Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Plume / Penguin Putnam
Release Date: September 25, 2004
ISBN: 052594740X
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: Trade Paperback
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Genre: Chick Lit Fiction
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Sheila Griffin
Reviewer Notes:  
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L’Affaire
By Diane Johnson


     Amy Hawkins is a young dot-com multimillionaire. After selling her business, she begins looking for something to occupy her time. Someday she plans to start a charitable foundation, but for now she is bored and out of sorts.

     Never having traveled, Amy decides to go to France to broaden her horizon. While in France, Amy hopes to have a torrid affair. Her apartment in Paris is being readied for her, so Amy travels to a ski resort in the Alps for a few weeks, hoping to attain her goal.

     On Amy’s first day she is nearly swept under by an avalanche. Two of her fellow guests, Adrian Venn and his wife, Kerry, are buried beneath the snow. When the victims are dug out they are in extremely bad shape. Both are in comas. Kerry is expected to recover, but her husband’s prognosis is not good. His children from several previous relationships are summoned to his bedside.

     When they arrive, Rupert and his sister, Posy, are more concerned about their inheritance than they are about their father’s fate. Nor are they concerned about his young son, his wife, or her fourteen year old brother, Kip, who is left to care for the injured couple’s son. Illegitimate daughter, Victiore, never knew until now that Adrian was her father. Yet, she alone seems to genuinely care for the welfare of the old man.

     When Adrian dies, the fight over the money intensifies. Amy manages to entangle herself in the affairs of the Venn family.

     This book abounds in negativity toward America. Whether the author is illustrating the low regard the French hold towards Americans or she is expressing her own opinion, it becomes infuriating. Everything, including the avalanche is blamed on Americans.

     This book meanders along without much action or humor. It is filled with French phrases which are never translated. There are no sexy bedroom scenes to relieve the tedium. For a novel set in France, there is a remarkable lack of details regarding the intimacy Amy shares with several of her acquaintances. This book isn’t really bad, it’s just tiresome.