Another great novel by Diane Johnson. A mix of cultures, romance, and insights into French and American culture. She has a style all her own.

8/10/2004

I could hardly get myself through reading this book. So long, confusingly written. Not my cup of tea.

Very light reading. Mild entertainment. Nothing memorable.

Very light, well written

fun read, light!

Ennuyant!

Interesting read. I found Amy to be a very thoughtful, introspective heroine. What I thought would be a lighthearted read ended up being thought provoking and possibly a bit highbrow for me. It was a unique concept looking at how life changes with wealth and how American's are viewed by French people. The French law issues were very interesting.

Diane Johnson's books have a large cast of characters, interacting, flawed, falling down, getting up, and her plots don't usually follow the usual steady, predictable arc. Rather, they wind around and follow different characters. This can become tedious, and yet I still love her books and read them all to the end. Sometimes I put one down for a bit, read another author for a while, and then return to hers to find out what the characters are doing for the rest of the book. Thought provoking stories about human behavior and not neatly tied up at the end.

L'Affaire takes place mostly at a Swiss ski resort on the French border after a fatal avalanche, possibly caused by a U.S. fighter jet, a mysterious skier or a kid practicing yelling and making echoes.......or none of the above. A wealthy man and his young wife are critically injured and hospitalized, leaving an array of family and friends to grieve, plot, form alliances and discover French and British estate law and it's consequences.

Diane Johnson is a wonderful writer and I will read anything she writes. Her sense of humor is apparent on every page. And she's full of surprises. Her artistry is so smooth, one hardly feels she's writing. This is a good book. I recommend it highly.

This was a tough book to get through. It was just boring. There was very little happening, and the characters were all stereotypical. Nothing made this book unique or special or interesting. I wouldn't recommend it.

Challenges:
Book #183 for 2011
Book #101 for Off the Shelf!