Rating: 
Summary: IT'S A FANTASY!
Review: A pleasant read, but not hardly the French way of life.The urban French have no more time to linger over morning coffee, take daily shopping strolls, dally in their gardens, than we here do.
Rating: 
Summary: Lovely to read although idealized
Review: As long as you accept this as a coffee-table book, it's very nice and relaxing to read. Mr. Arbor's writing style is enchanting and his love of food and (the typically French) enjoyment of small everyday things takes you to another world...away from the stress and blandness.
It is quite a bit idealized, however - as one reviewer mentioned, Mr. Arbor's living style (restaurant owner, lives in France and in the US) is probably not typical. Some of the generalizations are rather endearing: "I've never met anyone who doesn't like roast chicken." Cooking seems to take a solid 3-4 hours every day in the French people's lives...sometimes you wonder - when do these people actually work? But then you begin to enjoy this book for what it is. The recipes are lovely and not too complicated - they add a way for the reader to actually participate in Mr. Arbor's presentation of French life.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting in a Subtle Way
Review: Author's reflections on ways that Americans could enrich their lives by appreciating and cultivating domestic delights. Lots of recipes initially led me to believe that the book was mostly fluff; my husband had the same reaction. I did read the whole book and found it to be sweet and gently inspiring.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow food, more life, more real time.
Review: Finally... REAL French cookbook! That is, a cookbook that doesn't just tell you how to measure a cup of this and a teaspoon of that, but instead explains the basic French attitude towards food handling.... which Mr. Arbor argues is the essence of the French attitude towards life.
If a person mastered the few meals in this book, he or she would never go hungry and would have many devoted friends. Such an enlightened person would never need to crack a cookbook either...although.... Robert Arbor does admit he never bakes at home and neither do most of his fellow French. (France is full of wonderful bakeries, afterall, and for baking most people really will need measuring devices, but that's a different book.)Arbor also gives advice on how to arrange one's kitchen, how to have a lovely time feeding guests (it's all in the timing) and how to have plenty to eat without resorting to junk or fast food. I plan to give this book to my twenty-something son for Christmas. (Either a woman will thank me oneday or he'll simply have a great time on his own.) It's a GREAT gift idea for any young person learning to set up house-keeping. Joie de vivre, indeed. My compliments to Arbor.
Rating:
Summary: Slow food, more life, more real time.
Review: Finally... REAL French cookbook! That is, a cookbook that doesn't just tell you how to measure a cup of this and a teaspoon of that, but instead explains the basic French attitude towards food handling.... which Mr. Arbor argues is the essence of the French attitude towards life.
If a person mastered the few meals in this book, he or she would never go hungry and would have many devoted friends. Such an enlightened person would never need to crack a cookbook either...although.... Robert Arbor does admit he never bakes at home and neither do most of his fellow French. (France is full of wonderful bakeries, afterall, and for baking most people really will need measuring devices, but that's a different book.) Arbor also gives advice on how to arrange one's kitchen, how to have a lovely time feeding guests (it's all in the timing) and how to have plenty to eat without resorting to junk or fast food. I plan to give this book to my twenty-something son for Christmas. (Either a woman will thank me oneday or he'll simply have a great time on his own.) It's a GREAT gift idea for any young person learning to set up house-keeping. Joie de vivre, indeed. My compliments to Arbor.
Rating:
Summary: Limited look at modern French relationship to food
Review: Frenchman Robert Arbor owns several restaurants in NYC and New England. The purpose of his book is to share typical French attitudes toward food, friends and family with an American audience. The book is organized to reflect an ideal day which includes breakfast of bread and coffee, a few hours of marketing, lunch---weekday and weekend options, afternoon snack and dinner---with a dinner party option. Each section is followed by a few simple recipes. The reader learns a great deal about Arbor and his family and their home routines in both America and France. If one accepts Arbor's life as typical, then I suppose one can also accept his attitudes as typical, but the book would have benefited from other voices.
Rating:
Summary: Limited look at modern French relationship to food
Review: Frenchman Robert Arbor owns several restaurants in NYC and New England. The purpose of his book is to share typical French attitudes toward food, friends and family with an American audience. The book is organized to reflect an ideal day which includes breakfast of bread and coffee, a few hours of marketing, lunch---weekday and weekend options, afternoon snack and dinner---with a dinner party option. Each section is followed by a few simple recipes. The reader learns a great deal about Arbor and his family and their home routines in both America and France. If one accepts Arbor's life as typical, then I suppose one can also accept his attitudes as typical, but the book would have benefited from other voices.
Rating:
Summary: My birthday present to myself
Review: I don't know whether everything in this book is true. I've never been to France. However, I know that I want it to be true, because what Mr. Arbor has written is so incredibly beautiful and inviting. When he describes how the French approach life with more deliberation and less haste, I sighed. I want that for myself. I want intimate dinners of well cooked food with well chosen friends. I want to cook a few things well, and be able to linger at the table, comfortable in the knowledge that, though the fare may be simple, it is pleasurable. Life in our country can be incredibly stressful. Borrowing a few pages from Joie de Vivre can only enhance my life, and it really is a lovely read. Sigh, I love beautiful books.
Rating:
Summary: My birthday present to myself
Review: I don't know whether everything in this book is true. I've never been to France. However, I know that I want it to be true, because what Mr. Arbor has written is so incredibly beautiful and inviting. When he describes how the French approach life with more deliberation and less haste, I sighed. I want that for myself. I want intimate dinners of well cooked food with well chosen friends. I want to cook a few things well, and be able to linger at the table, comfortable in the knowledge that, though the fare may be simple, it is pleasurable. Life in our country can be incredibly stressful. Borrowing a few pages from Joie de Vivre can only enhance my life, and it really is a lovely read. Sigh, I love beautiful books.
Rating:
Summary: A peek at the French lifestyle
Review: I have been fortunate to visit France twice and was a guest in the home of a French lady who is a family friend. Joie de Vivre does a good job of describing the daily routine of the French and their attitudes toward food, family, friends, and enjoying life. I have never been as relaxed as I was when I was in France. Of course, I WAS on vacation, but it was still quite a relaxing experience. Things go at a slower pace than they do in the US and there is more enjoyment of simple things and simple times. Neighborhood grocers, patisseries, butcher shops, and bakeries, make it simpler to have fresh food every day. It also makes the experience of shopping for these items more enjoyable. We walked to the market, the bakery, etc. and it was wonderful. No zooming in the car to find a parking space. This book makes achieving the French lifestyle in the US sound like it would be simple. For those of us who don't live in cities with neighborhood shops, it is a great idea, but would take much more effort to achieve. Also, starting dinner at 8 p.m. sounds unreasonable. My daughter is bathed and in bed by this time and my husband and I are finishing dinner, cleaning the kitchen , and getting ready for a good night's sleep. The French do not watch much television which, I think, makes all the difference in how much extra time they have. They end their days later and start them later. It would be impossible for me to begin dinner at 8:30 p.m., go to bed at 11:30 p.m., get up at 6 a.m., get my daughter to school and myself to work by 8 a.m. Joie de Vivre can inspire you to add elements of the French lifestyle to your own life.
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