Diane Johnson does tell a good story. Some years ago I read her two preceding novels about marriage and divorce, and my recollection was that they were entertaining, but not entirely satisfying as literature. Same thing with this one -- a complex story, but ultimately, because the women are "beautiful", the men are "handsome", and they so predictably end up coupling without much thought, a trifle shallow. I did appreciate the discourse on French inheritance laws as compared to those of England. Nearing the end, though, I wanted the book to end sooner rather than later. Perhaps a good "beach" book?

What an interesting book! A newly wealthy Californian gets involved with a party of French, German and English visitors to a ski resort in the French Alps. An avalanche buries two, and Amy becomes increasing involved with the survivors, who are not entirely pleased with her do-good attempts to rectify some situations with the money she doesn't quite know what to do with. Returning to Paris for French lessons, culture, and developing a compelling need to buy a run-down chateau, Amy becomes even more involved when one of the survivors sues her.
The ending was a little weak, but the entire story is much more introspective than it would seem at first glance. The author has taken the sensibilities of a Jane Austen novel and applied it to a contemporary setting, with brief liaisons flaring up here and there.

Amy Hawkins has made a fortune in the dot com industries so she sells out, knowing that it is time for her to move on. She takes a two week vacation at a well known hotel for skiers in Valmeri, France.
While skiing alone, which is forbidden, Amy barely misses and avalanche, which injures several from the hotel. One couple is severely injured and both are comatose and unlikely to live.. They were travelling with their infant and the wife's teenage brother, Kip.

The rest of the book is the sorting out of problems and futures. I became tired of the of almost all the characters.

The main character, in the novel is Amy Hawkins who sold her dot.com in California for a lot of bucks and went to Europe to see how to spend her money. There are many assorted folks in the book of diverse nationalities which, to me, was one of the best things in the story - the French who disliked Americans and the British and Germans who also did - but also those who liked Amy even if they criticized her. The location is mostly at a French ski resort - with avalanches! What could be more exciting.

Another plus for me in the book was that many of the characters' thoughts and feelings were divulged - put right out there: Amy, feeling 'this' or Posy thinking 'that'. The reader gets the inside story as well as the one that is obvious to the participants. The plot and action are good and moves right along.

But make no mistake that French men [and some of the other male nationalities as well] think all women want to have sex with them, married or single or whatever. And for the most part, that seems to be true in this book, particularly with the younger women, but basically all of them. The sex is not porno or descriptive though -- so the reader is NOT disgusted by sex scenes or boring drawn out step-by-step [oh good greif, just get it over with!].

I totally enjoyed the book and will read the author's prior book, Le Divorce, if I chance upon a copy.

This is just not my genre. The whole story felt pointless.

A Pulitzer Prize contender?!?!?!
You've got to be kidding!!!!!
This was a silly cluster of cliches and predictability. I only picked it up to recover from reading DISGRACE by J.M. Coetze.
I needed something light, but not stupid!

While this was a stalwart entry, exploring the ever-increasingly twisted problems arising between different cultures, I found the pervasive anti-American rant running through it to be very wearying. I wondered why the Americans in it didn’t speak up and point out how everybody hates the French.

sucked!

recommended only if you've read Le Divorce and Le Mariage; otherwise skip it.

It was entertaining but tedious towards the end. It was too long.

Just not my kind of book

I personally found it difficult to follow this writing style, it seemed to jump about between who's perspective the story was following and in the end just finished without Amy really doing anything other than being 'the other woman'. I feel unsatisfied with the whole plot.