Paris to the Moon

by Adam Gopnik

With singular wit and insight, Gopnik weaves the magical with the mundane in a wholly delightful, often hilarious look at what it was to be an American family man in Paris at the end of the twentieth century.

Paris. The name alone conjures images of chestnut-lined boulevards, sidewalk cafés, breathtaking façades around every corner--in short, an exquisite romanticism that has captured the American imagination for as long as there have been Americans.

In 1995, Adam Gopnik, his wife, and their infant son left the familiar comforts and hassles of New York City for the urbane glamour of the City of Light. Gopnik is a longtime New Yorker writer, and the magazine has sent its writers to Paris for decades--but his was above all a personal pilgrimage to the place that had for so long been the undisputed capital of everything cultural and beautiful. It was also the opportunity to raise a child who would know what it was to romp in the Luxembourg Gardens, to enjoy a croque monsieur in a Left Bank café--a child (and perhaps a father, too) who would have a grasp of that Parisian sense of style we Americans find so elusive.

So, in the grand tradition of the American abroad, Gopnik walked the paths of the Tuileries, enjoyed philosophical discussions at his local bistro, wrote as violet twilight fell on the arrondissements. Of course, as readers of Gopnik's beloved and award-winning "Paris Journals" in The New Yorker know, there was also the matter of raising a child and carrying on with day-to-day, not-so-fabled life. Evenings with French intellectuals preceded middle-of-the-night baby feedings; afternoons were filled with trips to the Musée d'Orsay and pinball games; weekday leftovers were eaten while three-star chefs debated a "culinary crisis."

As Gopnik describes in this funny and tender book, the dual processes of navigating a foreign city and becoming a parent are not completely dissimilar journeys--both hold new routines, new languages, a new set of rules by which everyday life is lived. With singular wit and insight, Gopnik weaves the magical with the mundane in a wholly delightful, often hilarious look at what it was to be an American family man in Paris at the end of the twentieth century. "We went to Paris for a sentimental reeducation - I did anyway - even though the sentiments we were instructed in were not the ones we were expecting to learn, which I believe is why they call it an education."

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Memoir, France, Essays, Biography Memoir, Biography

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Adam Gopnik is an American writer and essayist, renowned for his extensive contributions to The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1986. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Montreal, he earned a BA in art history from McGill University and pursued graduate work at the NYU Institute of Fine Arts. Gopnik began his career as the magazine’s art critic before becoming its Paris correspondent in 1995. His dispatches from France were later collected in Paris to the Moon (2000), a bestseller that marked his emergence as a major voice in literary nonfiction.
He is the author of numerous books exploring topics from parenting and urban life to liberalism and food culture, including Through the Children's Gate, The Table Comes First, Angels and Ages, A Thousand Small Sanities, and The Real Work. Gopnik’s children’s fiction includes The King in the Window and The Steps Across the Water. He also delivered the 50th Massey Lectures in 2011, which became the basis for Winter: Five Windows on the Season.
Since 2015, Gopnik has expanded into musical theatre, writing lyrics and libretti for works such as The Most Beautiful Room in New York and the oratorio Sentences. He is a frequent media commentator, with appearances on BBC Radio 4 and Charlie Rose, and has received several National Magazine Awards and a George Polk Award. Gopnik lives in New York with his wife and their two children. He remains an influential cultural commentator known for his wit, insight, and elegant prose.

Reviews

[sAmAnE · Rating 2 out of 5]

متاسفانه من این کتاب رو بخاطر اسمش خریدم. چون از بچگی آدم خیال‌بافی بودم و حتی دوست خیالی داشتم فکر میکردم که خیلی میتونه کتاب جالبی برام باشه. به نظرم اصلا ربطی به عنوانش نداشت و جستارهایی در مورد مشکلات و مسائل اجتماعی و سیاسی بود و خیلی برای من خسته‌کننده بود.
به نوعی همانطور که پشت جلد نوشته شده این جستارها شرح احوال و حکایت ما هستند در روزگار
_شلوغی های شهر
_شور و ملال تماشای فوتبال
_ حرافی‌های روی مبل روانکاو
_جهانی‌شدن و واهمه‌هایش
_ترس از فناوری‌های جدید
_پایان دوران طلایی پیاده‌روی
_تاریکی که پیدا نیست از زمان می‌آید یا مکان
_ذائقه‌های جدید و دعواهای قدیمی
_گرفتن گواهینامه برای ماندن در ترافیک

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to be honest. I bought this book because I liked the title. Then I got sucked in by the back cover. Who doesn't think the idea of running away w/ your adult family to Paris wouldn't be fantastic?
Gopnik is excellent at revealing the sutle differences between life in the States and France that make up two completely seperate cultures. I felt upon finishing the book that I actually knew the secrets of French thought and behavior. Unfortunately, I now know exactly why I'd never be able to blend in perfectly - my passion for sneakers would sell me out!
Entwined with the journalistic entries of his five years in Paris, Gopnik fills the pages with real life and lots of romance that one hopes for in a story about Paris. And not the couplely type of romance, but the kind that makes it possible to fall in love w/ a city.
If I ever get to give my two cents in a European Cities and Culture class, I would make this part of the required reading.

My favorite quote from the book because it reveals how culture is prominently defined, even in toddlers:
Luke, the Gopnik's 4 yr old son, who has only lived in Paris and as such is more French than American and more French than his parents, says the following to his mother upon seeing Santa buying champagne on Christmas Eve while out for last minutes holiday touches w/ his father.
"We saw Santa at Hediard. I think he was just getting a little cheap wine for the elves."
You could never get even the most precocious American child to say it quite the same way. As if they're worldy and 40 at the age of 4.

[Tanya D · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine, but I didn't particularly enjoy it. I was certainly interested in the subject matter: living in paris, the expat life, culture clashes, etc. But the author's style is rather long-winded and unnecessarily dense; some passages reminded me of esoteric literary criticism I used to have to read in college, not particularly suited to light observational journalism. Perhaps I'm too critical as I just finished a Bill Bryson book of travel essays that were thoroughly entertaining and often LOL funny. I don't mean to say that I didn't like this book at all or that it was totally uninteresting. It just wasn't much fun.

Another thing: Mr. Gopnik often reiterated that New York was really home. He lived in Paris five years, which is certainly long enough think of a place as really home, especially when that's all your child has ever known. So for him to keep reminding us that his real home was in New York and this Paris "experience" was just a temporary experiment, I, as an expat myself, felt this made his "expat" experience seem more like an extended vacation. It's a different mindset when you know that you'll be going back to your "normal" life, home, job, friends after a few years as opposed to leaving nothing behind and having no firm plans to return. I kept wondering if he would have seen and written about Paris differently if he wasn't on a temporary assignment but thought of it as his real, long-term home.

Lastly, it felt very dated. So much of his experience was influenced by his job as a journalist, documenting of-the-moment events. Many times, I'd read something that seemed so off, but then I'd remember that he lived in Paris from 1995-2000. It may not seem like things can be so different in only 10-15 years, but they are.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5) “When they die, Wilde wrote, all good Americans go to Paris. Some of us have always tried to get there early and beat the crowds.” Gopnik, a Francophile and New Yorker writer, lived in Paris for five years in the late 1990s with his wife and son (and, towards the end of their sojourn, a newborn daughter). Like Julian Barnes’s Something to Declare or Geoff Dyer’s Working the Room, this is a random set of essays arising from the author’s experience and interests. By choosing any subject that took his fancy at the time – whether the World Cup, a Nazi war crimes trial, fashion, or gastronomy – Gopnik gleefully flouts conventions of theme and narrative, yet still manages to convey the trajectory of his years in Paris, generally through his young son Luke’s development, as in “He saw, I realized, exactly the way that after five years I spoke French, which also involved a lot of clinging to the side of the pool and sudden bravura dashes out to the deep end to impress the girls, or listeners.”

Gopnik is at his best when writing about food (my favorite of his books is The Table Comes First) and bureaucracy: “The French birth certificate was like the first paragraph of a nineteenth-century novel, with the baby’s parents’ names, their occupations, the years of their births and of their emigration, their residence, and her number, baby number 2365 born in Neuilly in 1999.” It’s interesting to hear about Halloween creeping into France, as it’s also done in the UK. In places, though, this does feel exceptionally dated: relying on a copy shop to do the household bills; David Beckham only being engaged to Posh Spice at the time of a World Cup game. What’s timeless, though, are his insights about the ambivalence of the expatriate experience, which certainly resonated for me:

The loneliness of the expatriate is of an odd and complicated kind, for it is inseparable from the feeling of being free, of having escaped.

There are times, as one reads about the uninsured and the armed and the executed, when French anti-Americanism begins to look extremely rational.

It is soup, beautiful soup, that I miss more than anything, not French soup, all puréed and homogenized, but American soup, with bits and things, beans and corn and even letters, in it.

“We have a beautiful existence in Paris, but not a full life,” Martha said, summing it up, “and in New York we have a full life and an unbeautiful existence.”

I must thank my Goodreads friend Ted Schmeckpeper for passing this book along to me.

[Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am one of those people (and we are legion) who have an unrequited love affair going with Paris. It's not that Paris disdains or rejects me, of course; Paris has no idea I exist and wouldn't care less if she knew. Sigh.

Adam Gopnik's book is one more love letter from another lover of Paris, and his is an articulate, cultured, experienced voice indeed. He is mostly fluent in French and his love affair has stretched over nearly the whole of his life. This is a book written during and after a five year stint of living in Paris full-time with his wife and their young son who, while born in New York, remembers only Paris as his home by the time he is old enough to remember such things.

Because of his curious nature and the entree assumed by his status as a reporter for The New Yorker, Gopnik has access to people and things that most of us would be hard-pressed to pull off. So much the better, as the stories he tells are fascinating yet down-to-earth. Not that he spends all of his time in the clouds; much of this book details the challenges of being an American living in Paris, the differences that enthrall and needle, and the little failures of everyday life that are somehow amplified by being in a country other than one's own.

If you already have your own affair of the heart going with Paris, or have ever wanted to begin one, this is a great read. If not, you may enjoy it anyway, as Gopnik could likely write a 500-word essay on a turnip and make it interesting. Have fun! Bon appetit!

[Carol · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first reason this book was written, I believe, was so the author could impress all us ignorant English speakers with his knowledge of French. Actually, he should have just written this book in French and not annoyed us English speakers at all. The second reason was to greatly impress us with having the most perfect and nauseatingly adorable son ever and to tell us about every minute detail of that adorable son's day-to-day existence! Then, of course, we could all just slap our own children silly for being so entirely ordinary in comparison.

This book is so pretentious, I had trouble getting through the first few chapters, and once I reached his discussion of the variety of different wall plugs that exist in this world (which went on for PAGES), I'd had enough! Anyone who believes themselves to be so self-important that they can pass off the discussion of different wall plugs as great writing, and believes that THIS is the drivel that keeps the readers turning the pages, needs a severe reality check.

He seems to have two tasks here: bragging to the reader how much he knows, and talking about his son. The first is pretentious, difficult to read; the latter is arduous to even skim over, impossible to stomach.

With American twits like this in France, no wonder the French hate us. The writing style was also annoying and jumped from one random thought to another. I

[صان · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب شامل ۹ جستاره و موضوعات خیلی متنوعی رو شامل می‌شه. تمایزی که نسبت به باقی کتاب‌های جستار نشر اطراف داره، رویه‌ی علمی‌تر و تحلیلی‌ترِ نویسنده در مواجهه با موضوعات کتابه.
مثلا در یکی از جستارها آدام گاپنیک راجع به شکل‌گیری ذائقه‌ی خوراک آدم‌ها حرف می‌زنه و از سه رویکرد مختلف و با نمایندگی سه نویسنده-محقق به موضوع نگاه می‌کنه و جستار خیلی به
essay
شبیهه. یک نیمچه مقاله با رویکردی تحقیقی و تحلیلی.
یا مثلا در جستاری دیگه راجع به نفوذ اینترنت در زندگی ما و تاثیرش بر روان و رفتارهامون صحبت می‌کنه و سه نوع رویکردی که نویسنده-محقق‌های اخیر نسبت به این ماجرا داشتن رو شرح می‌ده و در نهایت قضاوت‌های خودش رو هم می‌گه.

از طرفی جستاری هم راجع به فوتبال توی این کتاب هست که کاملا شخصیه و اتفاقا برای من از جذاب‌ترین‌ها بود و توش نظرشو به عنوان یک آمریکایی -که معمولا عاشق فوتبال آمریکایی یا هاکی یا بسکتبال و بیسبال هستن تا فوتبال معمولی- راجع به فوتبال می‌گه. این که اولش به نظرش ورزش کم هیجان و احمقانه‌ای میومده و تصمیم می‌گیره یکی جام‌جهانی رو کامل ببینه و کم کم از فوتبال خوشش میاد و علت این خوش اومدن رو شرح می‌ده. چه زیبا هم می‌گه! یه جا می‌گه تکنیک‌های طلایی بازیکن‌های فوتبال رو، بازیکن‌های مثلا رشته‌ی هاکی در آمریکا با بسامد خیلی بیشتر انجام می‌دن و اونجا یه امر عادیه، ولی توی فوتبال با یک لایی زدن کل خبرنگارها و فوتبال‌دوست‌ها از خود بی‌خود می‌شن. بعد می‌گه که این اتفاق مثل پرفورمنس آرت‌های این روزها می‌مونه.

«جادوی رونالدو هم شبیه شاعرانگی پرفورمنس‌آرتیست‌هاست: واقعا وجود دارد ولی فقط وقتی که پس‌زمینه‌اش ملالی بی‌حس‌کننده باشد.»

در جستاری دیگه راجع به سرشلوغی نیویورکی‌ها می‌گه. بچه‌ی نویسنده به شکل جالبی دوستی خیالی داره که از لحاظ مشغله‌ی مثل نیویورکی‌هاست. یعنی دختر همش با تلفن با این دوست حرف می‌زنه و بهش می‌گه که کی وقت داری همو ببینیم و بعد دستشو می‌ذاره روی میکروفون گوشی و به مامانش می‌گه: یه جلسه‌ی مهم داره و نمی‌تونیم همو ببینیم.
جدا از این که این اتفاق چقدر عجیبه، نویسنده راج�� به زندگیش توی نیویورک شرح می‌ده و این که فضای مجازی دوست‌های ما رو زیاد کرده و ما وقت نداریم و همش می‌دویم و در نهایت باز هم انتخاب می‌کنیم توی همین شهر بزرگ زندگی کنیم. متنی که برای تهران��نشین‌ها هم می‌تونه هم‌ذات‌پندارانه باشه.

جستاری راجع به رانندگی یاد گرفتنش‌! باز هم یه جستار بامزه و شخصی از مصائب رانندگی و علت‌های یاد گرفتن رانندگی و تاملاتی که راجع به این مسئله می‌شه داشت.
جای دیگه‌ای از اعتصابات فرانسه می‌گه و در جستاری دیگه راجع به راه رفتن انسان می‌فلسفه.
در جستاری درباره‌ی جغرافیا و شرایطی که بر انسان تحمیل می‌کنه صحبت می‌کنه و این که اصلا این رابطه کدوم طرفه‌س و کدوم علته؟ تاریخ و فرهنگ و جغرافی از چه سمتی به هم مربوطن؟ و در این جستار هم مثل چند مثال دیگه‌ای که زدم از دو یا سه کتاب مهم که به این مسئله پرداختن استفاده می‌کنه و نظریات این کتاب‌ها را رو به روی هم قرار می‌ده و سعی می‌کنه به سنتزی در این مسئله برسه.

جستار اخر هم بسیار زیبا بود و ماجرای تراپی شدنش توسط یک روانکاو فرویدی رو تعریف می‌کرد. شرح جلساتشون و چیزهایی که از این ماجرا دستگیرش شده بود و در نهایت یک پایان آروم. آیا روانکاوی برای ما جواب میاره؟ سوالی که خود نویسنده هم داشت و می‌خواد باهامون در میون بذاره که این جلسات طولانی و گاهی دو یا یه سه بار در هفته چه عایدی‌ای براش داشته. در ابتدا هم مخالف چنین رویکردی در روان‌درمانی بوده ولی در انتها می‌بینیم که همچین هم حق باهاش نبوده.



این مجموعه رو دوست داشتم و از خوندنش لذت بردم. جاهای مختلفی خوندمش. ماجرا اینطوری بود که یه روز صبح تنها بودم و تعطیل بود و گفتم یکم برم دوچرخه سواری. در نهایت به سمت کتابفروشی دی رفتم و دیدم که به‌به، چه قیمت خوبی داره. این هم مسئله‌ی جالبیه که کتاب‌های یک یا دوسال پیش که قیمت‌هاشون اون موقع بالا به نظر میومد، این روزها خوش‌قیمت به حساب میان و با خوشحالی از قفسه‌ها جداشون می‌کنیم.
کتاب رو گرفتم و رفتم ناهار خوردم و همونجا کمی خوندمش. عالی بود.
مکان دیگه‌ای که خوندنش رو برام لذت‌بخش می‌کرد هم کافه بود. کافه‌ای که با الف می‌نشستیم توش و گاهی می‌رفتم طبقه بالا و در کنار قفسه‌های کتابش روی مبل نیمه‌نرمش می‌نشستم و آفتاب میفتاد روم و جستار رانندگی رو اونجا خوندم.

[Aaron · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's some valuable stuff in this book, but mostly it's a lot of New-Yorker-house-style pseudo-profundity from a writer who's not particularly aware of his own privilege.

[Michelle Christensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like it -an expat living in Paris raising his first child but ugh. Esoteric literary snobbery. Long winded. Exhausting. I skimmed a bunch.

[Chrissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished the book faster than I wanted to b/c I just could not stop reading. I have written alot about this previously so I will just try and summarize why one should read this book and why I give it 5 stars. It is intellectually stimulating. i don't always agree with the author's point of view but there is always something to consider in what he is saying. Secondly it doesn't just describe Paris' external beauty but also its inner beauty. Thirdly it gives a very accurate analysis of the French culture often juxtaposed the American culture. Much to ponder. Fourthly, it is terribly amusing to read if the reader has himself emigrated to a land with a "French culture". Finally, if one is going to visit Paris as a tourist, read this to know where to go to see some unusual spots. You will get a lot more out of your trip. Even with my stiffer demands for a five star book, this gets all 5. In the following are all my comments as I read throough the book.

So now I have reached page 196 and I am still loving it, but there is so much to think about that really one should read one chapeter at a time and then stop and think so that you really have time to absorb the thoughts. I am reading it too quickly. Each chapter is an essay on a different topic. It is just amazing that I like it so much since I don't like essays or short stories usually! He talks about "haute couture" and French cuisine and even these topics which usually have no interest for me were very, very interesting. His struggles with French keyboards made me laugh. You know the French have changed the position of just a few letters. Just aenough to make typing really a mess until your fingers have been re-educated. I can't imagine this not being a 5 star book - even though I have decided to be REALLY restrictive with 5 stars. There has to be some class for those books that are and will remain amazing months after you have read them. Along with the author, I hate Barney too - read the book and you will know what I am talking about.

The similarity between the French in Paris (which actually can be quite different from provincial French behavior) and the French speaking people of Belgium is amazing.. Half of the Belgians speak French and half speak Flemish, and these two cultures are VERY different. Oh, the phrase "C'est normal." is exactly the same here in Belgium. Also body language is identical. If you hear the words - "c'est normal" - BEWARE! Problems are ahead, and there is nothing you can do to alleviate them. The French speaker is saying loud and clear that there is absolutely NOTHING they can do to help you out from the problem that could very well occur. They are NOT responsible, it is the way of life. You hear it many times a day. There is so much in this book that captures the French way of looking at life, experiencing life. From my point of view, I like alot of it although some bits are infuriating. OMG, the bit about sports centers really made me laugh. I have had very similar experiences. And yes lotions are expunded as the ultimate answer to weight loss, not exercise. Every pharmacy advertises them. Christmas tree lights, girlander, yup, they are not strings but circles. This makes putting them on the tree so difficult. But this is the same everywhere in Europe, Sweden too! If you are born a Swede, you know how to deal with it. To an American it is the most idiotic system ever thought up. There is no way an American and a European will see eye to eye on this. I could go on and on, but if you want to see life from another perspective, read this book. If you are born in the US but have moved to a "French culture" you will laugh and laugh and laugh. I am on page 110 now, but GoodReads' "status box" is gone...... Anyhow you are allowed more space to write here than in the teeny status comment boxes. Back to the book. This is a good author - he writes for the New Yorker. Some people might be put off, but I love it.

[Negar Afsharmanesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب رو خیلی دوست داشتم، از اون کتاب هایی که درباره زندگی روزمره نوشته شده ولی با چاشنی فلسفه، کتاب فلسفی نیست ولی چاشنی بهش اضافه کرده که دوست داشتی تر بشه که شده، بحث درباره ذائقه اش رو دوست داشتم. اونجایی که درباره ذائقه خرد و کلان بحث میکنه.
کتاب سعی کرده اون جزئیات زندگی ای که مردمان قدیم داشتن رو توی زندگی مدرن مردم قاطی کنه که بشه لذت بیشتری از زندگی ببرن در جهان مدرن.

[M&A Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

"دیدار اتفاقی با دوست خیالی" مجموعه جستارهایی است از آدام گاپنیک.
از نکات جالب این کتاب پرداخت موشکفانه‌ی موضوعات پیش پا افتاده است که گاپنیک توانسته از درون آن‌ها حجم وسیعی از اطلاعات را ارائه دهد. جملات کتاب ساده و روان است. مسائلی که در این اثر به آن پرداخته کاملاً ملموس است؛ برای مثال گاپنیک جستاری به نام"صندلی راننده" دارد که در آن توانسته تصاویر کلیشه‌ای را کنار بزند و این پدیده‌ی مدرن شهری را بررسی نماید.
اگر بخواهیم محوریت جستارهای این کتاب را در یک عنوان نام ببریم به گمانم "کالبد شکافی آداب زندگی مدرن" برازنده آن می‌باشد.
از جمله نکات جالب دیگر کتاب می‌توان به سرکشی گاپنیک به حوزه‌های گوناگون اشاره کرد. گاهی نوشته‌هایش به نقد ادبی می‌ماند و گاه به خود زندگی‌نامه، گاهی به جغرافیا سری می‌زند و گاه به روان‌کاوی و سپس به دنیای اینترنت ولی با همه‌ی این گوناگونی موضوعات همگی دارای یک مضمون مشترک می‌باشند و آن دغدغه‌های ناشی از زندگی‌ شهری مدرن است.

[Cayt O'Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my very favorite reads of all time. Adam Gopnik has a lovely way with words, specifically words that detail everyday, real life. I have found very few writers who have such power to keep me enthralled no matter what the subject matter.

I had the privilege of hearing him lecture a few years back here in Chicago, his topic "The American Dream of Paris." His eloquence astounds me. Hearing him speak only made me wish I could read the book over and over again and forget it each time, so that I would once again have the pleasure of that first read.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is actually a collection of essays from the New Yorker, and they're very insightful. His arguments mostly stem from his own family's experiences and are naturally just small scenes from which he draws grand conclusions. Like most other authors.

However, his awareness of the political scene and the major infighting going on culturally speaks of a very sharp mind. His essays have enough political analysis to show his intelligence, but then will transition into a colorful story about his son. One essay is about Adam Gopnik and his wife's attempts to keep Barney out of his son's life, and it's absurd, but it makes its point.

In other words, a lot of it is fanciful, but in a charming almost fin de siecle style that I just adore. If you know anything about French culture, you'll laugh many times. :)

[Chris "Stu" · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shallow observational comedy that lacks both humor and observation, full of anecdotes about trying to buy appliances or Christmas tree lights in a new country, coupled with overly-precious tripe about raising a son. Comparing this to "A Moveable Feast" is an insult both to Hemingway and to feasts. Sprinkled in the book is pretentious callbacks to a seminar given by Baudrillard that Gopnik first both mocks and then adopts. There are only so many times I can hear variations on the phrase "There is no Regulon in the Semiosphere," and Gopnik drastically overestimates that number.

I love Paris. I wanted to read a book about loving Paris. This is a book about Adam Gopnik loving himself, in Paris. Hard pass.

[Stefanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough positive things about this book. Such intricate descriptions of such small things... you can savor it the way the French would want you to. It's a story of a beautiful life in a far away place-- but Gopnick tells it in a way that makes it so accessible (sometimes even ordinary) that he achieves an intimacy that I have not experienced in most books I've read. He also offers a social lens that is stimulating as well as enlightening.

I purposefully took forever reading this book because I didn't want my trip to France to end!

[Fatemeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

دو تا از روایتها خیلیییی زیبا بودند ولی بقیه‌ی روایتها کمی خسته‌م میکردند. نمره ۳.۵ براش بهتره.

[Diane in Australia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars = It definitely held my interest.

This is a book about an American who moves his family (wife, infant son) to Paris in 1995. They spend 5 years there, before going back to New York City. The author, Adam, has been enthralled by Paris since he was a child. So, being able to finally live there, and watch his son growing up there, is sheer bliss for him.

He writes random essays based on his experiences, and interests. He is not ashamed of being American, as some travel writers are, but he is also very aware of the joys of being Parisian. It's not a travelogue. This book makes you stop and think. I like that.

If you're an American living in a foreign country, you'll find Adam to be a level-headed friend who lets you glean much from his observations.

[Otis Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book that gives you a sense of living in Paris as an expat and what to appreciate about French culture. Narrated by the author so definitely recommend listening. Great read while on vacation in France. I loved many of the annecdotes were hilarious - eg the one about how the gym had no plan for visiting every day they only had a once a week plan. Or the one comparing the French fax error codes to French culture.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book when I first read it about ten years ago. This time, not only was I murmuring, "Oh, lucky ducks, this family is in Paris," but I was also gushing, "Yes, yes, I went there, too!"

[Reyhane Kordli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay.That was easy...I loved it♥

اولین جستارخوانی رسمی من :))
عالی بود.تا به حال نشده بود از کتابی همزمان درس بگیرم و حس کنم چقدر به تفکرات من نزدیکه (نمیخوام اغراق کنم،بخش هایی از کتاب بود که از سطح دانش من بالاتر بود اما بازمممم تونسته بود بره داخل ذهنم و زیر و بم همه چیز رو دربیاره)
نویسنده به شکلی بی طرف،تمام جبهه ها رو قضاوت میکنه.پارادوکسه...کل زندگی پارادوکسه.اگه این قضاوت ها نباشه که "من" وجود نداره.
کلام دیگه ای نیست.جز اینکه این کتاب رو بخونید.

فصل های موردعلاقه ام:
صندلی راننده/مرد به دکتر مراجعه میکند

فصل دشوار کتاب:
چهره ها،جاها،فضاها

پی نوشت:ممنون از کسی که با این کتاب من رو با این سبک نوشتار آشنا کرد

[Thomas]

A very uneven book - some essays are excellent, heartfelt, incisive, clever - others are smug, condescending, boring - the book does not ultimately come together as a unified whole. And, in the end, I just don't entirely trust Gopnik - in some of his other New Yorker essays when he touches on subjects about which I have some in-depth knowledge (such as C.S. Lewis, Christianity etc.), I often find he leaps to unwarranted and seemingly pre-determined conclusions - and so I am skeptical (perhaps unfairly so) of some of his judgments and evaluations in Paris to the Moon.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband and I decided to be appropriately literary on our last trip to Paris -- he took Hemingway, I took this book because I love travel memoirs. The basic premise is that Gopnik, a writer for the New Yorker, flees to Paris with his family to save his young firstborn from the insidious influence of Barney the dinosaur.

It's well written, more complicated sentence structure than my usual vacation reading but engrossing. It travels an arc beginning with successfully conveying his naivete about the French and ending with his acknowledgement that he now understands very little about the French but more than when he started. It was a lovely accompaniment to a trip in which I think we learned a teeny bit more about the French, or at least about their obsession with reservations for lunch. It would also be a different, more sophisticated choice for an armchair traveller.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this more and more as it went on. I've always like Gopnik, but early in this book, he seems overly fixated on sounding clever, which is unnecessary—he's naturally clever. As the book progresses, his tone is more relaxed and funny. Also, it begins as a series of (fairly disjointed) essays, but knits together nicely later when he spends more time on his family and personal experiences in Paris.

[Sahar · Rating 3 out of 5]

"هیچکس برایش مهم نیست! آدم‌ها مشکلات خودشان را دارند! اشکالی ندارد. معنی‌اش این نیست که تو نباید کارت را انجام دهی؛ معنی‌اش این است که باید آن را، یک جورهایی، محض خودش و بدون هیچ خیال باطلی انجام دهی. صرفا بنویس، صرفا زندگی کن و خیلی به خودت اهمیت نده. هیچ کس برایش مهم نیست. همه اش سربه‌سر گذاشتن است."

[Numidica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had its moments, but ultimately it was a DNF for me. A much better choice for English speakers is one of Jean-Benoit Nadeau's books about France and the French language, or one of Graham Robb's quirky historical takes on France. Gopnik's book just never grabbed me, and I love France.

[Razieh mehdizadeh]

جستار اول دختربچه ای که دوستی خیالی دارد و با او در نیویورک- شهری که زندگی می کند- قرارهای هول هولکی می گذارد. زیستن در این شهرپرسرعت..
" به ما یاد داده اند که شلوغ باشیم واگر بیشتر کا رکنیم مفیدتر هستیم. ولی همه می دانند سرشلوغی و مفید بودن رابطه ی پرشک و شبهه ای از هم دارند. درواقع بیشترین تقلای ما بر این است که سرمان خلوت تر شود تا بتوانیم بیشتر کار کنیم.
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سازه هایی بسازیم برای موکول کردن ابدی: هفته ی دیگه می بینمت ها. زود با هم حرف می زنیم. دور زندگی مان موانع بلاغی می سازیم تا جمعیت را دور نگه داریم و آخرش می بینم هیچ کدام از آدم هایی که دوستشان داریم را راه نداده ایم داخل و می بینم همه اش دلمان برای دوستانمان تنگ است. سرشلوغی هنر ما، آیین مدنی و شیوه ی بودن ماست.
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جستار چرا راه می رویم؟ به اشتراک گذاشتن تنهایی. تاریخچه ی کوتاهی درباره ی راه رفتن.
چرا که تنهایی را چون نان و آب می توان به اشتراک گذاشت. وقتی راه می روید دیگر در منظره نیستید. خود منظره هستنید.
سه نوع راه رفتن- پیاده روی ژرف اندیشانه. پیاده روی کلبی مسلک. پیاده روی ترکیبی از این دو
پیاده روی زرف اندیشانه گونه ی محبوب فیلسوفان قرون وسطایی ژان زاک روسو و کانت و... این نوع پیاده روی نوع غربی مراقبه از نوع نشیتن آسیای ها در ساعات طولانی. بی دلیل نیست که یکی از مکاتب فلسفی دیا به اسم مشایی ست راه روندگی.
زندگی شهری ویتمن در کنار رودخانه ی هادسون و هم نوای با موسیقی پرتلاطم شهر و جمعیت منهتن.
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جستاری درباره ی رانندگی یاد گرفتن در میانسالی- منم باید همچین چیزی بنویسم
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ذائقه از کجا می آید: ارزش هایی که می خوریم.
در عصر روشنگری مسئله ی ذائقه به فلسفه تعلق داشت و بعد به اقتصاد ربط پیدا کرد.
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سرمایه داری کاری کرده که خیال کنیم اگر در صف درست بایستیم مردم به ما حسادت نمی کنند. جواب درست این است که اصلا آنچه بابتش پول می دهیم همین صف است که محصول را خواستنی می کند.
بیرون حلقه های مناسک اجتماعی هیچ ذائقه ی حقیقی و طبیعی وجود ندارد. مزه ی نوشیدنی به شدت به انواع اقسام سرنخ های اجتماعی وابسته است. ترتیب گیلاس ها و رنگ ها و مکان انتظارات قبلی و برچسب ها و..
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مادرم که زبان شناس است به من آموخت هیچ دستور زبان طبیعی وجود ندارد و هیچ راه درستی برای نوشتن نیست. او به من اموخت قواعد و شیوه های کابردشان همیشه در ال دگرگونی اند.تجویزگرایی در زبان شناسی همانقدر قلابی محسوب می شود که پنیر سبز در علم نجوم.
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جستار اخر به دکتر مراجعه کردن- واقعا در حد ی خاطره ی خیلی سانتی مانتال و تهی یاز معنا بود برام اگرچه ساده و خواندنی
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به مرکز شهر می رفتم. قلبم سبک می شد و به پرواز درمی آمد. همین است. هیچ کس برایش مهم نیست. ادم ها مشکلات خودشان را دارند. اشکالی ندارد معنایش این نست که تو نباید کارت را انجام دهیو. معنی اش این است که باید ان را یک جورهایی محض خودش و بدون خیال باطلی انجام دهی. صرفا بنویس. صرفا زندگی کن و خیلی به خودن اهمیت نده. هیچ کس برایش مهم نیست. همه اش سر به سر گذاشتن است.
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[Cristin Curry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam Gopnik's memoirs of his times spent in Paris is a Sex and the City for grown ups. Seen through a male perspective, Gopnik's Frasier-like love of France, the arts, fine food and wine and a hatred for cheesy American pop culture (AKA Barney) allows anyone who's ever dreamed of dropping everything and leaving for a more romantic lifestyle the ability to do so vicariously through his family. What's refreshing about Gopnik's writing is that he realizes he's living a ridiculously privileged life where his only problem is keeping his favorite restaurant safe from being taken over by a mass corporation of restaurant buyers. What keeps him grounded is knowing that he can't live this lifestyle forever and must return to NY after five years and get back to the real world. Paris to the Moon brings the reader into the lives of the Gopniks as you experience their everyday Parisian lifestyle and their fantasy lives by visiting them at Christmas time in French department stores, summertime swimming at the Ritz pool club, mingling at Parisian fashion shows, playing pinball at the local cafe, and riding the carousel at the Luxembourg Gardens. I loved this book and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to get away from it all and slip into a snobby fantasy without losing yourself completely.

[Mihrdāt · Rating 4 out of 5]

من عاشق وقت‌‌هایی هستم که کتابی همه‌چیزتمام به دستم می‌رسد. کتابی ویراسته و آراسته، با طرح جلد و کاغذ و صحافی خوب، ترجمه‌ی درجه‌یک، و البته از قلمی خلاق و هوشمند. این کتاب یکی از همان‌هاست.

جُستار –همانطور که مترجم محترم به‌درستی در مقدمه اشاره کرده– در ذات خودش با نوعی سادگی آغاز می‌شود؛ از یک آنی که همه‌ی ما ممکن است در لحظاتی از زندگی جرقه‌اش گوشه‌ای از ذهنمان زده شود و ببینیم پشت احساس ناشی از  یک حرف، یک تصویر گذرا یا یک عطری که ناگهان به مشام رسیده قصه‌ای را داریم می‌پردازیم، یا حتی در خلال یک عادت همیشگی قفل شویم و ببینیم مته‌ای دارد تا کنه وجودش را می‌کاود تا ریشه‌ی عمیقی را پس آن بیابد، و اگر تجربه‌ی آن برایتان آشنا باشد می‌دانید که قصه‌های ریشه‌دار زیر این سطح خراشیده‌شده کم نیست.

اینجاست که هنرمندیِ جستارنویسی چون آدام گاپنیک به چشم می‌آید. نویسنده‌ای که موضوعات ساده‌ و گاه پیش‌پاافتاده‌ی زندگی را محور قرار می‌دهد و چنان پیچیدگی‌ و خط و ربط‌هایی را پیش می‌کشد که بعد از ده-پانزده صفحه حس می‌کنی نگاهت به آن موضوع یکسره دست‌خوش تغییر شده. از پیاده‌روی، تاریخچه و معنایش، برخورد و مواجهه‌ی انسان با اینترنت به عنوان نوترین پدیده‌ی تکنولوژیکِ اواخر قرن بیستم، تجربه‌ی مرد میانسالی که رانندگی را برای اولین بار تجربه می‌کند تا سرشلوغی و کودکی که دوست خیالی‌اش گرفتارتر از آن‌ست که با او بازی کند، تجربه‌ی فوتبال از دیدگاه ذهن آمریکایی و تحلیلی درخشان از سیر غذا و ذائقه و...

پیشنهاد می‌کنم حتماً بخوانید.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam Gopnik is by far my favorite writer for the New Yorker Magazine, which makes him my favorite magazine writer for any American magazine. Yet I've never read anything better from him than the delightful "Paris to the Moon."

Many a memoirist could learn from his voice here. No question in my mind and heart, Gopnik writes as himself, unaffected, curious, nerdy, witty, and as smart as approximately 7.9 normal human beings combined. (Joke. I can't begin to assign a numerical value to his amazing sensibility.)

Especially cherished is what I learned about French customs for speaking to a female child in utero. No spoilers from me.

Consider this yet one more reason to read an exemplary memoir by an extraordinarily delightful writer.