- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (2 Aug 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099421852
- ISBN-13: 978-0099421856
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.4 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 846,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Le Mariage
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More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
Diane Johnson trains her sharp eye on marriage a la mode in another funny, frothy novel about Parisians at home and Americans abroad - with a dark undertow of murder, forgery and marital disillusion
Product Description
Clara Holly is a former actress, beautiful, rich, and 'well married, far from her Oregon beginnings' to the renowned but reclusive film director Serge Clay. Anne-Sophie is a proper young Frenchwoman with a smart little antique stall in the Paris flea market and a wedding to plan. As the plot thickens they are all drawn into a cross between a modern Feydeau farce and a Kafkaesque nightmare, as their paths and those of a host of other characters intersect at the Cray's château. Despite murder, misunderstanding, hostage-taking and erotic encounters, however, le marriage must go ahead in the grand French style. (20001211)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Knowing,witty and so sexy I loved this book .The running gag is a hilarious exploitation of the franco american divide.One warms to all the characters so clearly drawn and felt sorry when I had finished it.Please a sequel.I have to know what happens to Clara and Antoine.
Format:Paperback
'It was widely agreed among the other Americans in Paris that Clara Holly had the ideal life here, and people also agreed that if her good fortune has distanced her slightly from the normal lot of Americans, even from human beings generally, it hadn't made a monster of her as often seemed to happen to women in her category - beautiful, rich. well married, far from her Oregon beginnings.'
This is the second of Johnson's trilogy exploring Franco American culture clashes and the third I've read. It's my least favourite of the three. In this novel as well as Clara Holly's story as the American abroad, the beautiful Anne-Sophie takes a trip to freezing Oregon just before her wedding to Tim Nolinger, half American, half Belgian. One of the best jokes in the book is Anne-Sophie reading 'Jane Eyre' as 'the story of a little French girl, Adele, whose rich father, a surly Englishman, had locked his poor wife in the attic and had taken up with a puny, conniving governess.' Johnson is excellent at social satire, at the modern comedy of manners in which disparate cultures mix and admire and detest aspects of each other's culture. Her eye for the telling details is excellent, her writing sharp. For me, though this novel and its sometimes farcical plot was less well structured than the others and the wit less obvious although it's still a good read. Here, Clara Holly seems to be punished for daring to be happy in France and in finding a passionate love. I was left worrying about her mother in Oregon.
This is the second of Johnson's trilogy exploring Franco American culture clashes and the third I've read. It's my least favourite of the three. In this novel as well as Clara Holly's story as the American abroad, the beautiful Anne-Sophie takes a trip to freezing Oregon just before her wedding to Tim Nolinger, half American, half Belgian. One of the best jokes in the book is Anne-Sophie reading 'Jane Eyre' as 'the story of a little French girl, Adele, whose rich father, a surly Englishman, had locked his poor wife in the attic and had taken up with a puny, conniving governess.' Johnson is excellent at social satire, at the modern comedy of manners in which disparate cultures mix and admire and detest aspects of each other's culture. Her eye for the telling details is excellent, her writing sharp. For me, though this novel and its sometimes farcical plot was less well structured than the others and the wit less obvious although it's still a good read. Here, Clara Holly seems to be punished for daring to be happy in France and in finding a passionate love. I was left worrying about her mother in Oregon.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Creative writing students are told that 'the more in advance (of writing) you know about your characters, the more convincing your eventual stories will be'. Diane Johnson has no need of this advice. She understands each one of them, their motivations, their desires, and their contradictions. She is fully in control of their complexities. She is also very witty and introduces amusing asides to keep the reader entertained should the rather convoluted plot cause the attention to wane a little.
I assume that the novel is social satire disguised as a comedy thriller. Social satire is a difficult art. I suspect that most of Johnson's readers will feel that they have some rapport with at least one or two of her creations and perhaps enjoy the pleasure of being mildly mocked by a novelist of superior insight and intelligence. But despite all my efforts I found that I could raise no empathy for any of the characters portrayed, and actively disliked quite a few of them. I am unfamiliar with the social world depicted and, perhaps regrettably, am content to stay that way! So despite the occasions when I could laugh or smile at the humour I found it hard to stay become as involved in the complex plot.
Perhaps there is a certain coolness at the heart of Johnson's acute observations, at least in this case, or perhaps there is some flaw in my own perceptions, as I may well not belong to the target age group at which the novel is directed.
So I can admire the skill, enjoy many of the references, and see the funny side, but find my self ditanced from the heart of the book.
I assume that the novel is social satire disguised as a comedy thriller. Social satire is a difficult art. I suspect that most of Johnson's readers will feel that they have some rapport with at least one or two of her creations and perhaps enjoy the pleasure of being mildly mocked by a novelist of superior insight and intelligence. But despite all my efforts I found that I could raise no empathy for any of the characters portrayed, and actively disliked quite a few of them. I am unfamiliar with the social world depicted and, perhaps regrettably, am content to stay that way! So despite the occasions when I could laugh or smile at the humour I found it hard to stay become as involved in the complex plot.
Perhaps there is a certain coolness at the heart of Johnson's acute observations, at least in this case, or perhaps there is some flaw in my own perceptions, as I may well not belong to the target age group at which the novel is directed.
So I can admire the skill, enjoy many of the references, and see the funny side, but find my self ditanced from the heart of the book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
enchanting comedy of manners about Franco-American divide
Having adored Le Divorce I worried this might not be so good, but it's even better. Anne-Sophie, daughter of an eminent (but dire) French novelist is engaged to be married to Tim,... Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2002 by A. Craig
Spot on about planning a wedding
This book is (for me) about a couple planning their wedding. The couple consists of an American man and a French woman with different views and cultures. Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2001
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