All Good Things

July 8, 2013
When her French husband decides to accept a job offer in Tahiti, author Turnbull (Almost French) and her husband leave Paris and set up a new home on the island of Mo’orea. While her husband commutes off-island each day to work, Turnbull creates a daily routine—a swim in the lagoon steps from her door. When in the water, she can forget about her own slow-to-take-shape work, a second novel. “Out here the novel that’s going nowhere seems blissfully far away. In this womb of water there is no sense of solitude or emptiness.” A journalist by profession, Turnbull does a splendid job of chronicling her story of leaving behind the city she loves and creating a new life in a vastly different culture. The pair discover scuba diving, they travel and form new friendships. The author also recounts their persistent longing for a child. Following a series of unsuccessful IVF treatments, Turnbull gives up on having any children. Yet, she is persuaded to give IVF treatment one more try, which proves successful. But the couple’s bliss of parenthood is shattered following their son’s serious injury in an accident. Turnbull makes splendid use of her journalistic skills in this entertaining and heartfelt memoir recounting the joys of adventure and family life.

August 15, 2013
A lushly described account of daily life in Tahiti from an outsider's perspective. Turnbull (Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris, 2003) and her husband, who brought them to Tahiti from Paris for a work assignment, socialized, worked, traveled and ultimately made a home for themselves in a place many consider to be solely a vacation destination. As an Australian with a French husband, and given Tahiti's complicated history with France, the author is admirably sensitive to cultural differences. Her portrayal of the islands and their people isn't romanticized or naive; she is cleareyed about the negative aspects of her life there. Her neighbors and friends are people, not exotic props, and she develops genuine connections to them. Another thread of the narrative is the author's infertility and ultimately successful attempt to conceive through in vitro fertilization. As important as the medical journey is her emotional one: Though she had undergone the process in France and had given up on pregnancy, a remark from her therapist motivated her to try again. Her description of a harrowing accident that befell her son is all the more poignant since we know that he was the result of a "precious pregnancy." All of her experiences--her daily swim in the lagoon, a walk through the local (and only) town or the exhilaration of snorkeling--are richly rendered in expressive language. The book is frank and personal, and at times, it feels like reading the author's diary. This is also a drawback, however; though it is well-written and edited, there is little sense of pacing or balance. A sensitive, mostly enjoyable memoir of making a life on Tahiti.

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September 15, 2013
As warm and welcoming as slipping into the lagoon for a morning swim, the latest journey of former Australian journalist Turnbull unfurls with the same charm as her popular Almost French (2003). Turnbull and her French husband relocate from Paris to Tahiti for his job, in the midst of arduous fertility treatments to try to have a child. The culture clashes continue, both inside and outside the marriage, as the couple adjusts. While describing their life in paradisecomplete with a tropical lagoon in the backyardand her frustrations over the inability to conceive, Turnbull manages neither to gloat nor to wallow, instead employing humor and bracing honesty. As much travelogue as memoir, Turnbull's account captures the glorious palette and fragrance of the islands while remaining clear-eyed about the challenges of life there. As ever, Turnbull is a perceptive, evocative guide to other lands and cultures. Deeply touching, this is for fans of her first memoir who are curious about her next adventure, and also for a more general audience attracted to the tale of facing the unknown with humility and delight.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)