I'm happy to be done with Isabel, a spoiled Southern California blonde in France trying to gain sophistication and style through male approval and observation of the Parisian woman. Very good narrator and an excellent read for those who speak French. Diane Johnson is an excellent craftsman but I didn't care much for the main character.

There are sensations that one cannot write about or describe, and realms of the imagination whose importance, though dumbly felt, is beyond understanding.

So - I think this is probably a "chick lit" book, but it was pretty damn intelligent. I really liked it. I also really liked the movie.

honestly, and by now you know how i love my chick lit, but i really didn't like this one. i found the characters self-indulgent and more than a little irritating. some of the expat discussions are interesting; otherwise, i may have given this only one star.

One thing Le Divorce is definitely not: chick lit. There are abundant moments of spot-on satire and genuine poignance in this novel about American step-sisters Roxeanne and Isabel Walker adrift in Paris during the divorce of the former from her estranged French husband, Charles-Henri, who has himself fallen in love with a Yugoslavian woman. Le Divorce itself is set during the run-up to the Yugoslav civil wars of the 1990s, and a minor character is a local pundit actively engaged in criticizing France's role in the dispute.

Most of what engages in Le Divorce is in the Walker sisters' complicated and shifting relationship with Roxeanne's lively and sophisticated family of French in-laws, the Persands. The Persands' intimidating bourgeois perfection—the right clothes, the right cheeses, the right opinions—masks a cold and clannish condescension towards the non-French and especially the American. There is a substantial subplot regarding the fate, in the divorce, of a painting Roxeanne brought to Paris as a wedding gift to her husband, now believed to be a genuine De La Tour and of considerable value.

Roxeanne continues to love her adopted family and country blindly, even despite the alarming developments in the second act of the book, even as it is clear that her marriage with Charles-Henri has come to an end.

Le Divorce is a far from perfect novel. It is told in first-person from the view of the younger sister, Isabel, who learns of much of the drama second-hand because she is American and does not learn French until the end. I kept waiting for all the events of the second act of the book, some of them very exciting, to finally arouse Isabel from her southern California-bred apathy and make her feel something strongly for an extended period of time—sisterly indignation, crass gloating, even patriotism—but this never happens. Isabel never quite has the heart to make the case for herself—and by extension Americans—as someone to root for, and she portrays her sister as lovely but a little dim. Consequently, as I assume most divorcees feel, at the end I was not quite sure what it all had meant, but I was glad that it was over.

i have had this book (with the original cover, not the movie cover) for several years...i'm trying one more time to get into it. seemed like a good one for the beach and pool, but i usually find myself abandoning the book for the water!

I thought this was the most boring, selfish book. *yawn*

I found the narrator's chattiness incredibly irritating, "chick lit meets travel writing" poorly disguised as a comedy of manners. Despite all its reminders to the reader of its literary ambitions, the effort does not succeed and comes off as pretentious and overly ambitious instead. Perhaps I'd think differently of this book were I 16 and not 26, but as it is, I dared to open its pages after social and literary maturity struck.

Read this because it was on a "must read" list in a book by Francine Prose. I liked the premise - a younger sister going to Paris to help out her pregnant older sister as well as to find some meaning in her life. At first it was quite enjoyable - a bit of light yet intelligent reading- but the tone changed dramatically to the point where it became depressing. Then it changed again and again and after awhile I didn't much care about any character. Or the melodramatic storyline either

Finalement - c'est fini! Oof!
All I have to say is that I hope the movie is better than the book.

Sensational! I thought I was picking up a quick vacation read. Who knew that Diane Johnson has been nominated for both a Pulitzer and the National Book Award? What a writer! Divorce is not really the topic here, it's just the vehicle that pulls you through hilarious observations on cultural differences --- this is perfect for anyone who is a world traveler. BIG BONUS. I got to read it during several bathtub sessions while Jack and I were staying in a Paris apartment on the rue de Cherche-Midi.

A lovely, well-written book about a young american woman visiting her expatriat sister in France. After reading a few less-than-stellar novels recently, this book made me think, "Now that's good writing!" I also enjoyed the comparisons of France and America.

I've both read the book and seen the movie. The book is better than the movie -- marginally -- in that it did a better job of explaining the ramifications of an American woman divorcing a French man in France where children are involved. And also the significance of a Hermes scarf.