That Summer in Paris

by Abha Dawesar

Book Overview

Prem Rustum, a celebrated aging Indian novelist, unexpectedly meets Maya, a vibrant aspiring writer, and surprises himself by following her to Paris. In the slow, sensuous summer that follows, Prem... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307275450
• ISBN13: 9780307275455
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

A small suggestion

It's this: That you read M.J. Leonard's review of the book before you read That Summer in Paris: A Novel. I couldn't have written a better review, nor one as well done. It will definitely increase your enjoyment and understanding of Dawesar's book. Well done, Mike.

Beautiful Story, Beautifully Told

Prem Rustum, a seventy-five year old Indian born writer, thinks love and romance has left him behind, but then he meets young wannabe writer Maya online, who is in love with his work. And, as it turns out, she is just over a relationship, so she's ripe for another, perhaps even one with a man who is over fifty years her senior, after all, his work makes her feel complete. They agree to meet and are attracted to each other right away. Maya tells him she's going to Paris to work on a novel and it just so happens Prem is going there too, supposedly to visit a friend who is a writer and Maya is excited at the prospect of spending so much time with somebody who is so famous. The desire that has eluded Prem for so long returns and he falls in love with the much younger Maya and Maya feels like she's just awakening to new and wonderful emotions. I've been to Paris several times, so I really enjoyed this book. Abha Dawesar has captured this city beautifully. I felt like I was really back there. The art, the cafes, the Parisian life. Plus the story is so beautifully told, that I couldn't put it down and you won't be able to either. Really, this book is so captivating that Abha Dawesar's people will live without you for days after you've closed the final page.

A new gem by Ram Shenoy

I read Ms. Dawesar's book on a visit to the West Coast of India. It is exquiste in its crisp prose and gentle flashbacks of a complicated character, the acclaimed author Prem Rustom. Prem is at an impasse in his life and feels that he is living life only through his fiction, which imitates his own life. His previous books feature his sister Meher with whom he had a complicated relationship and his various mistresses who range from two Lolitaesque nymphs to an obsessed female fan. Maya, the main character worships Prem's fiction after reading it on a trip to India. The worship turns to obsession and eventually to a 'May-December' romance. The encounters are sensual, erotic and believable without a trace of banality. I saw influences of Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa in Ms. Dawesar's prose but her style of storytelling is unique and exceeded my expectations. This is not only an excellent summer read but approaches a classic,

A ride of unaparralled intelligence and sensuality

THAT SUMMER IN PARIS is a literary gift on so many levels I barely know where to begin. It treats the nature of art, the soul of the writer, the joys of platonic sex and sexual sense, the eroticism of food, the despair and the ecstacy of old age, the confusions of youth--in short, life itself--in such intimate and touching ways this reader felt changed in a way he's rarely felt from a novel. The miracle is that a young woman is the author of a book that should rightly have been written by someone twice her age at the least. It is a book of wisdom, sensitivity, and good old-fashioned fun. The theme of the book is a mighty one--the meaning of what it is to be alive in a world of infinite possibility. In the eyes and soul of a 75-year-old writer of great success looking for one last chance at feeling alive we see and deeply feel a methaphor for all our lives. Yet it is such a readable book with such a compelling plot the depth of what it explores hits us unawares. When I finished reading it, I just sat there stunned. I can't imagine a better summer read--and fall and winter and spring-- that both challenges our views of what it is to be human and gives us a renewed sense of life's grandest emotions. It is frightening to consider where Abha Dawesar has yet to go as a writer when she's already created such a masterpiece of prose as this. I LOVED THIS BOOK. God, what a read! Incredible doesn't even come close....

Enthralling and Intelligent

Dawesar's meditation on aging, creativity and passion is a great summer read for anyone interested in the love lives of writers. American writer Maya is an admirer of Prem Rustem, see: Salman Rushdie, and worships the ground he walks on. Rustem is an aging Indian Nobel prize winning novelist, who feels he needs to live life, and not chronicle it. As soon as he makes this decision, he comes across Maya's personal ad on a online dating website and wants to have a meaningful relationship with her. In the past, Prem has only been involved in unhealthy affairs- one of them with his sister, Meher. Soon after they meet, Maya leaves New York and is off to Paris for a writing fellowship and Rustem follows after her. Their May-December relationship is touching and erotic. It's a fine beach read for people who don't want the books to lose their intelligence.