I loved this. I havent finished many non-fiction books to be honest but this was so engaging I read every word. Not only did this make me want to run away to Paris but it also made me want to put a bit more effort and forethought into how I live my life. I loved how this was not a dreamy eyed travellogue. It refrained from the normal steryotypes about French people and didnt give into gushing about them either. This felt balanced which was nice. Being neither French or American I wouldn't presume to comment on the accuracy of the book but it reads as very smart and totally absorbing which is about all I could ask for. LOVED IT. I think maybe if a French person had written this book it would have been what I wanted to read – because shouldn’t a book about seduction seduce the reader? I found the premise that the French are an opaque, mysterious people who use seduction in every facet of life irresistible. It shows a culture that is involved and interested in living life instead of simply getting through it. I was keen to be inspired by this book – to have a guided look under all the rocks I may not have been aware of in dealing with the French. The book seems to have fun with the notion of seduction in daily life in the beginning, but a third of the way in I felt a definite sense that the party was over and now we were going to study. Indications of seduction became exercises: here we see President Sarkozy displaying awful seduction, a few days later he is a rare gem in the eyes of the French for his acute use of ____ for seducing ____. Pretty soon the reader is trapped by prestigious, important, powerful people that the author is used to covering (and bragging about?) in her work as a foreign correspondent and she sort of molds whatever it is they do into The Great Use of Seduction by the French. By the end ‘seduction’ was pretty watered down.
Entertaining, smart look at what makes the French tick. Even this Francophobe enjoyed it.
—kelline
C'est tres bien! Sciolino sounds prescient about Sarkozy.
—Sammy
Now I must read "The Princess of Cleves."Fascinating!
—muhn22ee
An important aspect of French culture explained!
—siiesta_solaria
I liked it, glad I read it.
—rose
