I Love You Too Much
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
I knew I was in Paris, I knew that was the Seine beneath me, the sky above, but when I looked around for help, the grand apartment buildings of the Quai Voltaire stared back at me, indifferent.
Alicia Drake, author of the critically acclaimed biography The Beautiful Fall, evokes contemporary life in the City of Lights lavishness of Edward St. Aubyn and the sophistication of Julia Pierpont's Among Ten Thousand Things. I Love You Too Much is a novel of extraordinary intelligence and heart, a devastating coming of age story told from the sidelines of Parisian perfection.
In the sixth arrondissement everything is perfect and everyone is lonely. This is the Paris of thirteen-year-old Paul. Shy and unloved, he quietly observes the lives of the self-involved grown-ups around him: his glamorous Maman, Séverine, her younger musician lover, Gabriel, and his fitness-obsessed Papa, Philippe. Always overlooked, it's only a matter of time before Paul witnesses something that he's not supposed to see...
Seeking solace in an unlikely friendship with rebellious classmate Scarlett and succumbing to the temptation of the numerous patisseries in his elegant neighborhood, Paul searches for unconditional love. But what will he do if he can't find it?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Drake's memorable, heartfelt debut captures the intensity and angst of a teenaged boy's coming of age in Paris, where the fa ade of perfection and beauty often hides decay and degradation. Paul divides his time between two narcissistic parents who split when he was 11. His mother, obsessed with keeping her good looks, has just given birth to a baby girl whose father, the freeloading Gabriel, is a guitar player in some nominal band. Paul's workaholic father, an exercise devotee, is busy training for a triathlon. No one except Cindy, his mother's maid, has time for Paul. During one of his mother's countless spa visits, Paul chances upon a girl from his high school whose parents are also at the spa, and a tentative relationship begins. Scarlett, a feisty "bad girl" who lives for adventure, flaunts her budding sexuality and brings Paul out of his shell. Their liaison grows into something more meaningful. But then Paul witnesses two disturbing scenes one at his father's, another at his mother's that upend his life. How he survives his loss of innocence is both poignant and uplifting.
