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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb read, 29 Oct 2008
I buy lots of lesbian romance novels, and have read more than I can mention online. I bought this novel from a book shop (shucks, sorry about that, Amazon). This is my first ever review, and even though I've bought this book elsewhere, I need for you to know how wonderful it is - quite simply, I love it.
The novel is beautifully written. It is told from the point of view of Elinor, an American who moves to France with her husband and two children. There, a beautiful Frenchwoman, Beatrice, catches her attention and she finds herself inexplicably drawn to her.
This is a novel of substance. There is great insight and observational irony as the story weaves through the difficulties of being an American abroad on the eve of the Iraq war. In the industrial town of Cherbourg, the American expat community is tight and conformist and Elinor finds herself making friends with the expat wives out of convenience rather than desire. Fully aware that Cherbourg, a bleak, industrial town - nothing like Paris where she spent a year as a student, Elinor slowly develops a friendship with Beatrice, and is confronted with the strictures of living a conventional life while desiring another. The growing but subtle attraction throughout this story is powerful and exquisitely told. Here's a little taster:
"But that day, at the beginning of Alexi's third school year, Elinor looked past Harriet Randall's head, momentarily distracted by something extraordinary. A tall, dark-haired woman, bent down and effortlessly lifted her small daughter up onto her shoulders and carried her past them, out of the courtyard and onto the street. The woman led with her free hand another tiny boy and her two older, beautiful daughters followed behind. At once, everything about the woman was vigorous, strong and fine, nothing like Elinor had ever seen before. There is never anything so startling as a beautiful woman rendered more obvious among a great many dull and tedious members in the crowd of the school yard that day, and Elinor tried not to gape. She tried to pretend to Harriet she was listening to her, reluctantly taking her gaze from the woman and settling in on Harriet's very ordinary features. She said something, "you're absolutely right, they should do something," and turned back to look in feigned concern for any other wayward child, past the gate after the woman, walking it seemed in slow motion, her long strides, carrying her up the sidewalk, her mane of dark hair loose to her shoulders. Elinor would not admit then that she had chosen her as decidedly as if she had stated out loud to Mrs Randall, "she's the one.""
This book is the gem in my collection. It is the one I turn to often because it has passages that simply stop me in my tracks. Like I said, it isn't your typical lesbian romance story - it's not designed to make you sizzle as it builds toward a climactic moment. But, it might make you run a forefinger gently over a line that challenges you to think about your own life and your own desires.
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