Vie Francaise

By Jean-Paul Dubois

Book Overview

Meet Paul Blick: born in France (but not Paris); son of a car dealer; provincial sociology student-cum-theoretical revolutionary; briefly employed (by his father-in-law); married and soon to discover adultery and other satisfactions of a desperate househusband as consort of a high-flying wife who conquers the world as CEO of a Jacuzzi-manufacturing company. This not-so-extraordinary Frenchman is delivered to the not-so-extraordinary awareness of having arrived in middle age more a product of his times, his country, and blind chance than a creature of his own free will. Jean-Paul Dubois gives us a man whose life reflects the story - the mind and the heart - of a society coming belatedly, poignantly, and often hilariously to grips with the abiding pain and intermittent beauty of what living has become.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400096782
• ISBN13: 9781400096787
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

ce livre m'a plait

I read the french version which slowed me down. I thought the juxtaposition of the coming of age story set against the political environment of the Fifth Republic was highly informative and added to my knowledge of french politics. This is beautiful writing, is it the french language? There are so many poignant metaphors and subtle references, so many rich characters, humor, sorrow, deceit, love, family dynamics. Even though the last part of the story was sad, there was a beauty in how it was tied to nature. That's the cycle of life. We all face disappointments as we age. I think Paul managed his life, and its hardships, admirably. After all, he was an artist.