Task: Sentiment Analysis
Input (English): a disappointment . I have been greatly been disappointed in this book. I am a total Francophile and soak up just about any book on life in southern France, be it travelogue, novel, cultural study, etc. I have been reading Map of Another Town over the past few months and it's been a struggle. MFK Fisher goes into painfully boring and unnecessary detail on the most insignificant things, like having to go back and forth between offices and buildings while seeking the appropriate vaccinations for a trip to Africa, and what she thinks of every little thing related to the process. She'll devote pages and pages to experiences that have nothing to do with live in Aix-en-Provence and its environs -- it's a map of her own head, where she spends too much time. She finds herself rather fascinating, but I found her self-centered.     I thought it would be interesting to read about life there in the 1950s and 1960s, but again, the book is less a cultural study than autobiographical ramblings (if you can find it, Village in the Vaucluse, a Laurence Wylie cultural study first written in 1957 and updated in 1967 and 1974, is fascinating and was one of my college texts for a French culture course -- 5 stars plus.). I probably will not even bother with A Considerable Town and will finish Map of Another Town only because I feel like I should.    If you are considering this book because life in southern France fascinates you, I would instead recommend any of the Peter Mayle books (not jumping on the bandwagon here; I've read his books from the beginning and own all of them, and his writing style is absolutely delightful and endearing, even when he's being a snob), Yvone Lenard, etc. In fact, Peter Mayle's books so charmingly describe Provence that they serve as a guidebook to the best the region has to offer, so you can visualize and plan your own trip. With his writing style, it feels like you're along for the trip, whereas with MFK Fisher, you wonder when you're going to get there.
Output (English): NEG