Wednesday, January 3, 2018

On the Coffee Table: French Milk

Title: French Milk
Writer and Artist: Lucy Knisley
via Amazon
French Milk is Knisley's self-illustrated travel diary of the six weeks she and her mother spent living in Paris.  This was my second dip into Knisley's work, having read Relish a few years ago (see here).  Interspersed with her drawings are photographs, often of the same subjects which makes for interesting side-by-side comparisons.  Knisley's art represents simplified and somewhat idealized versions of reality.

I was a little disappointed in this book.  Lots of shopping and eating - okay, I can't say I really mind the eating as I myself do plenty of writing about eating.  But I guess I was hoping for deeper cultural insights whereas most of Knisley's material is about... herself.  The blurb on the back cover promises a personal look at the mother-daughter relationship but I'm not sure we really got much of that either.  Perhaps it is honest and realistic.  It's just not what I wanted. 

10 comments:

  1. I thought this was going to be a cocktail, didn't pay attention! :-)

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  2. I hate when books don't meet our expectations. Sorry you didn't enjoy this book as much as you hoped.

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    1. They can't all be winners. We wouldn't appreciate the good stuff if they were.

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  3. Most people are really good at writing about themselves.

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  4. Hi AS. I came running at the title. Haven't seen it/read it. Sorry you found it somewhat disappointing. Maybe she marketed it to women who aren't averse to shopping! I'd rather read deep cultural insights myself, too. HNY!

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    1. I realize that's what a lot of people do when they travel to Paris and that's fine. Just not what I was hoping for.

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