Book Review: Claudine in Paris by Colette
Summary: This book was such a joy to read! It’s an older book from 1901, written by famous French female writer, Colette (Keira Knightly is playing her in a new film about her life) and I picked it up because I was visiting Paris and wanted something Paris-related to get in the mood. I didn´t have particularly high hopes for it as I´d never heard anything about it or the author (silly me). However, this is a wonderful, decadent pastry of a book :)
Style: The language and descriptions are so eloquent and fun and colorful and rich, the only way to describe them is delicious. I read each one slowly and sometimes twice so I could savor it. I just finished it and I’m tempted to pick it up and read it again :)
Excerpts: Here are a few lines that seem like good representations of what I mean, but the book is full of language like this!
¨The pretty creature! Flying hair, a vast feathered hat tipped forward, rapturous, short-sighted eyes, a frequent soft, all-embracing gesture with her little right hand that glittered with rings. She was approbation incarnate.¨ p.52
¨When the surface exposed to the fire softened, blackened, crackled, and blistered, I lifted it off in thin layers with my little knife...Exquisite taste, a mixture of grilled almonds and grafted vanilla! The melancholy sweetness of savouring the toasted chocolate and, at the same time, staining one´s toenails pink with a little rag soaked in Papa´s red ink!¨ p. 67
The dialogue is also wonderful. It´s witty, funny and vibrant with a great rhythm that keeps you on your toes and there are sparks of chemistry between all the characters.
Story: Although the language and style were the stars of the show for me, the story is also very entertaining. It´s about a feisty and stubborn young French girl who moves to Paris from a small town in France. Although she hates it in the beginning because she misses her home, meeting her beautiful and secretive nephew, Marcel (who is her age), and his charming but oh-so-different father, Renaud, makes things more interesting for her.
Final thoughts: This book is a gem that I am so glad I picked up! It was a pleasure to read and I´m sad that it´s over so I´ll be buying the sequel soon :) I highly recommend it!
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