While I learned a great deal about Vichy France and the provincial life leading up to WWII, during the war, and the years following the war, this was a long read. It was interesting at the beginning and the end, but it was a bit draggy in the middle. I am glad that I finished it, and do believe that it will provide an interesting book discussion.

I expected to love this book-Cézanne, Chagall, Picasso, Pissarro, Paris, Provence, romance-what's not to love? Well for starters, the French cliches (everyone says oh là là), the pounding on about color (we get it, we get it), the fact that it drags out for 11 (?) years and all that time Lisette doesn't think to make cushions for the hard chairs in her little house. There are some vivid descriptions of the countryside, but, seriously does Vreeland need to prove her familiarity with Paris (which is questionable) by naming all the boulevards? The character of Bernard was so ridiculously over-the-top it felt like she was desperate for an antagonist (were the Nazis not enough?). In the end though I did look up Rousillon and found myself day dreaming about Arles and Avignon.

Everyone in our club really enjoyed the book.
We had a lively discussion about it. Our discussion leader shared this following site with us. it is a gallery with passages from the book. We were amazed how well we had envisioned her descriptions when we saw her gallery.

http://www.svreeland.com/ll-gallery.html