Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Chasing Cezanne by Peter Mayle ISBN: 0-679-78120-X Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 May, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.14 (36 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: clumsy and hastily penned Mayle
Comment: I've enjoyed several of Mayle's other books, but this one is an amiable clunker. The mystery plot is buried under the guise of globetrotting and eating good food. The book would have read much better without the dumb chase scenes (the "hit man" following our narrator) and with more meals. After all, it's mood, ambience and food that Mayle specializes in, not characterization and plot, both of which are sorely lacking.
This book is so mediocre that it's not even a good beach read. You won't care much what happens in this "art" mystery because the plot is so thrown together. One gets the feeling his editor said, "Okay, we need a book in a week." I won't hold it against Mayle since his other books are much more charming, but this one is almost totally devoid of this usual charm.
Rating: 3
Summary: Fun novel, despite the weak ending
Comment: Andre, a magazine photographer finds himself embroiled in an adventure that includes a forged Cézanne, an immaculately attired magazine editor, her ruthless boyfriend, a beautiful woman, a dashing art dealer, Paris and lots of good meals. The prose is warm and friendly, enveloping the reader instantly, the plot is well twisted, and the characters appealing. The book races from one funny and enjoyable event to the next.
Sadly, instead of legging it past the finish line with a spectacular ending, Mayle shuffles and falls at the ending. It's almost as if he ran out of time and just ended the book. It doesn't match the pace and feel of the rest of the novel.
But, regardless of the watery ending, the book is solid, meaty and well worth reading.
Rating: 2
Summary: "Chasing A Plot" is More Like It
Comment: As a fan of Peter Mayle, I can't tell you how let down I was by this extremely slight, jetsetting-but-going-nowhere novel. I enjoyed the lighthearted A Year in Provence and Hotel Pastis, so I wasn't expected War and Peace by a long shot. But this (perhaps mercifully) short novel does nothing to evoke the landscape, whet the reader's appetite for fine food and gracious living, or even hint at character development. Too many stock characters (the dashing photographer, the take-no-prisoners editor, the perfectly pressed art dealer, the starry-eyed first-time-in-Paris ingenue). And the quick pacing leads to a disappointing denouement, which is -- sacre bleu! -- even more lackluster than the author's description of the colorful art which is purportedly being "chased." The extra star is only for my fondness of Mayle's other books: Otherwise, I'd only give it one. Two dreary thumbs down.
 |
Title: Anything Considered by Peter Mayle ISBN: 067976268X Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 April, 1997 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: Hotel Pastis: A Novel of Provence by Peter Mayle ISBN: 0679751114 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 November, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle ISBN: 0375705619 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 09 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: Acquired Tastes by Peter Mayle ISBN: 0553371835 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
 |
Title: Encore Provence: New Adventures in the South of France (Vintage Departures) by Peter Mayle ISBN: 0679762698 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 25 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
