Instead of joining the many Anglo expats in Paris whining about France’s high taxes, Kuper admires the generosity of the French system ... What [Jonathan] Gold did for L.A., Kuper does for Paris, in this persuasive defense of the very idea of the city.
As he learns to be a local... Kuper can seem a little too pleased with himself ... Nonetheless, Kuper is a clear-eyed observer of the history that is happening all around him.
The book is certainly informative as a sociological study and discourse on Parisian life ... However, the book feels most compelling when it puts us on the streets themselves and lets us mingle with the interesting figures who populate Kuper’s story ... In his more personal narratives, Kuper comes across as thoughtful and candid, a man aware of his own flaws and willing to recount his embarrassing missteps.
Kuper’s trenchant, emotionally moving insights into Parisians’ lives offer a very humane portrait of Parisians trying to build productive lives for themselves and their offspring in a complicated metropolis.
In self-aware prose shot through with droll wit, Kuper renders Paris’s triumphs and challenges alongside more mundane yet no less revealing moments ... A loving and illuminating ode to the City of Light.
