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victoriathuyvi's review
2.0
Very easy to read and quite fascinating to read about a life so different from my own. But the francophilia and finding herself through the companionship of men really began to wear me down.
cazaam's review
3.0
A coming of age story of a woman who tries to understand her life through the books and films she has been exposed to. A bit too much infidelity for my taste, but I appreciate the honesty.
jaclynday's review
4.0
This memoir about Miller’s time in Paris during the 1960’s is a quick, delightful, melancholy read. She writes about trying to reconcile her glamorous ideas of Paris with the less-than-glamorous reality and much of the book contains her painfully honest accounts about her various romantic liaisons. Miller doesn’t gloss over her life or her relationships and it makes for a fascinating memoir that reads almost like a novel.
ham6363's review
4.0
This chronicles the author's struggle to gain personal independence, find herself, and mature while living in Paris in the swinging sixties. This is an honest and raw memoir. There are times when you don't like the writer very much, but there are other times when she is vulnerable. This may be one of the most truthful memoirs I have ever read and was well worth my time.
I received an advanced reading copy from NetGalley.
I received an advanced reading copy from NetGalley.
dysgraceless's review
3.0
Nancy K. Miller paints the perfect picture of absolute privilege in Paris. Her memoir of her young days spent in Paris in the 60′s as an ingenue, student, lover, and later wife, tells itself as a story of self-imposed exile from her New York home, overbearing parents, and “good girl” Jewish persona. Nancy Miller takes us through her adventures and misadventures, lovers, pregnancy scares and bouts of depression, all the while still enamored with a world of Hermès scarves, coffee at Simone de Beauvoir’s favourite cafe, and recited lines from A Bout de Souffle, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Miller candidly describes the costs of trying to live the life of the American Parisian, always desperate to become the essence of Jean Seberg.
I took on this memoir because I am really missing Paris – about a year ago today I was walking along on Île de France, taking in the wintry (mostly rainy) splendor of Paris at Christmas. Already I knew when I opened this book how almost silly and pretentious it was, I wanted to read it anyway thinking on my own romantic inclinations about Paris, my own shallow dreams of wearing a Hermès scarf, reading about the “Lost Generation” on the bank of the Seine, hopefully capturing a Jean-Seberg-essence. Miller’s indulgences in this memoir are my indulgences.
Although I was very appreciative that this was a fairly breezy book to read, I was a little saddened that it was more so about the drama of Miller’s own life, and less about the essence of Paris in the 60′s. But…. at the same time I can’t say that I was totally surprised – after all this is a story about an American girl in Paris, and as much as I am really annoyed by her complete self-absorption, I feel it’s authenticity and refusal to apologize are what makes it worth the afternoon I spent reading it.
I took on this memoir because I am really missing Paris – about a year ago today I was walking along on Île de France, taking in the wintry (mostly rainy) splendor of Paris at Christmas. Already I knew when I opened this book how almost silly and pretentious it was, I wanted to read it anyway thinking on my own romantic inclinations about Paris, my own shallow dreams of wearing a Hermès scarf, reading about the “Lost Generation” on the bank of the Seine, hopefully capturing a Jean-Seberg-essence. Miller’s indulgences in this memoir are my indulgences.
Although I was very appreciative that this was a fairly breezy book to read, I was a little saddened that it was more so about the drama of Miller’s own life, and less about the essence of Paris in the 60′s. But…. at the same time I can’t say that I was totally surprised – after all this is a story about an American girl in Paris, and as much as I am really annoyed by her complete self-absorption, I feel it’s authenticity and refusal to apologize are what makes it worth the afternoon I spent reading it.
mkat303's review
3.0
It started off very good, but eventually I found the book to be more about Miller's failed relationships and struggles around wanting to free herself from her family's influence than about her life in Paris in particular.
canadianbookworm's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
https://cdnbookworm.blogspot.com/2021/02/breathless.html
qualitypretzels's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars to be fair, it's a read for anyone looking to fall in love with Paris - definitely a girl book, but not entirely captivating even in the romantic sense.
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