Do not judge this book by its cover. The movie was terrible, the book is fantastic. It's very astute, well-formed, and has a GRE level vocabulary (I had to start a notebook of new words). Diane Johnson's turns of phrase made me swoon.

Many friends, knowing I used to live in France and love anything written about France, especially dealing with expats, told me to read Le Divorce. It was such a hit that I expected it to be great but it was so insipid and the characters are all stereotypes and so poorly drawn that it was totally absurd and I was actually annoyed at myself for wasting time reading it all the way through.

A definite chick book. A good read for fast-moving fiction.

This book is rich in generalized but witty observations about French culture from an American perspective. I picked up the book because I had heard could learn from Johnson's treatment of the French, and I did enjoy it in some respects. Ultimately, though, the narrative is superficial, as are all the characters, and while I had plenty of laughs while reading this, I experienced little intellectual stimulation or fulfillment and outright frustration and disgust at the over-the-top final conclusion.

The entire premise of the book seems to be a binary analysis - a compare/contrast exercise (in America we do this. In France they do that). Unfortunately, there were several problems along the way. One is that to Isabel Walker, the narrator, "America" seems to equate to "Santa Barbara," which is where she's from. As I'm from New York, many of the American observations didn't "ring true" to me. Another is that while the novel has a far reach in terms of subject matter and content, it is all skimmed along the surface, nothing is penetrated in any kind of depth. The story is fast-moving, which pulls you along, but when you put the book down, you realize how little has actually happened. Isabel's insecurities, desires, and ability to exasperate and frustrate her family are all referenced but not set up, foreshadowed, realized or even fully explored. There are completely unnecessary characters who are introduced and not followed up on, until they're needed and dropped back on the page for unnecessary plot twists. The recurring discussion of the Bosnian War, intended to illustrate Isabel's new "life of the mind" while living in France, is superficial and chatty.

There are unfinished and unrealized spots throughout the book: for instance, why does Gennie, the 3-year-old, never act out or assert herself in the entire 300 pages, despite the stress and distress of her mother and aunt? She simply goes to the creche and comes back and every once in a while holds someone's hand. This book very nearly but not completely evokes the world of its imagining.While some aspects of Isabel's affair with an older man are sensitively handled, the family drama of both her family and her sister's in-laws successfully portrayed as reducing each character to a contextualized puppet, and the literary tradition of American women corrupted by European men effectively utilized, the over-the-top plot twists at the end ruined any previous enjoyment of the book I had experienced. Here are the worst aspects of the book exponentially increased.

This could have been a sensitive book about a family experiencing a divorce and the complications international marriages bring to divorce proceedings, but instead, in the last scenes, it turns into a pseudo-thriller with unbelievable events written rather poorly. I felt shoddy craftmanship coming into play here - while the book was lurching along, making up for in some spots what it lacked in others, by the end, the skill to finish strong seemed to be lacking, and cheap tricks were used instead.

It was ok, but got a little confusing. Good descriptions of Paris though

I really enjoyed this witty modern comedy of manners. It reminded me of a Neil Simon play—could envision the characters as they interact. I also liked the format of the novel—short chapters with quotes from famous French writers as introductions.

Barbara Johnson is really incisive about the inner thoughts of her characters and their relationships with family. She makes real the feeling of trying to adopt or be adopted by another culture, the difficulty of fitting in and of finding what you want to do.

This was a fun and light book on the surface; but it did explore the the cultural interplay and interactions between the Parisian/French, Americans, & Brits. There is a lot of thought put in to each of these groups impressions, thoughts, and habits when dealing with each other on money, divorce, art, food, sex, and family. The heroin is a smart girl who seizes an opportunity to grow beyond others expectation for her. Plus, it just has a nice bunch of sex, food, wine, murder, pregnancy, & suicide in it.

If given the option, I'd actually rate this 2-1/2 stars. I kept wanting to like it, and there were good parts. It was reasonably entertaining, but I wasn't compelled to read it, had to convince myself to finish it after some promising opening chapters. The main character was so selfish that while her sister is going major crises, Isabel can only feel self-pity about whether her married lover (easily old enough to be her grandfather) will continue their trysts. On the plus side, it's always fun to fantasize about living in Paris. The author splits her time between Paris and the USA and there are some fascinating cultural comparisons drawn. I had no idea until I had finished reading that there is a film version of this book. (I picked up my copy from a yard sale). Once I saw that who the filmmakers cast as Isabel, I both rolled my eyes and went "oh, but of course!"

Le Divorce is interesting in that the cover (the cover shown here is not the one I had) looks like the book would be Chick Lit. It's not, though, which makes it interesting when you look up reviews. While it's good literature, those who may have picked it up for the cover may not have especially enjoyed it.

I found it to be refreshing. It covered quite a few different themes, such as navigating a divorce in France, the property rights of a painting, reasons for marriage and divorce, attraction to power, femininity and the battle of the sexes.

One of the quotes I especially liked was, "We wrongly tend to think old people depend on us."

When you're young, you assume the world revolves around you and other young people. As you grow older, you realize everything is actually quite the opposite and older people just let youth believe everything is all about them, so they can get on living.

So... about the book.

Isabel moves to Paris to help her sister Roxy during her pregnancy, since she just quit film school. Just before Isabel shows up, Roxy's husband leaves her and her daughter.

Roxy is distraught and fine with letting people believe he is just away on a trip, but as things move on, people begin to learn the truth and Roxy dives further and further into depression.

When Isabel arrives in Paris, she does not understand what it is about the French that Roxy loves so much, but the longer she is there, the more it grows on her, especially the food. When Isabel finds herself being drawn to a powerful older man, she contemplates what it means to be a mistress and eventually learns first hand.

This novel not only shows some of the differences between Americans and the French through an interesting storyline, but also explores how greed can work its way into the hearts of those that didn't think they were interested in money just by the mere possibility of it.

I actually couldn't finish this one I found it so annoying, and that never happens.

Usually I don't like books with protagonists who are "cold fish" but for some reason I really enjoyed this book. Johnson elevates the story, which is a bit over the top, with her dry writing and her observations on French culture.