Failing Paris

by Samantha Dunn

Book Overview

Nominated for the PEN USA/West Fiction Prize.Failing Paris is the story of a week in the life of Sabine Wilcox, the 19-year-old student who has left the stifling rural existence of the American... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 190288101X
• ISBN13: 9781902881010
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Toby Press
• Length: 146 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.7" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Paris in the eyes of ..... reality

Apart from the "gripping" (boy is that word overused in book reviews) style, and an intense feeling of integrity, this book offers humorus/morbid insights to everyday life, through a not so regular week in the life of an american exchange student, trapped in a not so romantic paris. I found it very enjoyable.

Better than The Pleasing Hour by Lily King

Paris is usually written about in novels as romantic, luminous, but here it's grey, rainy, dangerous, claustrophobic--and thus, a revelation. On scholarship from Los Cruces, NM, Sabine is trying to fit in, to escape her lower middle class background, but can she ever really learn French so well that she *is* French? Powerful, gripping, hypnotic--and beautifully written.

Intense, artistic and spellbinding

A gritty taste of reality told by an author whose command of the English language is a thing of beauty. Samantha Dunn tells the story of a young woman caught in a crisis without anyone to turn to in a land that can never up to her expectations. I was compelled to turn the page and see this girl face difficult hardships, intense loneliness, and moral dilemmas that would test any resolve. I was surprised that I cared so deeply for the character of Sabine and her journey to become a woman. An amazing book written by an amazing author.

Intense, artistic amd spellbinding.

A gritty taste of reality told by an author whose command of the english language is a thing of beauty. Samantha Dunn tells the story of a young woman caught in a crisis without anyone to turn to in a land that can never measure up to her expectations. I was compelled to turn the page and see this girl face difficult hardships, intense loneliness and moral dilemmas that would test any resolve. I was surprised that I cared so deeply for the character of Sabine and her journey to become a woman. An amazing book written by an amazing writer.

Sam Dunn is a great new voice!

Samantha Dunn is one of the most talented young writers I've encountered. The book Failing Paris is about that lovely city and its pitfalls, and so much more. What a storyteller!