Playing House in Provence
How Two Americans Became a Little Bit French
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Author Mary-Lou Weisman and her husband, Larry, didn’t want to tour a foreign country; they wanted to become part of it. They were eager to pierce the tourist veil, and get as close to the essence of the culture as they could. No more observing from the outside with their noses pressed to the glass. They yearned for someone to open the door and invite them to step right in and make themselves at home. They wanted to become so French that even Americans wouldn’t like them.
In September of 2003, the Weismans arrived in Provence, France, for the first of four, monthlong stays. Playing House in Provence follows them on their sometimes wonderful, sometimes humiliating, always playful pursuit, as they learn that feeling disoriented and stupid on a daily basis can be fun. So can looking up French words they need to ask for directions—où est la pharmacie—only to realize there’s pas une chance they will understand the answer.
“Funnier, smarter, and more wickedly honest than any memoir about Provence.”
—Sybil Steinberg
Contributing Editor, Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this funny and candid account of four monthlong stays in Provence over four seasons, memoirist and biographer Weisman (My Middle Aged Baby Book) hoped to realize an old fantasy of becoming "so French that we wouldn't like Americans either." Trying to recapture her youth in late middle age, Weisman and her husband rented a house in the south of France in 2003 and anchored their "experiment in international living" around a routine of French lessons, excursions to the outdoor market, elaborate culinary exchanges with new local friends, and trips through the countryside. Weisman excels at identifying human foibles: during a dinner party for which they are furiously preparing, the couple realizes that cultural immersion will not change the pace of their life at home ("if we can't relax in Provence, it's unlikely we'll be laid back at home"); shortly thereafter, the couple admits to themselves that "we would rather become French than learn French." Throughout,Weisman enthusiastically shares with readers the "moments we live for": good food, wine, and conversation. Particularly for the over-60 set with a penchant for "riding in the slipstream of our own childhoods," this will be an enjoyable study in how to be at one's "faux finest." (BookLife)
