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Le Divorce

diane johnson

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This delightful comedy of manners and morals, money, marriage, and murder follows smart, sexy, and impeccably dressed American Isabel Walker as she lands in Paris to visit her stepsister Roxy, a poet whose marriage to an aristocratic French painter has assured her a coveted place in Parisian society...until her husband leaves her for the wife of an American lawyer.  Could "le divorce" be far behind?  Can irrepressible Isabel keep her perspective (and her love life) intact as cultures and human passions collide?  "Social comedy at its best" (Los Angeles Times Book Review), Le Divorce is Diane Johnson at her most scintillating and sublime.

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 30,1996
Literary awards
california book award, national book award finalist, 

This edition

Format
320 pages, Paperback
Published
July 1, 2003 by Plume
ISBN
9780452284487
ASIN
0452284481
Language
English

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About the author

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diane johnson

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Diane Johnson is an American novelist and essayist whose satirical novels often feature American heroines living in contemporary France. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Persian Nights in 1988.
In addition to her literary works, she is also known for writing the screenplay of the 1980 film The Shining together with its director and producer Stanley Kubrick.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
32(32%)
4 stars
38(38%)
3 stars
30(30%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
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alvi-xdrt
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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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.
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madokahiru
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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This book read a little bit like a Lifetime Movie, but set in Europe. This, of course, made it more interesting. It was somewhat like travel writing, as it is written from the perspective of an American who goes to Paris for a few months to live with her sister. She makes observations about cultural differences and has a strangely sexy affair with a 70 year old. Ooh la la!
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Cam_games
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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This is worse than fluff. Too trite to even be a beach read. 179 pages in and all that had happened is a girl comes to Paris to help her sister (who's pregnant) through her divorce and ends up having an affair with her estranged brother-in-law's uncle. That's it. And then somewhere around page 248, the author decides "oh yeah, let's make this more of a story than a girl who sleeps with an old guy". And she tries to throw in some international mystery and come up with crap about a murder and a porcelein smuggling ring(?). Complete crap. And this was a national book award finalist?!
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nessiesmith2012
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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This story takes place in Paris,the eternal city so they say. It's a story of a comedy of manners and morals,throw in a bad marriage,money and murder,all of the elements of a good story.
Isabel Walker lands in Paris,city of amusements and pleasures,where four fifths of the inhabitants are dying of unhappiness,she has come to visit her stepsister,Roxe, who is married to an aristocratic French painter who has assured her of a place in Parisian society,however by the time of Isabel's arrival,the husband has left her for the wife of another man even though they have an eight year old daughter,what a time for " Le Divorce".
While Isabel finds herself seduced by gourmet food,antiques and an older man,while Her sisters marriage disintegrates into arguments over money and a family painting.
Will Isabel keep her perspective and her love life intact as cultures and passions collide?
I should mention that toward the ending of the story many of the characters find themselves in EuroDisney and I wondered what " Voltaire" would have thought of "EuroDisney"

If we do not find anything pleasant,at least we shall find something new.
~~~~~~~~~~Voltaire~~~~~~~~~



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nico3434
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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I kept waiting for this book to go somewhere and when it finally did, the story just fell apart. The last third did not hold together well and seemed hastily tacked on in order to wrap up the novel. It's a quick read, but there are better ones out there.
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stellanumber7
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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I am obsessed.

This book was a step up from the Marley and Me prose. Infinitely better than the movie. I tried to re-watch it after reading this and I couldn't make it through. As always, read the book!
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Zieplon
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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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.
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twofingers
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 25,2025
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Very smart, well-written, and fun, which is what I’m usually looking for, but it’s a little rough when a book primarily focused on identity politics already feels so dated and irrelevant. Isabel Walker is a well-drawn character, but her area of fascination — How French people view Americans, how upper middle class Americans fit into Paris, how French women wear their scarves — who cares?
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