Rating: 
Summary: The next best thing to being there...
Review: "Orgasmic Days in the South of France" had just arrived. I didn't want to be late for an appointment, so I just glanced through the book. Returning immediately to the beginning, I decided to read the five page introduction...and just a few more pages. The charming anecdotes involving family, friends and well-known people, the wonderful descriptions of towns, and streets and people and events and restaurants and food, the amazingly interesting writing style, the exciting original artwork in this book - invaded my sensory faculties. I can "see" the hillside in the old quarter of Cannes that Barbara Keller described. I can "hear" the 'boules' or 'boccie' sounds at the court of the Cafe de la Place formerly owned by Yves Montand and Simone Signoret. I can smell the 'bouillabaisse' in Cagnes-Sur-Mer and I can almost taste the 'noisettes of lamb' at Don Camillo. If the well-written stories, historical references and beautiful artwork were not enough, the back of the book is filled with categorized names, addresses and phone numbers of museums, restaurants, shopping areas, etc. Is this book compelling? I cut short my appointment, rushed back to finish the book, and have made my plans for next spring! Whether you've gone, are going, or just dreaming - what a great little book!
Rating:
Summary: The next best thing to being there...
Review: "Orgasmic Days in the South of France" had just arrived. I didn't want to be late for an appointment, so I just glanced through the book. Returning immediately to the beginning, I decided to read the five page introduction...and just a few more pages. The charming anecdotes involving family, friends and well-known people, the wonderful descriptions of towns, and streets and people and events and restaurants and food, the amazingly interesting writing style, the exciting original artwork in this book - invaded my sensory faculties. I can "see" the hillside in the old quarter of Cannes that Barbara Keller described. I can "hear" the 'boules' or 'boccie' sounds at the court of the Cafe de la Place formerly owned by Yves Montand and Simone Signoret. I can smell the 'bouillabaisse' in Cagnes-Sur-Mer and I can almost taste the 'noisettes of lamb' at Don Camillo. If the well-written stories, historical references and beautiful artwork were not enough, the back of the book is filled with categorized names, addresses and phone numbers of museums, restaurants, shopping areas, etc. Is this book compelling? I cut short my appointment, rushed back to finish the book, and have made my plans for next spring! Whether you've gone, are going, or just dreaming - what a great little book!
Rating: 
Summary: Namedropping
Review: I adore the South of France and have visited there many times, so I was more than a bit disappointed with this poorly-written list of the author's relatives, friends and favourite shops. The style is choppy - the author has obviously never heard of conjunctions and complex clauses. And where is the lyric beauty of the area? This book appears to have been self-published - say no more. (one star only because I couldn't get the form to accept zero)
Rating:
Summary: Terribly written
Review: I bought this book on the basis of the first two glowing reader reviews -- what a mistake! It's truly painful to read: The writing and editing are atrocious; the details of friends and family are self-indulgent and boring; and there are myriad mistakes in grammar, French accents, and spelling (one chapter is entitled "The Exhilerating Twenty-First Day"; Gauguin is spelled "Gaugin"). Worst of all is the adjective overload: Everything Ms. Keller and her cohorts see, do, and eat is wonderful, beautiful, lovely, superb, charming, or -- the highest compliment of all -- fun. Her habit of italicizing the names of places, whether or not they're in southern France, is also annoying. I could pluck an example of her prose style from almost any paragraph, but one will have to suffice: "The fireworks [in Cannes] are spectacular and worth the price of a chaise lounge or two. We brought Sally and Mort here. They had raved about the Hollywood Bowl but agreed that this was most impressive. When Bari and Mark were here, with my great niece Sammy and Lesly's niece, Meghan, I spent July 14th watching my family's enthusiasm." Spend your money on a decent guidebook (we recommend Rough Guide) instead.
Rating:
Summary: Painful to read
Review: I bought this book on the basis of the first two glowing reader reviews -- what a mistake! It's truly painful to read: The writing and editing are atrocious; the details of friends and family are self-indulgent and boring; and there are myriad mistakes in grammar, French accents, and spelling (one chapter is entitled "The Exhilerating Twenty-First Day"; Gauguin is spelled "Gaugin"). Worst of all is the adjective overload: Everything Ms. Keller and her cohorts see, do, and eat is wonderful, beautiful, lovely, superb, charming, or -- the highest compliment of all -- fun. Her habit of italicizing the names of places, whether or not they're in southern France, is also annoying. I could pluck an example of her prose style from almost any paragraph, but one will have to suffice: "The fireworks [in Cannes] are spectacular and worth the price of a chaise lounge or two. We brought Sally and Mort here. They had raved about the Hollywood Bowl but agreed that this was most impressive. When Bari and Mark were here, with my great niece Sammy and Lesly's niece, Meghan, I spent July 14th watching my family's enthusiasm." Spend your money on a decent guidebook (we recommend Rough Guide) instead.
Rating:
Summary: Missed the point
Review: I love the south of France and have been there frequently. I found this book irritating and annoying - it was filled with name dropping of people I couldn't begin to care about. In my view she entirely missed the point of the beauty and wonder of the south of France, preferring to talk about all the people she knew, the places she ate and where she shopped - it is so much more than that. It is a feeling, a way of living, a glorious colourful place; the Romans said it was "favoured by the God's". It gets in one's heart and soul and stays there forever! It isn't about who you know that owns a restaurant, it isn't about comparing it to California! Some pages were interesting when they discussed who stayed where - e.g. F.Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda. Overall an emptiness prevailed. For this reader - far too much focus on "lifestyles of the rich and famous". There is another world out there filled with real people who are not consumed with status and money - these are the ones that interest me!
Rating:
Summary: A beautifully written, unique, excellent guide...
Review: I travel the world alone, most often for an educational experience, rarely to typical vacation spots. I learned of Orgasmic Days in the South of France from a travel website which labeled it "a must have" and the book has taught me that learning can be accompanied by leisure. I've just returned from a glorius trip to the South of France where I sunbathed in Juan les Pins, dined in Monte Carlo, visited Matisse's elegant Chapel in Vence, Chagall's charming Museum in Nice, and marvelous, historic villages along the Riviera. I'm a new man! This is a beautifully written, unique, excellent guide.
Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Review: I was looking forward to this book as the reviews had been good but was profoundly disappointed. It read like a gossip column and was very self-centered in a boring way. I finally started scanning it very fast just to see if it ever improved - it didn't. If you enjoy cocktail parties where everyone is climbing the social ladder and trying to out do each other, you might enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Review: I was looking forward to this book as the reviews had been good but was profoundly disappointed. It read like a gossip column and was very self-centered in a boring way. I finally started scanning it very fast just to see if it ever improved - it didn't. If you enjoy cocktail parties where everyone is climbing the social ladder and trying to out do each other, you might enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Terribly written
Review: I'm sure Ms. Keller had a wonderful time in the South of France. But this book conveys none of its splendor. She should get an editor to tame her adjectives and adverbs. In an attempt to capture the effect on the soul of being in the South of France, her prose flattens the whole experience to a loud fortissimo. The result: She sounds like a screaming American.
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