I love reading books about Paris, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, so Suzy Gershman's book caught my eye. Unfortunately, the book did not live up to my expectations. Suzy really just does not come across as likeable. First of all, she seems quite self-centered. Her husband dies and just after, she picks up her life and basically moves to Paris (she claims that it was only for a year, even though she knows it's not even before she leaves the States). She seems to ignore the fact that her son may need her. Yes, she lost her husband but he also just lost his father and maybe he needs the comfort. There's a rant of pages 210 and 211 about it. "I felt guilty but also hurt...I was the one who had inherited the life insurance,the house and the problems that went with a falling market and the failure of my husband's business. I was the one who chose to put aside a hunk of money to pay for the rest of my son's education...I didn't know what the right thing to do or whose feelings I needed to cater to-his or mine". Well, obviously she chose hers because she made the move to France.

There's really nothing in the book that shows the charm about living in Paris and day to day living in Paris. It's all about buying stuff in France. Suzy is the author of Born to Shop books and apparently she felt that endless writing about what sheets to buy for a French bed was interesting to readers who thought this book was a memoir about living in Paris. Also, there are countless plugs in the book for various things. She mentions drinking Coca-Cola a lot and I couldn't figure out why it was important for me to know. That is unless, she wants some free Coke for plugging their brand so much.
Also it's obvious that Ms. Gershman is rich because she has a tailor in Hong Kong, jets back and forth to the US a number of times, goes to London just to get her hair done, buys designer clothes from Armani, and thinks nothing of buying expensive items for her apartment that she doesn't even need. Therefore, her "tips" for living in Paris are kind of useless to the average American.

Ms. Gershman shows a disdain for America, even though she will forever be American and never will be completely French. All thoughout the book, she makes comparisons that living in the US is like living in a slum compared to Paris. Now, I don't doubt Paris is very sophiscated and lovely to live in, the US isn't that terrible to live in either. However, Suzy doesn't really make the effort to learn more French-other than watching French television and she still clings to her American food. How does one become "Almost French" like that?

Overall, I was really disappointed with this book. The writing was not the best. It never flowed evenly like a book should. There was nothing about Paris that I was expecting to be there. Nothing about the hidden charms of Paris. Just some desperate American wannabe talking about buying sheets and furniture. I'm just glad that I bought it at a bargain price and didn't have to waste much money on it.

I bought this book with the anticipation that it would be a woman's personal and emotional journey in the city I have always adored. Instead, the author has a rather cold demeanor throughout and this book reads far more like a how-to for moving to Paris than an actual experience. This is not SO bad, but collective shopping trips and apartment hunting antecedotes do NOT a memoir make!

I also found the author's reflection on her loss to be very callous and detached. I understand that everyone copes in their own way but the book was described in a very different light than it actually read. Definitely not worth buying or reading unless you want to move to Paris and need a game plan. More like Travel, not Travel Writing.

If you want a really fun and witty memoir about Paris pick up Sarah Turnbull's "Almost French."

I bought this book, I am ashamed to say. I am also reluctant to review it as I do not really want my name associated with it. However, just to keep someone else from the painful experience of reading the book, I will write a few words.

I will never be dining with Suzy Gershman, shopping with her, or visiting her in Paris. We would not run in the same social circles. Both of us are (or would be) glad that our paths will never cross. No matter where we each live, we would never understand each other, nor would we share any common interests.

This is the most shallow and self-satisfied non-fiction (?) book I have ever read.

Save yourself the cost of even a used copy of this book. Instead, get a few copies of "People." then imagine spending the rest of your life hanging out in stores and buying things you hope to use to impress your "friends." You will not need to read the book.

The relationships with people and things described in this book make shallow seem deep. I have not read anything like this before. I kept wishing that I could hit the author in the head and I am NOT a violent person. I plan to avoid anything that is even remotely similar to this book in the future and carefully shunning all the recommendations Amazon has for books I would theoretically like if I would have liked it.

"Almost French," ha! This book should be titled "Almost Human." I only wish that Amazon would allow me to give it a NEGATIVE star rating.

I found this book very difficult to read. It was poorly written and very disjointed. I felt that the author would introduce topics and then never come back to the topics, ie fax machine, finances, awful relationship with her concierge. The book never flowed properly, not a great travel book or memoir.

As a twenty-something, this book was a little 'old' for me. It is essentially the story of a 50-something widow who escapes her sorrows and old life in the US to start again in the city she loves - Paris. I did enjoy her descriptions of the city and it's people, but after a while, all the name-dropping and elitist activities she claims to have done gets to you ("coffee at the Ritz with Les Girls", etc). She comes across as a snob (even as she tries to say that about others around her) and experiences Paris as a cashed up socialite, even claimed through out the book about how much on a budget she is (then writes about spending thousands of dollars on flea market furniture, food, limosines, fancy restaurants, flights back and forth between the US, etc and how she isn't on the 'Forbes500 list of Richest Women' anymore?!?)

She also repeats herself a few times (i.e. name someone with an small description, then does it all over again a few chapters later) which breaks up the smooth flow of the book and in my mind I could only think "bad editing". A small gripe, but still one worthy of mention.

All in all, it is a story about a woman coming to terms with the death of her husband and finding a new life for herself in Paris. The description on the back cover of the book understates her husbands death as she does spend a lot of time talking about her late husband (almost every chapter right until the end) and her obsession to establish herself in French society. Don't get me wrong - This is an entertaining book for over 40's, who have a similar lifestyle (i.e. money and social standing), otherwise to everyone else, it comes across as a tad boastful and shallow by the end. I'm sure she is a lovely lady (and you do tend to sympathise during her 'dark' moments, but by the end you become a bit resentful towards her constant talk of money).

As for the 'recipe tips to the perfect clafoutis' - she spends more time Americanising her food and baking from instant mixes than actually baking...and she doesn't exactly write about the perfect baking tips - it's more like how she went wrong with a packet mix and how it luckily turned out fine at the end.

For people who want a more realistic (in the sense of someone living in Paris without a wad of cash funded by her husband's life insurance money) narrative about Paris life, I would probably recommend 'Almost French' by Sarah Turnbull or even 'La Vie Parisienne' by Janelle McCulloch.

For readers who are looking for a book that gives the nuts and bolts of moving to Paris served up with humor and pathos, this is it! Already a well-known writer and a person with international connections, she is not
your average housewife moving overseas since her network of friends keeps her with constant invitations to various functions, thus her move was made
far easier because of that. But she faces enough of the daily chores of
living that the narrative is kept plausible enough for the average person to relate to the hardships involved in moving overseas, even to a city like Paris. Very enlightening about everyday life in the city.

I'm a sucker for the move-to-Paris (Provence, Tuscany, Spain, etc.) genre, with one caveat. I like the stories where the writer has actually moved to Paris or wherever, and is not just buying a summer home expecting to become a native. In other words, I liked A Year in Provence, and was not so fond of Under the Tuscan Sun.

In C'est la Vie, Suzy Gershman has indeed sold her house in the States and moved to Paris. She is newly widowed, which adds a different twist to this story. Gershman tells how she managed to get an apartment and furniture, how she dealt with the French bureaucaracy without speaking much French, how she coped with losing her husband, and how she got back into the dating game. She keeps an upbeat attitude in spite of all the obstacles and becomes, as an acquaintance tells her, "almost French."

C'est la Vie has everything going for it, and yet, I feel as if I should have enjoyed it more than I did. I was not aware of Gershman's Born to Shop series of books, so was a bit perplexed by the frequent and detailed shopping interludes. Apparently, she is also a celebrity of sorts, so she does a bit of name-dropping. She doesn't flinch at popping for regular trips to London to have her hair and nails done, so she isn't exactly a budget traveler.

C'est la Vie reads more like a fantasy than like a travel memoir. I guess I was expecting to identify with Gershman, but the affair with the wealthy Count, the New Year's Eve assignation with a handsome Italian at the Ritz, the purchase of a summer home in Provence, made it a wee bit difficult to connect with Suzy.

Although I did enjoy C'est la Vie, I also recommend Almost French by Sarah Turnbull. It's written by an Australian journalist who travels to Paris, falls in love with a French man, and stays. Somehow, I found her story much more real.

Having just returned to the States from two weeks in Paris, France, I picked up this book half-priced here
on the west coast. I wanted so much to like it...but I am disappointed. This book was published by Penguin no less, and the writing is tacky and the thinking shallow. I did not know that Suzy
Gershman is the Born to Shop series author, which kind of explains the fact that she goes on endlessly about her shopping sprees, which become very boring. She seems to have so little knowledge of French history, art, and literature, that her idea of "being French" is eating at the right cafes and sleeping with an ancient French man. I am almost at the end of the book, and there has been no mention of the fabulous paintings and sculpture of Paris, as well as the museums and wonderful ethnic diversity (we went to a terrific Asian-French cafe right off the Champs Elysees, for instance). Despite her great connections, I feel a bit sorry for Suzy. She is very revealing about her personal life, and at times even I had to laugh at some of her silly antics, but she is not a very good writer, just a good schmoozer. You still might want to read the book if you want something kinda trashy to read in your bubble bath or whatever. I was amused by her cooking instant brownies and serving them to the French. I wonder what they think of her! It's a bit horrifying to think that she may be their idea of a typical American.

I loved this book, wish it would have gone on and on. I am "into" French stuff right now so I found the book very intersting and very fun and very fast read.

This book is a reality check. It's hard to read because it isn't all "hearts & flowers" about Paris and France. She had a hard time and details her struggles. But go to the finish. You'll be so glad you did!

There is so much good information but I also found it fun to follow her adaptation to the French culture.

This is a great book to give someone who is thinking about moving to France; Paris in particular. They might have a chance of having all the paperwork it will take to rent an apartment!

Unlike most of the reviewers here, I loved this book! And--I don't consider myself a vain self-centered person nor do I think the author came off as one. This is a light-hearted book written about a very difficut time in the author's life. Personally, I'm glad she didn't go into her grief and expound upon it. That's not what this book was about. The fact that she had connections allowed us to read about things we wouldn't have knowledge of otherwise.

This is a light breezy read---just the thing to read when you are sick, down about life yourself, or just needing a laugh. I thoroughly enjoyed it---AND passed it on to a friend going through the life changing experience of a divorce after a long marriage.