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French Lessons by Ellen Sussman--Review

French Lessons by Ellen Sussman

C’est l’amour

A single day in Paris changes the lives of three Americans as they each set off to explore the city with a different French tutor, learning about language, love, and loss as their lives intersect in surprising ways. Ellen Sussman’s novel French Lessons is a book for those who love movies like Love Actually and Valentine’s Day.

The three Americans traveling through their day are a diverse lot—there’s French teacher Josie with her secret sorrow, Riley, an unhappy expat who pines for home, and Hollywood husband Jeremy who has accompanied his film star wife to her Paris location and is now dealing with his stepdaughter, who’s acting out and with an unexpected attraction to the French teacher who’s been giving him lessons. 

It’s the Americans who have the focus but it’s the French tutors who are learning their own lessons. The ménage that exists among Nico, Chantal and Philippe interests us and we’re by no means certain how it’s all going to turn out.

The characters are not uniformly likeable—we adore Nico but are lukewarm about Josie; we like Riley but know way too many guys like Philippe—but we enjoy being a tag-along on their ramble through Paris.

The characters are deftly drawn, even the minor characters who just have walk-on parts. When Nico tells Josie about the raucous girl Philippe flirted with, we see that girl so completely she casts a shadow. Riley’s little boy Cole, who seems to spend a  lot of time patting his mother’s shoulder and telling her things will be okay, is a lovely kid.

Jeremy’s wife Dana—the movie star whose movie Nico comments does not “look as though it will last 100 years—has a strong presence too. We  know a lot about her even though her character is mostly filtered through his point of view.

Freebie sample--Romeo and Juliet, a werewolf, vampire love story

Romeo and Juliet--a vampire/werewolf love story by H.T. Night is now available on Amazon for $2.99, but there's a generous free sample. I'm interested in seeing what Night has done with this premise because I have a story in which a clueless young theater company "revamps" the classics into Twilight and Harry Potter-inspired stories.  Turning the Montagues and Capulets into werewolves and vampires seems like a no-brainer of a way to interest teens in the story, which is already the greatest story of teenage romantic angst ever.
H.T. Night is a paranormal romance writer with a degree in theater from Cal State Fullerton. He's working on several series simultaneously and put out two books last month.  Check out his website here for more information on his books.

Bill Nighy on Bill Shakespeare

I am not much of a fan girl. When you work on the fringes of “the industry,” you get more than enough exposure to actors and personalities and celebrities and people famous because their sex tapes showed up on the web.  After a while, the glamor wears thin, especially if, as happened on my way home from DC last week, you get trapped in a seat in front of the struggling actor son of a famous character actor who did not shut up the entire flight—dropping names, mentioning people, being snarky.  (I actually was curious enough to look him up on IMDB and discovered he hadn’t even bothered to post a picture with his exceedingly spare resume.  And for whatever reason, he doesn’t use his famous father’s last name.)

But I digress.

I make exceptions to my no-fan policy from time to time, though, and one of those exceptions is for Bill Nighy.  Yes, I (heart) Bill Nighy.  I’ve always liked him as an actor—the scene in Love Actually when his has-been rocker character goes on a radio show and gleefully trashes Britney Spears, his own career, the record he’s promoting, and everything else in sight is not only my favorite scene in the movie, it’s one of my top-ten movie scenes ever. Some years ago I saw him on a Comic Con panel promoting one of the Underworld movies and he was just delightful—funny, self-deprecating, courtly.  People I know who have worked with him can’t say enough wonderful things about him and believe me, that’s pretty rare.

So I wondered—has Bill Nighy done any Shakespeare? It turns out that he hasn’t and he has some pretty funny things to say about why not. Here's a quote from vulture.com on on the typical Shakespeare costumes. 

Here's an interview from 2009 where he riffs even more hilariously on the topic.

I can't help but think what a fabulous King Lear Nighy would make.

Swordplay in Shakespeare

Courtesy:  Long Beach Shakespeare Company

Since fencing is the sport of the day at the Olympics, I was reminded of the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 when, as part of an accompanying cultural festival that included lots of Shakespeare plays (Derek Jacobi in Much Ado About Nothing, a French version of Henry V, an Italian version of The Tempest), actor Anthony De Longis and a group of actors provided a fabulous performance of swordsmanship that was like a bladed weapon version of Cirque du Soleil.  I can't remember what it was called--I want to say "Circle of Steel" but if you Google that, all that comes up is a Gordon Lightfoot song.
One of Shakespeare's contemporaries in London was a sword master named George Silver.  Silver was noted as a master teacher but in addition to the sword, he was also fond of the quarterstaff. By Shakespeare's time, fencing was a sport and no longer the deadly martial art it had been in previous centuries when it was used to settle judicial quarrels and all the fights were to the death.
There are a lot of places that teach fencing and stage combat but it's harder to find schools that specialize in historical western martial arts. In the Los Angeles area, there's the Academy of Arms. 

Second photograph of the day--flamingo mother and child

So, yes, I am someone who writes stories in which animals die and yet, I am a sucker for cute animal pictures.  (That's why we have Pinterest.) I don't usually tweet or email or post cute animal pictures because if everyone did that, there'd be no room for news about Kim Kardashian.
This beautiful picture grabbed my attention though. I saw it on FB and had to share.
Maybe I'm a sap.
Maybe I just like pink birds.

Photograph of the Day-Michael Rosenbaum

There's a wonderful exhibit at the Museum of Natural History, the winning images from their annual "Nature's Best Photography" contest. A lot of the winning images are of family groups of wild animals. My favorite photo was an artfully composed shot of two roseate spoonbills on a tree. It looks like a Japanese scroll. The photograph was taken by Michael Rosenbaum. You can find out more about him and the photo here.
You can read more about this year's contest here.