Rating: 
Summary: Divorce yourself from this bore
Review: This book reads like a 5th grader wrote it: run-on sentence after run-on, extreme use of parenthetical expressions, repetition after repetition, etc. Whoever edited this should be fired. Boring beyond belief.
Rating: 
Summary: Moderately entertaining but ultimately unsatisfying
Review: I started out really enjoying this book. Having never been to France but, like most Americans, having a wide variety of assumptions about French people and French culture, I enjoyed reading the cultural observations and comparisons of Isabel, a young American woman visiting her sister in Paris for the first time. However, that was pretty much the extent of my enjoyment. I felt like the story meandered meaninglessly and pointlessly. I found the main characters, Roxy and Isabel, both self-centered but also not truly well-developed. The plot created so many questions in my mind about why their characters do the things they do, yet these questions remained unanswered due to a lack of further character development. I also simply found many aspects of the story strange, like the characters' obsession with Bosnia. Perhaps that was simply intended as one more resource for cultural comparison -- a political controversy and the differing cultural viewpoints -- but I simply found it boring and random, not revealing much about the characters at all. Also, and perhaps this reveals my limited American perspective on love and sexual relationships, I became turned off by Isabel's relationship with a married man who is 70 years old. Furthermore, I found Isabel's personality and morality confusing and contradictory -- she was offended by Charles-Henri's betrayal of her sister, yet she had no problem with having an affair with a married man herself. Perhaps this contradiction was supposed to reveal something about Isabel's youth and naivete, but I simply found her continual lack of self-awareness confusing and unsatisfying. In addition, I also found the ending to be without any climax or resolution. The lack of attention paid by the author to the tragic violence that occurs seems to indicate a disturbing indifference on the part of the characters, despite their professed horror. In addition, the issues regarding the painting and the stolen French porcelain are never resolved. I suppose Diane Johnson had a reason for this, but it was lost on me. So, while I started out enjoying the book, I ended up unsatisfied. However, I do intend to see the movie in hopes that Kate Hudson can improve the story for me.
Rating:
Summary: Makes a better movie
Review: I read LE DIVORCE when it first had been published and, while I didn't hate it, I didn't like it much, either. I've never since bothered to read another book by author Diane Johnson since that time; admittedly, she seems to be doing just fine without me. Generally, when one first reads a novel and then sees the movie into which the story is made, one inevitably says, "Oh, the book was better." Not so with LE DIVORCE. Perhaps it is as much a tribute to the screenwriter as to the original author, but the film makes the story far more believable than the printed page did, and the characters also seem better developed. (Or maybe that's just due to the excellent casting and attractive actors who people the characters.) Even the climactic event which resolves the story seems, somehow, more plausible on the screen. By all means, see the film if you're interested in this story. It will be quicker and far more pleasurable than reading the novel. And you'll be getting a swell travelogue about Paris at its most lovely, with its modern day aristocrats, thrown in for no extra charge.
Rating:
Summary: Isabel's Rather Rude Awakening
Review: While I admired the literary quality of the writing and laughed over the cultural comparisons between Californian Americans and Parisian French, I cannot say that I particularly enjoyed the story or the rather jaded outcome of Isabel Walker's misadventures in the City of Lights. Johnson's Isabel, is just too, too much the perfect rendering of the laid back Californian American as defined by a media that advocates the superficial and pseudo-cerebral instead of the development of inner consciousness. Isabel, indicative of today's American generation that yearns for nothing material, is, indeed, decidely confused, but is she representative of an entire American generation, America itself, or just a cyber-rendition of what the media tells us Americans are? Does she rush off to Paris to anchor herself to Old World realities after drifting in a sea of Disneyesque optimism? Although she thinks she is going to rescue her step-sister Roxy from the throes of an unexpected divorce, Isabel sadly realizes that her family is actually more anxious about her than her sister. With little focus to drive her, Isabel is fair game to the more worldy French characters in the novel--all of which do have agendas and a corresponding matter-of-factness that clearly works to delineate them from their more innocent American counterparts. Here the reader comes face to face with the full force of the elder sibling attitude the novel attributes to the French characters as they look disdainfully on their culturally naive friends from across the pond. From this perspective, it seems fitting that older statesman, Edgar--perhaps emblematic of the older French culture-- takes Isabel under his wing and his sheets to illustrate rather than dictate the facts of life. More so, it seems natural for him to end their affair before it began to fizzle and more natural still for Isabel to dally with the French minister afterwards as her sensibilities slowly assimilate to form an American/French hybrid. But what's the overall message? American optimism is simply childish when compared with an older, more world-weary culture?
As a farce, the over-the-top situations that arise as the plot unfurls are as funny as they are improbable. But this does not detract from the story it merely allows the national character differences to shine through even more strongly. Whether or not you approve of Isabel's behavior or like the portrayals of the French or the Americans simply does not matter. Johnson's novel works well as a modern recreation of the old innocents abroad/coming-of-age theme with a political twist. Recommended as both a cautionary tale and a black comedy.
Rating: 
Summary: C'est du moi mon opinion
Review: Le Divorce kept my attention throughout. I understood the plight of the characters and wanted to see their growth throughout the story. The main character Isabel, was self-absorbed and naive. This was a put-off as she would see herself as worldy and sophisticated and I would come to see her as young and stupid. I am around the same age as Isabel in this book and I am from California. I saw her as a person who has no real pride of heritage (only when greed comes into play). She seemingly puts France over her native America.
The French characters are arrogant (as I would expect) and instead of winning my admiration as being a cultured society, I ended up disgusted with their frivolous endeavors. Of course, I am an American and obviously biased. I was never quite fond of the French and their arrogance and this only confirmed my dislike of its people.
The character Roxanne is a modern day heroine who is strong and aspiring. I would have liked to learn more about her character and was disappointed in her lack of development. Roxeanne's story seems more interesting than Isabel's self-obsessed dilemmas.
Overall, Johnson had kept my attention throughout. Though, there were aspects of the story I found offensive and demeaning. I never took much to heart (after all the story took place in good old France). This is a good read and I am contemplating reading Le Mariage.
If you are looking for lighter, funnier stories, here are some suggestions: the Shopaholic series (3 books) by Sophie Kinsella, Trading Up and 4 Blondes both by Candace Bushnell, The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, or The Devil Wears Prada by Laura Weisberger.
Rating: 
Summary: This is sly satire, not broad slapstick.
Review: Le Divorce is a novel that delivers its funniest lines deadpan. Judging by some of the indignant, even morally offended, reviews, this style clearly zings over some readers' heads. The strategies of this novel remind me of the last episode of Seinfeld. Remember how many viewers didn't find it funny? That's not because it lacked humor, but because the style of humor simply was not readable by much of the audience, who objected to the "terribleness" of the characters' moral fiber and decided that the episode went "too far." The same goes here. None of the characters is what you could call lovable, and they certainly are not realistic (neither is the plot, but since when is realism the holy grail of satire? Look at Candide!), but that doesn't mean they are not funny. At least to me. What Johnson has done particularly well is create a voice for Isabel, who narrates the novel. Isabel is a unique character. Part Santa Barbara princess and part Jane Austen, Isabel navigates her way through the odd social circles and uncomfortable familial situations she encounters in France. She is selfish and rather hedonistic, but those qualities are counterbalanced by a good-natured sweetness and keen insight. Isabel's discourse is filled with many pop culture and high literary references, so she is not exactly uncultured, though she is certainly a flake and an underachiever. But she's no brain surgeon and has enough self-awareness to know that her character flaws will probably stand in the way of her ever achieving great things or winning the approval of her family. So she does things her way, with hilarious results. Many of her observations are laugh-out-loud funny, but you have to read with attention so that you don't miss these lines that are uttered with a straight face. I think some of the novel's critics are not paying attention. Or else they find satire morally offensive. In either case, their critiques say more about them, I think, than about the book. If you are light-hearted enough to laugh at the foibles of society (even Parisian society), then you will enjoy this book. By the way, the comments about the book's being poorly written have disregarded the fact that Johnson writes as Isabel. Isabel is articulate and observant, but she is basically an ordinary American early twenty-something, and her grammar, while by no means deplorable, is not that of an English professor or bestselling novelist. This is Isabel talking the way a "real" Isabel would probably talk, not Johnson unwittingly mangling the English language. Lighten up. It's funny.
Rating:
Summary: Deus Ex Machina at its worst
Review: The book reminds me of the film Adaptation -- just when the story gets interesting and complex, the author dumped a ton of crimes and misdemeanors instead of either facing an unresolved complexity or treating the characters with the thoughtfulness they deserved. By the end, I only thought, "geez, the readers at every major studio will be foaming at the mouth by this point -- murder, adultery, the French -- add a chainsaw-wielding madman and the hitlist is complete." Not worth the time, which is a shame, since the beginning is thought-provoking.
Rating:
Summary: It's OK - not great
Review: I thought this book was mildly amusing. It is well written but not as funny as I had hoped. It is not raunchy enough to be great vacation reading and not quite funny or compelling enough to get lost in the story. If you are going to read it borrow a copy from someone or buy it used. It is not worth buying a new copy. Overall, I rank it as decent beach/vacation reading and nothing more.
Rating: 
Summary: Tries to be fun
Review: I found this book to be not bad enough to stop reading (I did finish it), but it was not good enough to rave about. It has a bit of an identity crisis. Is it a book about French or Americans? Is it serious or funny? It can't decide. I think the author's intent was that the book be light and funny, but I only mildly found humor in parts of it and when you bring serious subjects such as murder and suicide into a book, you take it down a notch on the seriousness scale. The book is primarily about Isabel Walker, who is visiting her sister in Paris during her sister's pregnancy. The divorce that is taking place is between her sister (Roxy) and her French husband. A bit of a battle of wills insues between the French family and the American family. I love both the United States and France and I have to admit I love to read about the French, but even I found the French in this book irritating. I think it would be challenging to read this book without any knowledge of France or of the French. If you have no interest in French at all, skip the book altogether. Mostly, I just found the plot to be boring and the book tended to drag on and on. I found little to no connection to the characters and was rarely worried about the outcome of the book. I was reading it, but I wasn't "in" the book like I prefer to be when reading. I'm not sure that I can recommend this book to anyone, but perhaps if you are really interested in reading a story about the French, you should try reading it. Or, if you have seen the movie you may like the book (I have not seen the movie yet).
Rating:
Summary: Le worst book I have read in years
Review: This is more akin television or foodie magazine writing than to literature. Cliche follows cliche. It is amazing that the author lives in paris as the observations seem entirely canned. I suggest missing this.
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