Paris to the Moon by Adam GopnikI'm reading this book that I picked up at Borders a week ago on a 3 for 2 deal. I had never seen nor heard of it before but having been in Paris in June and having always fancied myself a bit of a Francophile, I found myself attracted to it.
I've been enjoying it. It's basically a series of essays about Adam's experiences living in Paris with his wife and young son.
I have to say, though, that, as far as the French, or perhaps more appropriately the Parisians, go, I am becoming less enamored the more familiar I become. While I realize this is hardly an original thought, Gopnik has really driven the point home for me.
I have demoted Paris from a place where I might be interested in living to a place that I wish I could visit frequently. That is to say that, while it still holds its attractions, the bloom is off the rose.
As I have been developing this conclusion of mine, I also came across an article which I first greeted with skepticism and disbelief. I wondered it was some sort of half-April Fool's joke (when I was in high school, we celebrated both birthdays and half-birthdays, i.e. your birthday and the day exactly six months away from your birthday).
According to 'Paris Syndrome' Leaves Japanese Tourists in Shock, which as best as I can tell is completely serious, Japanese tourists to Paris find the reality of Paris and the Parisians to be so distant from their expectations and own cultural civilities that they suffer a sort of PTSD, even requiring some of them to be hospitalized.
I too have been disillusioned but thankfully, since I'm not that delicate, I'm not ready to completely write Paris off. I just wouldn't want to live there . . .
1 comment:
That aol article was hysterical. The Japanese are very idealistic and sheltered. Since they can be so isolated from reality, even Japanese reality, I can see that this would be true. I remember reading Snow Country and shaking my head about the main character who dedicated his life to the study of ballet, but would never go to one, because he knew it couldn't meet his expectations.
That said, I too have joined the club of people who dreamed that Paris would be a great city to live in, and now have no desire to live there. I'd opt for a smaller city where the quality of life would, for me, be much better. I also wouldn't live in New York. I tend to think a country's largest city has the most problems and most intensity. I'll visit, but live elsewhere.
Time to leave Seoul? I think so.
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