The blurb on the back cover compared this to Atonement - someone should be shot! A dull self-indulgent read. WOP - waste of paper! ( )

Chez Moi is the story of Myriam, forty-three, who opens a restaurant in Paris. She has no idea how to run a restaurant, but has a love for cooking. As she struggles to run the restaurant, we also see her struggling to come to terms with her past, which we find out about in little pieces throughout the novel. As she continues to infuse her dishes with her love, Myriam begins to heal herself and find a second chance at life and love as she reconnects with her family after a six year absence or exile.

I think the novel is a wonderful character study of Myriam as she struggles to find herself once again and to realize herself as a mother, a friend, and a lover. Desarthe has such an interesting way with description; her descriptions are often lush and rich but at times can be quick and sparse. She does an excellent job of connecting the flow and the length of the sentences to the mood. When Myriam is frantic or upset, Desarthe's sentences are often short and come in quick, punches, emphasizing a sharp emotion. When Myriam is reflective and dreaming or hopeful, the sentences flow gently like breeze across the page.

The part of Myriam's character that I find most intriguing and compelling is her "traveling library" a selection of thirty-three books that she has shelved and displayed in her restaurant. She calls them her "traveling library" because they were the books that she selected to bring with her six years before when her husband (now ex) ordered her to exile herself. It's an eclectic collection ranging from The Sorrows of Young Werther to The Wild Palms to Kingdoms of Elfin and Alice In Wonderland. As the novel progresses, Myriam often pulls out a text and reads a small passage, and as readers we learn as much about Myriam from her reading habits as we do her reflections on her past and her interaction with those who come into her restaurant here in her present. ( )

Chez Moi is the story of Myriam, forty-three, who opens a restaurant in Paris. She has no idea how to run a restaurant, but has a love for cooking. As she struggles to run the restaurant, we also see her struggling to come to terms with her past, which we find out about in little pieces throughout the novel. As she continues to infuse her dishes with her love, Myriam begins to heal herself and find a second chance at life and love as she reconnects with her family after a six year absence or exile.

I think the novel is a wonderful character study of Myriam as she struggles to find herself once again and to realize herself as a mother, a friend, and a lover. Desarthe has such an interesting way with description; her descriptions are often lush and rich but at times can be quick and sparse. She does an excellent job of connecting the flow and the length of the sentences to the mood. When Myriam is frantic or upset, Desarthe's sentences are often short and come in quick, punches, emphasizing a sharp emotion. When Myriam is reflective and dreaming or hopeful, the sentences flow gently like breeze across the page.

The part of Myriam's character that I find most intriguing and compelling is her "traveling library" a selection of thirty-three books that she has shelved and displayed in her restaurant. She calls them her "traveling library" because they were the books that she selected to bring with her six years before when her husband (now ex) ordered her to exile herself. It's an eclectic collection ranging from The Sorrows of Young Werther to The Wild Palms to Kingdoms of Elfin and Alice In Wonderland. As the novel progresses, Myriam often pulls out a text and reads a small passage, and as readers we learn as much about Myriam from her reading habits as we do her reflections on her past and her interaction with those who come into her restaurant here in her present. ( )

Skruvad fiktion om kvinna som försöker överleva sedan hon blivit "utfrusen" av man och tonårig son. Hon lever i nuet och lånar pengar för att öppna en restaurang. Det går inte så bra. Men när blomsterhandlaren dyker upp en dag går det lite bättre. När unge Ben ställer upp och styr upp saker så kommer historien ifatt henne. Hon bearbetar sina skuldkänslor och sin längtan efter sonen. Jag blir liksom inte klok på denna bok. Den är fransk och jag får en fransk regissör på hjärnan. Jean-Pierre med filmer som Delikatessen, Amelie, En långvarig förlovning. Det känns som på riktigt men samtidigt är karaktärerna inte verklighetstrogna för fem öre. Jag har lite svårt att ta till mig historien om kvinnan som gör upp med sitt förflutna. ( )

What a beautifully written story with such carefully chosen words. This was reminiscent of Nabokov for me - the guilt and penitence filled with beauty and innocent longing, this time from a woman's perspective. Truely Myriam is tortured by her past, giving up her family, and living from a suitcase for over half a decade, even turning to that fabled circus life for a time. Redemption, if it ever comes, takes the form of her restaurant, Chez Moi, the "house of me," with walls lined with her most cherished books, where she bathes in her own kitchen's sink. With metaphors and forgiveness, she finds peace in nourishing the souls that most need her through cooking. Exquisite details of recipes and longing, this story, though short, serves up a slice of humanity at it's best and worst, like a delicious wedge of key lime pie: sour and sweet and intoxicating to the very end.