Le Divorce

Starred review from December 30, 1996
It's no accident that the epigraph for this delightfully urbane social tragicomedy is taken from Henry James. Narrator Isabel Walker is a latter-day Isabel Archer, a charming, intelligent but naive American in Paris, who thinks herself sophisticated and analytical until her eyes are opened during the ironic, erotic and shocking events in the course of which she comes of age. Restless and unfocused, a drop-out from film school at Berkeley, Isabel is sent to Paris to help her pregnant step-sister, Roxy, through a difficult time: Roxy's husband, Charles-Henri Persand, has left her and their toddler daughter to run off with another woman. Isabel accepts a motley range of jobs in the American expatriate community--running errands, helping a famous writer with her files, serving at parties, etc.--and becomes aware of the jealousy and backbiting among the insular set. At first totally at sea because of the language barrier, she also gradually becomes aware that a chasm of misunderstandings and basic attitudinal differences lies beneath the cordial facade of Franco-American relationships. Meanwhile, an heirloom painting that Roxy brought to Paris is suddenly discovered to be an immensely valuable La Tour; under French law, it will be considered part of the divorce settlement. The tangled provenance of this painting creates tensions among the Walker family's half-siblings. The wealthy and powerful Persand family are also beset by a series of emotional involvements, including Isabel's own clandestine relationship with Charles-Henri's elderly uncle, a charming roue and political eminence grise. By the time the various strands of the plot culminate in surreal scenes at EuroDisney and the poubelles (refuse bins) of Roxy's apartment building, Isabel has become wiser about herself and the world, though she realizes that her point of view will always be colored by her Californian mindset. Johnson's (Persian Nights) control of her material is impeccable. The world of American expatriates is fertile territory for her ironic wit, which is both subtle and sharp. Everything here delights the reader: the sinuous plot with its rising suspense; the charged insights into family dynamics; the reflections on morality as perceived on both sides of the Atlantic; the witty asides on food, politics and sibling rivalry; the dialogue, which reflects both American and French speech patterns and social conventions; and the views of Paris itself, seen through the eyes of an ingenue who grows in sophistication as she begins to understand the reality that permeates this city of romance.

I suppose because I went to film school, I think of my story as a sort of film. From there, Diane Johnson begins a cinematic narrative providing the appropriate distance to observe and comment on the gulf between American and French manners and morals. Johnson characterizes Americans as optimistic and naive while the French have a "gaiety fetish." Music, attitudes toward infidelity, and food all come under her relentless microscope. Twenty-something Californian Isabel Walker goes to Paris to help her pregnant stepsister, Roxy, whose husband, Charles-Henri, has left her for another woman. In time, Roxy becomes deeply depressed, Isabel falls for a sophisticated French septuagenarian, and Charles-Henri's mistress goes berserk. Bebe Neuwirth's stylish narration complements Johnson's witty prose. Her wry performance precisely captures Johnson's satiric sensibilities. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine


LE DIVORCE has all the elements of a visit to a foreign city--excitement, beauty, intrigue, confusion, danger... At first, this novel seems overwhelming as it establishes its identity: Is it a romance? A mystery? A travel guide to Paris? A social commentary? In truth, the novel is all of these and more, and Johnson deftly weaves all these pieces together. Suzanne Toren becomes narrator Isabel Walker, a young woman in Paris tending her pregnant stepsister, Roxy, who has been abandoned by her French husband. Isabel is a realistic character--awed by prestige, moderately selfish, and snidely labeled "typically American" by her new French acquaintances. Toren delivers the story with candor and a lovely rendering of French phrases. This novel is satisfying and unique. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine