Vanina Marsot

Foreign Tongues: a Novel of Life & Love in Paris. Vanina Marsot. 2009. The subtitle pretty much says it all. A young woman goes to Paris after she breaks up with her boyfriend in California. Her father is French so she is fluent and her aunt has an apartment in Paris that she can use. She gets a job translating a slightly pornographic memoir from French into English. Jim was fascinated with the translation process, and I found it interesting. Knowledge of French is not necessary but I do think Francophiles -and Paris-ophiles will enjoy this book more than most. I loved reading about the sights, sounds, foods and characters in Paris!… (más)

The Review

One of my favorite lines in the book is:

“Heartbreak in French is chagrin d’amour. It means a disappointment in love, and it’s like food poisoning: everyone knows what it is and sympathizes. it’s probably covered under the state’s socialized medicine umbrella.”

This story is one of Anna, whose heartbreak swept her away to her second home/nation, France. Anna is running away from a man who broke her heart by cheating on her with another woman. In Paris, she finds an interim job in translating an erotic book from French to English. She hooks up with old friends and works on mending her broken heart. And, what’s the best fix for that? A new man! And, that’s precisely what Anna ends up with… Olivier. However, soon enough, Olivier lets her down just as her ex-boyfriend Timothy had. From that place of even deeper pain, Anna must rebirth herself as would Phoenix from the flames.

There were many ways that I could relate to Anna in this novel. At one point in the story, Anna states:

“… I watched the light from the flames play on his profile, and thought about how much I liked him. If I put aside my neurotic tendency to overthink every situation, things would be fine. I had to tell him. Right away.”

Being an overly neurotic thinker, myself, I could relate with Anna and how she dealt with rebuilding the pieces of heart and mind.

This book is filled with French text. I was one of those who chose Spanish rather than French in high school. Therefore, I have absolutely NO familiarity with the language. Therefore, the French verbiage in the story lost me unless Marsot explained them in English immediately thereafter. In over 1/2 of the cases, she did. However, there is another 1/2 that I simply did not understand. I did, however, enjoy the descriptions of Paris, France and its wonderful food and delicacies.

The ending of the book was not what I had hoped for. There was a neat little twist in the ending, however for a good portion of the book I had already figured out the majority of the ending… so it wasn’t a big surprise. However, I wanted something more after the book ended. I’m not sure what… because Marsot did tie up “loose ends” with the characters. It’s just the way that I think I felt when the book was over. I was sad and I just wanted to see Anna in a different light. I didn’t.

I wanted to share one more line in the book that I really liked. It’s at the end of the story and Anna is visiting a “medicine man”/psychic to help her with her nightmares:

“Sometimes the world is too much to bear,” he said. “This pain, it can take up residence in the hidden part of your mind, your dreams.”

No kidding! My dreams hold me captive more than I’d like to admit!

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

I did like this book, however I didn’t love it. There are many parts of it that are written so beautifully. In addition, there are some racy sections and some humorous ones. The book did elicit feelings from me and I was definitely attached to the story. For the genre:Fiction, I shall rate this read an 8 OUT OF 10.… (más)

The Short of It:

If a Hollywood ending is not your thing, then this book is just what the doctor ordered.

My Thoughts:

Back in April, I was lucky enough to hear Vanina Marsot at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. When she discussed her book, Foreign Tongue–what she described intrigued me. When we think of Paris, we think of romance, beauty, food and wine. There's that, but there's also a grittier side that we normally do not read about and when I heard that, I knew that I had to read this book.

After leaving a cheating boyfriend, Anna ends up in Paris. She lives rent free in her Aunt's apartment, eats a lot of pastries, hangs out with friends and manages to fall in love with another man. On top of that, she finds a job translating an erotic novel from French to English. What's not to love, right?

Well...there are some underground clubs. Clubs that basically focus on orgies and the like. When Anna's friend suggests that they go to one, she isn't interested at first, but after thinking about it for awhile, she decides that she is curious and wouldn't mind checking the place out. Reading about the club was a bit bizarre but I have to admit that I was a bit curious too. I mean, do these places really exist? This is definitely a grittier, dirtier Paris than I ever imagined but at the same time, I could not pull myself away from it.

Let's talk about Anna's work for a bit. She is hired to translate an erotic novel from French to English. This proves to be quite a challenge! For one, the novel that she is translating sucks (what's the French translation for that?). Finding the right word involves knowing how to interpret the intent of what is being said, and since Anna is only given one chapter at a time, she has a hard time coming up with the right words since she doesn't know the end result.

There is a lot of French in this novel. Much of it is translated immediately by the author but some is not. I was surprised at how much French I remembered from my four years of French class. As I read each passage, I had fun trying to figure out what was being said. It gave me an appreciation of the language that I didn't have before.

When Anna finds a new guy, it's not all bells and whistles. Olivier is handsome and a bit mysterious but you can sense a darkness about him. He has secrets! As Anna visits with friends and attends all sorts of parties, she has her doubts about Olivier and as much as she wants to ignore them, she can't.

Overall, this trip to Paris was a bit different than the other literary trips I have taken. It took me to places that I would not have gone on my own, but that is what adventure is all about.

I'll end with this (at the end of page 287):

Anna : Tell me, what's it called in French when a film ends happily but in a way that you don't believe?

Clara (Anna's Friend): An American ending.… (más)