C'est la Vie

Book Review
Continued from page 1

Excerpt #1: Being Catherine Deneuve

"When I walked down the streets of Paris and men gave me an appreciative look, I was glad that I had chosen a city where older women were visually enjoyed--even by younger men. In America, a middle-aged woman--no matter how attractive--is invisible. Many divorced and widowed friends had told me that their social lives in the United States disappeared after the flurry of condolence-inspired social invites.

"In France, being a single woman did not make you a pariah. At Parisian dinner parties, no hostess cared if there was an even number of men and women or arranged a seating plan based on boy-girl, boy-girl. Furthermore, the art of flirtation thrived in Europe so that a woman who had been married a long time and found herself single and depressed could at least enjoy a few hours of eyelash batting. Taxi drivers, black and white, Arab and French, always gave me come-on lines or asked me on dates.I was suddenly transformed from an ordinary suburban housewife into a hot number, simply by changing my ZIP code."

Read Excerpt #2: Rare, medium, or well-done?

In this review:

Book Review: C'est la Vie

Excerpt #1: Being Catherine Deneuve

Excerpt #2: Rare, medium, or well-done?

Excerpt #3: The rules of Viagra

Also see:

Book review: Almost French, by Sarah Turnbull (another first-rate Paris memoir)

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