Toujours Provence by Peter Mayle Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Toujours Provence
Book Review: Good, but not as great as A Year in Provence
Summary: 4 Stars
I didn't think that this book was quite as good as A Year in Provence. But it was still very amusing. I'd recommend reading A Year in Provence first before reading this book so you better understand everything he is referring to.Book Review: I thought this book was hilarious!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't ask but I read this book first and it's the second intallment in the series. I bought it because I was waiting at the airport and liked the cover. What a surprise that I actually found myself laughing at several of the chapters! My husband would want to know what was so funny, but it's just one of those things that to tell him, he wouldn't get it or see the humor. My favorite chapter and the one that still makes me giggle was the dinner date with Pavarotti!! You know, it really did make sense!! (will mean something only to the person who read the chapter)My best suggestion: BUY A FRENCH DICTIONARY. I found myself constantly looking up words. Enjoy!
Book Review: Light and fun
Summary: 4 Stars
A good but not exceptional effort from Peter Mayle. Lots of fun, but a very light read. He obviously still loves Provence! One for the South of France travel fans.Book Review: Light reading, with a side of unbearable smuggery
Summary: 2 Stars
This is collection of rather random stories about life in Provence, agreeable for light reading on a long plane trip, but not very challenging.
Mayle, a former advertising executive, writes all of his books as if they are just advertising copy in long form: glib, appealing, but superficial. The stories are minor character sketches that seem half-finished. They are not without charm, but their vagueness becomes irritating after a while as Mayle drifts from one character or anecdote to another and you realize he isn't heading toward any sort of point. He waxes eloquent on the subject of food, but in all other aspects - particularly in the analysis of human nature - his perspective is tainted by never-ending snobbery and smuggery.
He complains eternally about summer vistors to Provence, a class of people he seems to rank just above lepers in his personal caste system, yet doesn't appear to realize the effect of his own books on the number of visitors. Provence is good enough for people like me, he seems to be saying, but not you. You unwashed masses stay home and buy all of my books.
One anecdote from the book illustrates this point - Mayle describes a mongrel he has adopted whose destructiveness and bad manners he finds charming, and claims that the attitude of visitors to this dog depend on what kind of people they are. Old friends welcome a dog's nose shoved into their crotches, while the despised "summer people" try to defend themselves, to Mayle's smug amusement. The reader is expected to accept this kind of rudeness.
Mayle, in interviews, openly wonders why some people don't like him. He thinks his critics have confused "smug" with "happy". I don't think so.
Book Review: Mostly humorous insights into Provence
Summary: 4 Stars
The is primarily independent chapters each with their own story of life in Provence. The chapter on 'Boy' the dog was very good as were a few other chapters.