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Le Mariage

Le Mariage

List Price: $14.00
Your Price: $10.50
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hard to believe she also wrote LE DIVORCE
Review: I'm not even that far into the book and I'm already disappointed! There are so many characters introduced in the first few pages, in such convoluted scenarios, I nearly gave up. What happened to the author who wrote LE DIVORCE - - - a book that literally flowed from page to page? I have another "favorite" author who also went this way of the ill advised "More complicated is better" (NOT) way. I hate to say, that I have found a certain unevenness in other Diane Johnson novels. For example, I liked PERSIAN NIGHTS & HEALTH & HAPPINESS; couldn't finish THE SHADOW KNOWS. Sure hope Ms. Johnson reads these reviews!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Especially [Bad]
Review: if only i'd read the poor reviews, before reading. i kept reading...hoping it would get better--it never did.
no plot, and certainly no mystery, whatsoever.
the more you read, the dumber the story gets.
a complete waste of reading time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Diane Johnson weaves another high-class comic yarn...
Review: In her follow-up to Le Divorce Diane Johnson gives us another sharply honed comedy of manners set in the drawing rooms and country estates of modern-day Paris that would make Jane Austen and Henry James proud. She's an expert at revealing the cultural barriers that divide France and America though unlike its more solid and satisfying predecessor, Le Mariage suffers somewhat from the weight of an overly contrived plot. The story focuses on a young cross-cultural couple, a Parisian antiquities dealer and her half-American, half-Belgian fiancé, who gets whisked into seemingly disparate scandals involving hunting laws, a stolen manuscript and some millennial conspiracists from Oregon in the hectic weeks leading up to their lavish wedding. A six-degrees-of-separation plot device connects Anne-Sophie d'Argel and Tim Nolinger with a colorful, Altmanesque swath of supporting characters, including a reclusive French-polish film director living in a quaint chateau outside Paris and his Oregonian wife who's accused of defacing a national historical monument in the name of home decoration. Throw in a moody, semi-handicapped American tourist from Oregon accused of murder, a French historical novelist prone to highbrow sexually explicit prose and a randy French landowner aching to explore marital infidelity and you get one of the motliest crew of fictional characters at least since Le Divorce. Too bad their contrived connections often deny credibility. The concise, measured prose on display in Le Mariage is what ultimately saves the day: Johnson writes with a savage wit that recalls the dark Hollywood novels of Bruce Wagner. But instead of alienating us with a slew of self-absorbed characters, Johnson succeeds in making us like these neurotic, soul-searching Parisians and Oregonian transplants despite their apparent flaws. The novel picks up magnificently in its closing chapters, as Johnson's screwball comedy ascends to the level of expert highbrow farce, including an ode to Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game that so cleverly blurs the lines between French and American cultural differences that you forgive Le Mariage its overcrafted clunkiness. Johnson's latest isn't as deliciously satisfying and rewarding as its National Book Award-nominated predecessor, though reading it is almost as pleasurable.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I loved Le Divorce and I loved this book!
Review: It was so funny! So few books make me laugh out loud. The minute I saw it was available I ordered it immediately I so enjoyed Le Divorce.

I love the Diane Johnson's writing style. THE BEST. I am going to re read Le Divorce now....

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fun to read, compelling characters
Review: Johnson created fascinating (and of course somewhat flawed) American protagonists who charm us throughout the twists and turns of a family situation straddling two continents. Lots of fun and a worthwhile read.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Who edited this book??!!
Review: My first by this author, and the last I'm afraid now that I've read others comments. This story had potential but it went nowhere. So many unclear issues...and way too long. Will the editor please do a better job on her work!!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: who brought the funny?
Review: Ok, so I'm only on page 64, but I kind of think any book worth it's salt should provide something interesting by the eleventh chapter. I picked up _Le Mariage_ at the library having heard of it and _Le Divorce_ in various magazines. I expected a light, witty, "chick book" that was also intelligent, but so far I've not even considered chuckling once. I'm afraid to finish the book lest I develop an incurable dislike of everything French. I feel like I've been told things about the characters but not shown anything, and therefore I feel no attachment to anyone.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: good writer, okay book
Review: Only read this book if it's around and you have nothing better to read, and don't expect a lot. Unsatisfying, too many loose ends.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Another disappointing wedding
Review: Since I loved Le Divorce, I expected to thoroughly enjoy Le Mariage. However, I was completely disappointed in Le Mariage. There are at least three different stories only very loosely tied together. Did I miss something or do the survivalists and the manuscript thefts have something to do with each other?

I came away from the book not liking a single character -- well, maybe Clara a little.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I felt cheated.
Review: The editorial review is better fiction than the book. I bought this book because I thought it might be fun to read. I almost quit after a few chapters, Diane's inablity to write complete sentances made it slow going. But her dialog was good and there seemed to be a mystery developing so I perservered. But the mystery was discared somewhere along the way, the situations were unbelieveable and none of the characters developed into anyone I would ever have to spend more than five minutes with. I can't decide if it was a humourless sitcom or a passionless soap opera.


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