A review by angeliqueazul
Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins
3.0
I recently started re-reading some of my books and made great discoveries re-visiting some of my favorite characters and stories. When I read Anna and the French Kiss for the first time (three years ago, although it seems like a lifetime), I was enchanted and completely loved it. While re-reading it, I saw why my younger self would react that way to this novel but I couldn't share in falling head-over-heels.
First of all, there is no doubt that Stephanie Perkins can write - the novel has a good flow and the dialogues are very well written. But unfortunately, from a European viewpoint, the story suffers from an overt American perspective. The beginning chapters were painful to read for Anna's lack of thinking outside the box of her American upbringing. I lived in the US for almost a year and reading about Anna's astonishment that France actually has movie theaters was awful and reminded me of prejudices against Europe and misconceptions about the greatness of the United States.
Anna. Oh, Anna. While she has some traits I can sympathize with, her reactions (both in thought and action) to St. Clair situations increase in ridiculousness throughout the book. She often acts very immature and I really could not understand why the PERFECT Étienne St. Clair would even fall in love with her because except for her beauty and friendly support she does not have much going for her. Perhaps that is the appeal of her character - to make girls relate to her because we all have that insecurity about ourselves and Anna is pretty much insecurity personified.
Étienne St. Clair is the reason this book works at all. He is a dream-guy - cute, sensitive, knight-in-shining-armor, clever, witty, funny, good-looking, confident, sincere, charming, fluent in French (hot), and has an English accent (really hot). He is not very tall - but that is hardly a problem for most of the girls reading this book. He is perfect - which is both a problem for real life (no guy could live up to that) and a relief for reality (this guy is so perfect it is unreal, so no getting one's hopes up).
I have recently been to Paris and Perkins' descriptions of sights seem well researched and I am pretty sure she has been to Paris before writing Anna and the French Kiss. However, you have to be unfamiliar with Paris to appreciate her way of describing the city. At one point in the novel, St. Clair and Anna duck into a bookstore because it starts to rain - and it turns out the store is Shakespeare and Company! You don't just accidentally walk inside the most famous bookstore in Paris - rain or no rain. Come. On.
So, overall, I am glad I re-read this novel and discovered that the last three years have made me grow as a person. This is no doubt still an entertaining read with a swoon-worthy male hero but its flaws make this far from a five-star book for me now.
3 stars for Étienne St. Clair
## ORIGINAL REVIEW ##
I rarely give a book five stars, and I am not saying this book is perfect but I had a great time reading it and it is a wonderful story that was close to what I experienced lately (without the happy end however). When I finished the book, I was like "4 stars? 5 stars? 4 stars? or 5?" And in the end: "What the hell, give it 5!" - As I said, I rarely do that especially when I disliked something about a book.
Now while I really enjoyed the conversations between St. Clair and Anna (good dialogue!), and I could relate well to Anna (narrator), sometimes the story just took a too childish or pink glasses or whatever-you-want-to-call-it turn. And that were moments when I thought: "Oh no, this could have been more sincere..." But then again, there was not a single moment in the whole book when I did not want to read on. The story really got me hooked and I am already looking forward to re-reading it!
First of all, there is no doubt that Stephanie Perkins can write - the novel has a good flow and the dialogues are very well written. But unfortunately, from a European viewpoint, the story suffers from an overt American perspective. The beginning chapters were painful to read for Anna's lack of thinking outside the box of her American upbringing. I lived in the US for almost a year and reading about Anna's astonishment that France actually has movie theaters was awful and reminded me of prejudices against Europe and misconceptions about the greatness of the United States.
Anna. Oh, Anna. While she has some traits I can sympathize with, her reactions (both in thought and action) to St. Clair situations increase in ridiculousness throughout the book.
Spoiler
I mean, come on! One of the highlights was when St. Clair makes out on a public lawn with her and when he runs after completely upset Meredith, Anna thinks, "He chooses Mer over me?" Instead of maybe being a bit more concerned about hurting the feelings of the person she owes all her friendships and a lot of support to. Plus, of course a guy is rejecting you when he runs after an upset friend after making out with you. *Eye roll*.Étienne St. Clair is the reason this book works at all. He is a dream-guy - cute, sensitive, knight-in-shining-armor, clever, witty, funny, good-looking, confident, sincere, charming, fluent in French (hot), and has an English accent (really hot). He is not very tall - but that is hardly a problem for most of the girls reading this book. He is perfect - which is both a problem for real life (no guy could live up to that) and a relief for reality (this guy is so perfect it is unreal, so no getting one's hopes up).
I have recently been to Paris and Perkins' descriptions of sights seem well researched and I am pretty sure she has been to Paris before writing Anna and the French Kiss. However, you have to be unfamiliar with Paris to appreciate her way of describing the city. At one point in the novel, St. Clair and Anna duck into a bookstore because it starts to rain - and it turns out the store is Shakespeare and Company! You don't just accidentally walk inside the most famous bookstore in Paris - rain or no rain. Come. On.
So, overall, I am glad I re-read this novel and discovered that the last three years have made me grow as a person. This is no doubt still an entertaining read with a swoon-worthy male hero but its flaws make this far from a five-star book for me now.
3 stars for Étienne St. Clair
## ORIGINAL REVIEW ##
I rarely give a book five stars, and I am not saying this book is perfect but I had a great time reading it and it is a wonderful story that was close to what I experienced lately (without the happy end however). When I finished the book, I was like "4 stars? 5 stars? 4 stars? or 5?" And in the end: "What the hell, give it 5!" - As I said, I rarely do that especially when I disliked something about a book.
Now while I really enjoyed the conversations between St. Clair and Anna (good dialogue!), and I could relate well to Anna (narrator), sometimes the story just took a too childish or pink glasses or whatever-you-want-to-call-it turn. And that were moments when I thought: "Oh no, this could have been more sincere..." But then again, there was not a single moment in the whole book when I did not want to read on. The story really got me hooked and I am already looking forward to re-reading it!