Mary Stein

If you love Paris and all things French, you will enjoy reading this book. Mary Fleming offers insights into the culture and language, while also drawing a realistic picture of French-bashing. The novel also will appeal to photographers or those who appreciate the eye behind the camera. Fleming has her protagonist muse: "Photography is the art of regret. And since in my life generally I had cultivated regret to the state of an art, it was no wonder I felt at home in a form of expression that yes, preserves memory, but also causes constant, aching reminders of all that is missed." (106) Mary Fleming shows the reader her beloved city. She writes, "the beauty of the city was again proving salutary, therapeutic. The color of the stone or the uneven symphony of buildings jutting up around Montmartre; the sun reflecting in an incendiary orange off the wrought-iron balustrades or a glimpse of a bold cloud, its fifteen shades of grey exploding above a line of zinc roofs. Some visual detail always pulled me out of myself...."(125) See Paris through her eyes and see it better.

I just finished reading The Liars' Club and was struck by the voice, the description, and the story. To think that Karr could make a character as irresponsible and morally reprehensible as Charlie Marie attractive via dialogue was surprising, but her retort, "You could see evil in the crotch of a tree" was striking, especially given she could not or would not see the bad character of those she brought into her daughters' lives. (41) Even more amazing was the account of what happened to the eight-year-old Pokey when she stayed home sick one day, left in the care of a grown up man whose sickness far exceeded her own. (Chapter 12) While this man kept repeating he wouldn't hurt the girl, I know the pain of this sort of experience lasts a lifetime. Such "upbringing" as these children had could hardly be called parenting, and should serve as an admonition to any who advocate the rights of an unfit mother addicted to drink or pills.