Deer Hunting in Paris

‘Deer Hunting’ is Dazzling

I don’t hunt or eat deer and I’ve never been to Paris, so although I had only read glowing reviews of Deer Hunting In Paris: A Memoir of God, Guns, and Game Meat by Paula Young Lee, I was curious as to whether the book would resonate with me at all. Boy, did it ever! Not only is the book riddled with fantastic, laugh-out-loud one-liners, it also has some great political observations. As the title indicates, there’s a lot of guns and meat in this witty memoir, but not in the way that you’d think. The reader will learn how to cook a squirrel (the “deep-fried Twinkies of the backwoods”) and laugh as she learns that her “man” sleeps with his gun when she’s not around. Young is not a conservative, family-values oriented, card-carrying NRA member who devoutly observes religious traditions. Instead, she’s a liberal-leaning, former vegetarian, fallen pastor’s daughter who refuses to get married and navigates her life in the most hilarious ways.
Rather, Young is the quintessential middle-child of Korean parents and her father was a pastor. Allergic to everything, colorblind, and dyslexic, the pint-sized firecracker grew up hating her brother and resenting the attention her adorable sister received. A voracious reader, she found quiet time in the confessionals at Catholic Churches and stopped eating meat at the age of 8 for no reason other than she felt like it. I can understand this because I woke up one morning at my Grandmother’s house when I was 7 and decided I didn’t like cheese. Like Young, it also took me 20 years to change my ways.
All of the above are reasons enough to pick up this book, but what I truly loved about it was the political thread that weaved its way throughout the book. Whether Young is commenting on the political messages of nursery rhymes or the decision for Fox News to use the word fox (they are considered vermin in Aesop’s Fables and not favored by Solomon the Wise in the Bible), she had me laughing out loud. Even more hilarious is that the liberal-leaning, former vegetarian finds a partner in John, a hunter from as traditional of a conservative family as you can imagine (cue the clashes).

More than funny, this book is also very poignant. Young may tell her story in a way that makes the reader laugh, but underneath is a serious woman with an incredible, in-the-moment look at life. As we lead our busy lives and try to make it to the next big moment, it’s easy to forget about what’s right in front of us, and Young’s book is a stark reminder of that. An unlikely heroine, Young shines a light on human nature and the result is dazzling.