Reviews

Paris by Kati Marton

hlogan's review against another edition

2.0

I love memoirs. Real people's lives and stories are infinitely more fascinating than fiction any day. This one is supposed to be about her story of falling in love in Paris and with Paris, but it did not hit home for me. I had never heard of Kati Marton before picking it up, but it seems she was married to several powerful and well-known men, so she was kind of a big deal - and makes sure that you know it. Her name-dropping is excessive and exclusionary of anyone in her life who is not famous. We barely hear a word about her children, sister, and friends who aren't a well-known public figure. At one point she dedicates five pages to notes she received from George W Bush, Nelson Mandela, high-level ambassadors, etc., thanking her for her fabulous dinner parties. And when she loses her second husband, presumably she had family and close friends helping her grieve and process her loss, but we don't hear about them; instead, she recounts breathlessly how Bill Clinton stopped by her house unannounced to express his condolences.
The book is ostensibly about Paris, but that thread gets dropped many times throughout the book, and when it gets picked up, it's unconvincing. All in all, not well done. She talks about all the awards and praise she's received for her other books, but I have no desire to read them, after reading this.

melissakuzma's review against another edition

1.0

NOTE: I listened to this on audio

This has got to be the most boringly told memoir I've ever read, and frankly, it has almost nothing to do with Paris. Kati Marton reads boring old letters, marries Peter Jennings and Richard Holbrooke and blah blah blah. I almost gave up on this several times and I honestly don't know why I ever bothered to finish it. Terrible.

cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition

5.0

A beautiful memoir written by Kati Marton who was once married to ABC Anchor Peter Jennings and UN Ambassador, Richard Holbrooke. A beautiful, challenging, interesting and sometimes very sad story told around Paris and other locations including New York, Washington, Budapest and Bonn. A quick read, it took me less than a day to read. I was originally interested in this book because I knew she was married to Peter Jennings. I am really glad I read it and go to know who Kati Marton is. Very recommended!

--Recommended by Jenny

Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search?formids=target&lang=eng&suite=def&reservedids=lang,suite&target=paris: a love story marton

judyward's review against another edition

4.0

Kati Marton has had a life-long love for Paris. She studied there in 1968 when she was in college. She served as an ABC correspondent in Europe and met Peter Jennings in Paris during their affair before they married and had two children. She bought a pied-a-terra in Paris with her husband, Richard Holbrooke, after their marriage. Marton describes her marriages to these two enorously complex, and sometimes difficult, men and it was to Paris that she retreated after the sudden death of Holbrooke. A very moving account of the highs and lows of a life lived among the A-list of the political and cultural world.

mcwmcw's review against another edition

2.0

I actually genuinely enjoyed many of the descriptions in this book; of the 6th in Paris near where my study abroad was headquartered and of life as a foreign correspondent which I found to be fascinating. However, I thought it did not well navigate the balance between her personal and professional life within the scope of ~200 pages which would have been much better suited to an in-depth exploration of either these two topics or of her time in Paris.

elisabeth1st's review against another edition

4.0

This is a lovely memoir and one I would recommend to anyone who enjoyed reading "Let's Take the Long Way Home" or "The Year of Magical Thinking. It is the bittersweet telling of the love and loss of her soul mate and American diplomat, Richard Holbrooke, who died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2010. They had 17 years of great love and were remarkablely able to share a very intimate life despite their highly public lives. Marton was also married to Peter Jennings earlier and she shares a bit of that life, as well. Throughout the short book she takes the reader to Paris again and again, the city where she feels herself 'most Kati'.

lynnedf's review against another edition

3.0

I love memoirs and was hoping this was going to be more than it was. I felt that the focus on Paris wasn't necessary. The fact that Morton kept going back to "Paris" as a theme almost broke up an otherwise super interesting story. It would have been better to simply tell her tale of life before marriage, then her relationship with Peter and finally her relationship with Richard. This book certainly makes me want to know more about Richard Holbrooke - but it didn't sell Paris to me. I just felt that perhaps Morton needed to break up some of her personal stories by talking about Paris. which is fine but it make the stories disjointed.

Decently written but if you are looking for a read about grief or "the year after" I recommend "A Year of Magical Thinking".

pharmdad2007's review against another edition

2.0

This wasn't a bad book, and I'm sure it was therapeutic for the author, but it just didn't speak to me.

meckenzie22's review against another edition

3.0

3.5

joli_folie's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book.
Amazing that this woman was married to two such well known Americans.
It was incredibly well written and of course, because of Paris playing a very large part in Kati Marton's life it made it even better. Her last two chapters were excellent in reflecting on her life and her future.