Review: Paris Without French
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 18, 2014
The book was a very enjoyable read, and I became involved with the characters.  Jen obviously writes what she knows, which involves both UCLA and the San Jose area.  Her description of Paris, however, sounds like excerpts from a guide book.  Strangely, Amy never uses any French expressions, even though she is supposed to know the language.  The reason for Billy’s hardened personality is still a mystery.The plot interestingly intertwines genealogy with the personality of people involved.  What one generation does certainly affects several generations of descendants.  I liked that, even though Jen’s open style of punctuation left me frequently re-reading sentences to determine the meaning.  It’s interesting how someone with degrees in English can get so caught up in literature – she comfortably works her knowledge of the classics into the story – that she becomes lax with grammar (or is that the fault of the ones who prepared it for Kindle?).  “Alright” is never proper, but it appears several times; she even has the book-worm John using it (totally out of character).  When she had English-Major Will say that “me and my roommate were…” I shuddered, but eventually decided (since he had messed around his first two years at UCLA) this was probably true to character, even though it is terrible grammar.I give the book four stars, in spite of these errors, because it’s a compelling story, told without swearing or sex scenes.