Comments on: away

By: Patti

Patti — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 21:13:07 +0000

I am an American woman who visited Paris last fall and plans on going back next fall, too. The trip fulfilled all my long awaited expectations and I love planning and day dreaming of Paris but was growing tired of reading guide books full of facts and so went looking for a fun book set in Paris and was not disappointed. I found Petite Anglaise quickly in my neighborhood Borders bookstore when I should have been grocery shopping. I must say I was lured in by the adorable cover and feel it is exactly what I was looking for to fulfill my Paris fix. I’ve read a few chapters and am loving it! I am thrilled to have a web-site to look in on as well. Thank you for your book. -Patti in Vermont

By: Liese'

Liese' — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:28:40 +0000

I read your book..
and I really liked it!

x Greetz from Belgium!
Liese

By: petite

petite — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:45:23 +0000

@55 – I’m not offended at all. I don’t expect everyone to like the book and you’ve put your finger on one of the very real issues I faced when making the story more linear so it would work in book format. I think the main intended audience as far as my publisher was concerned was probably outside my blog readership. One thing I will say is that people don’t realise, I think, how much say the publisher who buys an unwritten book has in the finished product. Another point to bear in mind is that my court case was still unresolved when the book was being completed, which was one of the reasons I chose not to explore that territory in ‘petite’.

By: petite

petite — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:42:10 +0000

@56 – I was just very amused actually, and I’m even more amused to hear you were reading the book on the flight. What a coincidence!

By: marlana

marlana — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:24:20 +0000

Petite, I just discovered your blog a while ago. August is the time all of France is on vacation, right? I was on vacation in Cape Cod USA while you were on Belle Ile, so we shared the Atlantic. Love your fotos.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:26:20 +0000

Hi,
I’ve felt compelled to write to you after our rather strange experience in CDG airport on Monday evening. I wanted to assure you that I’m not usually in the habit of accosting complete strangers and I apologise if I embarrassed you. I’d first seen you in LBA airport and had that annoying feeling that I knew you but couldn’t place from where. It was niggling me the whole duration of the flight where bizarrely I was actually reading your book! It was only when you were standing behind me in the queue at passport control and I noticed your little girl and heard you speaking both French and English that it clicked where I knew you from. At the baggage collection I stole a look at the photo in the cover sleeve of the book just to make sure. When our paths again crossed at the ATM machine I decided to speak to you and feeling rather foolish ask if you were indeed ‘Petite Anglais’.
It was a very surreal experience to be reading about someone you don’t know but feel you do one minute, and the next to be stood next to them in an airport.
I too am from Yorkshire and have been living in Paris with my French fiance for the last 8 months. I have really enjoyed reading your book and have been able to relate to it in lots of ways.
Hopefully our paths may cross again one day…

By: Ch'tirlandaise

Ch'tirlandaise — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 08:55:22 +0000

First time commenter, longtime reader…

@52 I have to say I agree. I started reading this blog after petite’s dismissal became news in France (I’m a petite irlandaise living in Lille) and I was amazed by it. I started in the archive, worked my way forward and was glued to the “story”. Something about the way petite expressed herself – her honesty, her humour – captivated me and I couldn’t wrench myself away. I was scotchée devant mon ordi for a whole weekend, only pausing to eat and sleep. So recently, when I saw the book in the Furet du Nord (the greatest bookshop ever? possibly) I pounced on it, in the mistaken belief that it would be as thrilling a read as the blog.

Unfortunately I found it rather flat. This may be because I knew what was coming, but I believe the real reason is that the blog format added so much to the telling of the tale. As petite says herself, she was able to feed her readers a story bit by bit, and watching events unforld over a series of days or months, even when read in one go, is riveting. I think I felt a bit cheated as well – I was much more interested in petite’s legal struggle (and eventual triumph) than the Rennes story. Unfortunately the book focuses on Rennes, with no mention of the events that brought petite to my attention. I very much admired the woman who wrote the blog – the woman in the book I found hard to warm to.

Petite, I love your blog, and I do hope you continue to write it. I wish you every happiness and the best of luck in your new life, and I hope you are not offended by this post.

By: Sheila K.

Sheila K. — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:18:47 +0000

Yes, #53, getting married is equated with sex. Also with building a life together,and having each other to lean on through all the good and bad life has to offer. Have you ever enjoyed a fulfilling relationship,rocket? It doesn’t seem like you’re very familiar with how it works.

By: rocket

rocket — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:12:57 +0000

To N°50

Oh really, getting married is equated with sex. I thought it was firstly about about building a life together not getting over on your spouse.

Speaking about the book. I didn’t buy it and and won’t. As I mentioned, I think Petite is a very talented writer and I might have bought the book 10 years ago when I was still reading the books written by expats living in France. What struck me is when I picked her book up in a bookstore in Paris, I just opened it to a random page and my eyes fell on the first passage I saw, which was Petite stumbling into the appartment early morning (après une soirée bien arrosée) much to Mr. Frog’s consternation.

By: none

none — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:22:43 +0000

I really wanted to like your book, but found it to be pure and utter dreck. After 2 chapters I gave up and stopped reading (thank God I’d borrowed it from the local library and not bought it!). Great idea, poor execution.