Description
'Kuper is a shrewd observer [in] this entertaining mix of memoir and anthropology' The Sunday Times From the bestselling author of Chums comes an explorer's tale of a naif getting to understand a complex, glittering, beautiful and often cruel city. Simon Kuper has experienced Paris both as a human being and as a journalist. He has grown middle-aged there, eaten the croissants, taken his children to countless football matches on freezing Saturday mornings in the city's notorious banlieues, and in 2015 lived through two terrorist attacks on his family's neighbourhood. Over two decades of becoming something of a cantankerous Parisian himself, Kuper has watched the city change. This century, Paris has globalised, gentrified, and been shocked into realising its role as the crucible of civilisational conflict. Sometimes it's a multicultural paradise, and sometimes it isn't. This decade, Parisians have lived through a sequence of shocks: terrorist attacks, record floods and heatwaves, the burning of Notre Dame, the storming of the city by gilets jaunes, and the pandemic. Now, as the Olympics come to town, France is busy executing the 'Grand Paris' project: the most serious attempt yet to knit together the bejewelled city with its neglected suburbs. This is a captivating memoir of today's Paris without the cliches.
An unsparing memoir of the city in the twenty-first century, from a long-time Parisien d'adoption
About the Author
Simon Kuper is an author and Financial Times journalist, born in Uganda and raised around the world. An Oxford graduate, he later attended Harvard as a Kennedy Scholar. He has written for the Guardian, Observer, and The Times and is also the author of Chums, The Happy Traitor, Football Against the Enemy and Barca. He lives in Paris with his family
Reviews
A portrait of Parisian society ... the style is elegant and flinty, the humour dry -- Andrew Martin * Literary Review *
[A] revealing memoir ... Kuper is a clear-eyed observer of all the history that is happening all around him ...for all the transformations of the past two decades, however, Kuper is always alert to the city's particularity * Observer *
A persuasive defence of the very idea of a city... full of warm but unsentimental depictions of Paris' communities... a reminder of the countless ways in which urban life remains one of the few efficient vaccines against bigotry and toxic nationalism * Washington Post *
One of the best books about Paris... deftly debunks the alarmist narratives [to] reveal a city of tolerance and nuance * Foreign Affairs *
Next time you travel to the former City of Light, take this book * Independent *
Kuper has the journalist's touch of rendering cliches less cliched and giving the personal a hint of universalism * Times Literary Supplement *
Informative and enlightening with a sarcastic touch... puts us on the streets themselves and lets us mingle * Los Angeles Review of Books *
An absorbing, affectionate, acutely observed, cliche-free study of contemporary Paris * Irish Times *
With a dry wit and a journalist's eye, Kuper unravels the layered past and looks to the future * Kirkus Review *
A lively read that captures many of the capital's contradictions * Economist *
Highly readable and amusing prose ... Kuper is a charming guide, with a particularly good eye for the telling quote * New Statesman *
With the perspective of a foreigner, and two decades as a Paris resident behind him, Kuper chronicles the paradoxical complexities of Parisian life in his memoir -- 'Best summer books of 2024' * Financial Times *
Simon Kuper does a great job in conveying why Paris is a city that is impossible to embrace and impossible to resist ... very funny * Irish Examiner *
A must-read for admirers of the City of Light -- Mark Brocklesby * Jersey Evening Post *
Praise for Chums: 'A searing onslaught on the smirking Oxford insinuation that politics is all just a game. It isn't. It matters -- Matthew Parris
A gripping read ... exquisite and depressing in equal measure -- Matthew Syed * Sunday Times *
A sparkling firework of a book -- Lynn Barber * Spectator *
Incisive, insightful and timely -- Richard Beard * New Statesman *
Fascinating ... The picture Kuper draws is of a nation with a decadent and deeply unprofessional ruling class, a diagnosis with which it is impossible to disagree -- Hugo Rifkind * The Times *
Book Information
ISBN 9781800816480
Author Simon Kuper
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Profile Books Ltd
Publisher Profile Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 380g
Dimensions(mm) 140mm * 216mm * 28mm
An unsparing memoir of the city in the twenty-first century, from a long-time Parisien d'adoption
About the Author
Simon Kuper is an author and Financial Times journalist, born in Uganda and raised around the world. An Oxford graduate, he later attended Harvard as a Kennedy Scholar. He has written for the Guardian, Observer, and The Times and is also the author of Chums, The Happy Traitor, Football Against the Enemy and Barca. He lives in Paris with his family
Reviews
A portrait of Parisian society ... the style is elegant and flinty, the humour dry -- Andrew Martin * Literary Review *
[A] revealing memoir ... Kuper is a clear-eyed observer of all the history that is happening all around him ...for all the transformations of the past two decades, however, Kuper is always alert to the city's particularity * Observer *
A persuasive defence of the very idea of a city... full of warm but unsentimental depictions of Paris' communities... a reminder of the countless ways in which urban life remains one of the few efficient vaccines against bigotry and toxic nationalism * Washington Post *
One of the best books about Paris... deftly debunks the alarmist narratives [to] reveal a city of tolerance and nuance * Foreign Affairs *
Next time you travel to the former City of Light, take this book * Independent *
Kuper has the journalist's touch of rendering cliches less cliched and giving the personal a hint of universalism * Times Literary Supplement *
Informative and enlightening with a sarcastic touch... puts us on the streets themselves and lets us mingle * Los Angeles Review of Books *
An absorbing, affectionate, acutely observed, cliche-free study of contemporary Paris * Irish Times *
With a dry wit and a journalist's eye, Kuper unravels the layered past and looks to the future * Kirkus Review *
A lively read that captures many of the capital's contradictions * Economist *
Highly readable and amusing prose ... Kuper is a charming guide, with a particularly good eye for the telling quote * New Statesman *
With the perspective of a foreigner, and two decades as a Paris resident behind him, Kuper chronicles the paradoxical complexities of Parisian life in his memoir -- 'Best summer books of 2024' * Financial Times *
Simon Kuper does a great job in conveying why Paris is a city that is impossible to embrace and impossible to resist ... very funny * Irish Examiner *
A must-read for admirers of the City of Light -- Mark Brocklesby * Jersey Evening Post *
Praise for Chums: 'A searing onslaught on the smirking Oxford insinuation that politics is all just a game. It isn't. It matters -- Matthew Parris
A gripping read ... exquisite and depressing in equal measure -- Matthew Syed * Sunday Times *
A sparkling firework of a book -- Lynn Barber * Spectator *
Incisive, insightful and timely -- Richard Beard * New Statesman *
Fascinating ... The picture Kuper draws is of a nation with a decadent and deeply unprofessional ruling class, a diagnosis with which it is impossible to disagree -- Hugo Rifkind * The Times *
Book Information
ISBN 9781800816480
Author Simon Kuper
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Profile Books Ltd
Publisher Profile Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 380g
Dimensions(mm) 140mm * 216mm * 28mm
