (as they do in France, no doubt). They will be their father's children -- mixing the languages and having no command over either. The book is poorly written -- was it even edited or proofread by someone other than Gopnik? There are run-on sentences, sentence fragments, a complete lack of subject-verb agreement in places, and then there's the abominable translation (or lack thereof) in places that's enough to make you sick.
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Summary: Pleasant but overrated
Review: This little book became a surprise hit--I can see why. It has charm, a certain wistful feel. Still, there is in fact precious little it has to say, and some of the chapters are simply tedious. I wish I could care about the child and the park ...
The little set pieces offer relatively few insights on France, although they are well written. It sometimes seems like the obligatory "I was there, now read this....!" book. Nonetheless, it is a good beach read--but not deserving of its fame. It has none of the flair of Peter Mayle, for instance.
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Summary: In Love With Paris
Review: Adam Gopnik is in love with Paris. His love is not of the puppy variety, like so many who write about Paris, or any foreign place , but a love much more akin to the love of a long married couple who see each other's flaws, are sometimes irritated by each other's personality, but are still capable of being suprised and enchanted by one another. He sketches Paris in clear, witty, prose and uses the culture of that city to reflect on American society. If he is at times a bit too heavy handed and a bit too self-consciously American, his passion for his subjects - Paris, New York, America,France, his family, his brasserie -- is winning. And, on top of that, he is informative, funny, and thought provoking. Though I suspect his ulterior motive in going to Paris was to produce a book, he has produced a thoughtful and warm look at the things he loves.
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Summary: Snob "literature"
Review: Gopnik has fallen into the same self-absorbed, pretentious and irrelevant fog that afflicts many American writers in Paris. But he outdoes them all with some of the phoniest, elitist writing I've come across in years. Seriously, does he have to use words like fecundity? His chapter on soccer helped me get through to the end (I rarely give up on a book), and his love for his son is truly heartwarming, but the play-by-play of a day with Luke should have been trimmed to one chapter. When he does get around to observing Paris and Parisians, his overwritten comparisons and conclusions are absurd. His self congratulatory recounting of the ownership change and ensuing revolt at The Balzar restaurant is particularly annoying. A word of warning: Beware any jacket endorsement that celebrates this type of book as "literature." Gopnik tries very hard to impress us with his snob literature, but fails miserably.
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Summary: An entertaining sojourn
Review: For anyone who loves reading the daily-life-of-a-foreigner-transplanted books, this one is a superior treat. For a start, Gopnik writes really well, both elegantly and with great humour. He was the Paris correspondent for New Yorker magazine for the five years covered in this book. What sets it apart is his ability to weigh and measure his own prejudices and cultural biases, and, whilst not always wholeheartedly agreeing with the Parisian approach and attitude, he never condemns. The essays appeared originally in "New Yorker", so if you are a fan you will be pleased to see them in collected form. If, like me, you have never read them before the insightful observations and intelligent writing will capture you. The book seems to be ordered chrnologically, and at the end of each section is a 'Christmas diary' with observations and 'lessons learned' from the previous year. I was particularly attracted to this book because of the promise of some insight into living life in an adopted city with a young child. This promise is delivered and provides a delightfully different insight than that offered by a Mayle or Mayes (well off later-life part-time emigres).
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Summary: Memorable Summer Read in Paris
Review: This book captures the excitement and beauty of Paris. Through journal entries, the reader is welcomed into Mr. Gopnik's life in Paris. I read this book while I was traveling in Paris and spent afternoons exploring and finding many of the places described. By sheer accident, I stayed at the hotel mentioned on page 165 of this book. I reccommend the book to all who dream of visting Paris (as I did starting in seventh grade when I began studying French) and to all who may be headed..... Bon voyage!
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