A Good Year by Peter Mayle Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of A Good Year
Book Review: A Good Year
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought the book because I had seen the movie. Although I enjoyed the movie a lot, I found the book to be even better - much better. this is a good and easy read!
Janet Foret Lococo
Book Review: A Moderate Year
Summary: 3 Stars
I have read all of Peter Mayle's books and this one must have been written in a hurry. The characters were not well drawn as in previous books. It was a pleasant story, but it did not give me the desire to travel to St-Pons, France.Book Review: A Terrific Little Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
"A Good Year" is a book I picked at random and absolutely fell in love with. Not even 300 pages, it's a breezy and light-hearted book that is both funny and charming...The cover, which proclaims "perfect for summer reading!" is beyond accurate. The book is about Max Skinner, a ruthless stock market executive, who suddenly loses his job. On the same day he finds out that his beloved Uncle Henry has passed away and Max, being his only next of kin, has inherited his French estate and adjacent vineyard. Despite Henry's wishes for Max to keep the place, Max's best friend Charlie informs him that he has a chance to make quite a bit of money if he sells it. Everything sounds great until Max arrives on the property and discovers a few problems. The first problem is that a man named Roussel and his wife, the couple who live on the estate, are not very keen on leaving. The second problem is that the wine the vineyard produces is a step above poison and the third, most devastating, problem is that an American woman named Christie has arrived and claims to be Henry's illegitimate daughter. As he still ponders selling the vineyard, Max finds himself falling for a local girl named Fanny and discovering that the place might not be so bad after all. The book is not only terrific (although it contains shades of "Sideways"), but it is also vastly better than it's recent Ridley Scott-directed film adaptation. If you've seen the film and don't really see a reason to read the book, look again. This is a delightful novel and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
GRADE: A
Book Review: A good time with this book
Summary: 5 Stars
Have you ever been to Provence? Non? Do you know the French? Non? If you haven't and you don't, then this short time with Max Skinner might not be as much fun as it was for me. Not only have I been to Provence, but I stayed in Montpelier for a month and made many outshoot trips to nearby locales, including Arles and Avignon and small villages like Saint-Pons, the setting for "A Good Year." I lunched and wined and dined as Max Skinner does in Peter Mayle's novel. I also know the English, as different from the French as can be. Knowing the English also helps in the pleasure of reading this novel. But if you haven't and you don't, this is still a great read because you will get to know Provence and its people and the ways of the English.
My introduction explains, I think, why I love this novel. No, this is not literature that sits on shelves with Faulkner and Austen. But it is a great, enjoyable few hours transported to a wonderfully sunny, pleasant place among people with a joie-de-vie outlook.
Max Skinner lives in England and works as an investment banker and is at odds with his boss. He wakes up one day, thinking, This will be a great day. He expects to close on a big deal. Instead, his boss asks for details of the deal, then fires Max and claims the deal. But his "great day" is yet to come. He receives notification that he has inherited his uncle's small chateau and vineyards in Provence.
Thus begins Max's year as a future winemaker. Mayle is excellent in making his characters flesh out as real people, in creating visual images of the chateau and surrounds. He has the ability to put the reader right into the story, savoring the smells of wonderful food and wines.
The real story is this pleasant, daily life in Provence. The seemingly main plot is the secret concerning a special section of vineyard and how most of the characters' lives intersect concerning this one section. The number of coincidences coming together seem impossibly large, but the reader knows this is a book of fiction and that the author has ordered such events in such a way. If the reader has immersed in this world of the French, then the coincidences will merge into the flavor of a good wine. Take it at that.
Does Mayle purport to writing great literature? Or, does he give the reader a delightful and pleasant story for a few hours? Prepare a cheese and sausage plate, open a bottle of good red wine and enjoy those with this book. It will be a good few hours.
Book Review: A great book for a person short on time.
Summary: 5 Stars
I picked up this copy of "A Good Year" at my local [...]. I bought it on a whim, not sure exactly why. It was relatively cheap which was a bonus. I set it down in my bedroom and never thought much more about it. Finally, one day, I was looking around for something to read and saw it. Being a little interested and seeing nothing else better at the time, I picked it up and started reading. Immediately, I was hooked. The writing style is on target. The pace is fast, but not hurried. There's no long periods of flash backs, detailed analysis of the furniture and a history of road construction in France. What the reader needs to know is relayed to him/her. What information is required to set the scene is provided. Anything else is left to the readers imagination. In other words, this book is perfect for the reader who is short on time, but still wants the privilige of enjoying a good story. Chapters are divided up into aproximately 10 minute blocks if I had to guess. I've not timed them, of course, but they're short and complete the scene. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story and doesn't have a lot of time to invest in a 500+ page epic novel. I may even rent the movie, who knows?