Publisher's Weekly Review
This smart memoir by New Yorker writer Collins is an extended essay on how the languages we speak shape who we are. Collins is an American living in London who speaks little French when she falls in love with a Frenchman who speaks excellent English. They marry and move to Francophone Geneva, where Collins decides to learn French after envisioning herself as a mother who can't understand half of what her own kids are saying. Throughout, Collins shares excerpts from works of history, philosophy, psychology, politics, and literature that show how pervasive language's influence is on every aspect of our lives. Political goofs result from mistranslation. Even the meaning of love might depend on how you express it: Does "Je t'aime" mean something different from "I love you"? The transitions can be clunky as Collins shifts between story telling and embarking on academic discussions, but her writing is often elegant and exact. Agent: Elyse Cheney, Elyse Cheney Literary. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
For Collins, living in Geneva was like being in a silent movie. The North Carolina native, who moved to Switzerland with her French husband, was able to comprehend only a little French and to speak even less. Her quest to make herself understood by learning the language and, in the process, to understand her husband and his family better forms the basis of this reflective memoir. She shares her frustration with the formality of the language and of the French people, as well as her tribulations, as she strives to practice her skills in an environment where most people switch to English after her first fumbling attempts. In time, though, she comes to see the French formality as an expression of respect, which perhaps accounts for the slight distance she seems to maintain from the reader. Her account is enhanced by the frequent and always interesting asides, primarily concerning the peculiarities and history of both the English and French languages. Her efforts are eventually rewarded once she can communicate with her husband in his native tongue, moving from a silent movie to a rich speaking role.--Thoreson, Bridget Copyright 2016 Booklist
