Sarah Turnbull (1)

Well, I'm ready to move to la Polynésie française any day now ... Turnbull's book will transport you across the sea to a slower pace of life on a blue lagoon [without Brooke Shields, Dieu merci].
Sarah Turnbull is an Australian who married a Frenchman and lived with him in Paris for nearly a decade, until Frédéric's law firm asks him to move to French Polynesia. The couple have been trying for years -- via IVF, ultimately -- to have a baby, with no luck ... and Sarah thinks moving to an show more island might do the trick -- it'll be a fresh start in more ways than one.
They adjust slowly to Polynesian life -- the fact that Moorea, the island where they make their home, is French territory perhaps helps a bit -- and although there are bumps in the road, they find friendships with their neighbors and learn to live more slowly and "intentionally." They challenge themselves with scuba-diving and Sarah starts seeing a therapist (a doctor whose patient roster is apparently full of despondent ex-pats, among others), who tells her, with respect to her dream of having a baby, "It's not a crime to hope."
Frédéric and Sarah decide to head to Australia for "one last try" at IVF -- infertility research has made some strides since their last attempt -- and with family support they are hopeful for success. (No spoilers here!) Finally, after several years on "island time," Frédéric is offered the opportunity to open a branch of his law firm in Sydney -- Sarah's hometown -- so they pack everything up and move across yet another ocean. The job falls through, though, and they travel around the perimeter -- or a lot of it -- for 9 months in a camper. I can't wait for THAT book!
Along with lyrical descriptions of the sky and sea, Turnbull throws in quite a bit of art history, with stories of Matisse and Gauguin's stays in the region and Polynesia's influence on their art. This is a lovely book and I recommend it. show less

Almost French by Sarah Turnbull is a memoir about the Australian author's time in Paris as she falls in love, learns the culture (or tries to fit in), and tries to get consistent work as a journalist. Perhaps it was because it was a travel memoir and fitting in that I thought so often of Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, but within pages it held a completely separate voice for me.

Sarah Turnbull has taken time off from her job in Australia to travel Europe -- she figures that she might as show more well do it now since she can afford to take the time and she has no commitments -- after all, why wait until much later in life when work and family obligations might get in the way? Off she goes to Europe, and while in Bucharest, she meets Frèdèric, and decides to do something different than she's ever done before and completely change her plans -- go to Paris to stay with a guy that she only met for a few days in Bucharest. Throwing caution to the wind she goes -- and settles into Paris and tries to find her place within the culture and the job market.

This book is a hit in Australia and it was definitely a really pleasant read. I enjoyed her moments of confusion in trying to understand fashion and language, and there is one particular moment that I spluttered my coffee out with laughter for my combined shock and for feeling the author's complete embarrassment -- a simple moment in which she asks her new boyfriend in front of his friends if he would like his smoking pipe, when she mistakenly really asked him if he, ahem...would like a something sexual to occur. I felt for her trying to fit in and get used to it all, and as I've traveled quite a bit in my life and lived in multiple locations, I felt my understanding and my frustrations for her experiences grow as I read each page. It's tough to fit in sometimes!

The only aspect that found me a little wanting was that I felt she wrote with such great detail on so many events and moments, but she skipped quite a bit on the love she had with Frèdèric which was the ultimate reason which compelled her to move to Paris in the first place. Perhaps it was out of respect for their intimacies (completely understandable) and perhaps I'm just an old romantic at heart, but I felt a tad removed from the blossoming love that they experienced within their relationship that would so compel this grounded and logical woman to completely forgo her plan to travel all of Europe and instead, after one week of meeting with a man, to move instead to Paris to begin life anew.

Sarah Turnbull's descriptions of Parisian life, the eccentric characters she meets in a new neighborhood, and her ability (or lack thereof) to fit in fashionably at first, were quite endearing and offered a fun snapshot into her life. I cheered for her to find the right job, and enjoyed her journalistic cadence as Turnbull related each event with sometimes a distant voice and sometimes with close up scrutiny, one that ultimately turns into quite a fun trip into Parisian culture! show less

I had read Sarah Turnbull's previous book, Almost French, and greatly enjoyed it so I was looking forward to her latest about moving from Paris to Tahiti. Tahiti does hold a tropical utopian thrall upon most of the world and Trunbull's description of both the spectacular and the not so spectacular was a fascinating read. The author's honesty about trying to live a life cut off from most of the world, struggling to overcome her writers block and overcoming her fertility issues made this an show more almost voyeuristic read. At times, I was almost uncomfortable reading about her struggles with infertility but her honest made me realize that the stigma surrounding it is very much alive and well, making her story that much more important. I look forward to reading what she publishes next. show less

This is a lovely, very personal, easy read about Turnbull's trials and tribulations as an Australian immigrant to France. Western countries shares many similarities, but it's in the small things that sensibilities can clash: order of dinner courses, subtleties in manner, gender roles, civilities, taboos are just some of the things that can become an unpredictable source of conflict.
Chapter by chapter, Turnbull looks at the obstacles that she had to overcome, some of the ways in which she was show more able to adapt and others in which she decided "to clash", as the prerogative of being an outsider. All of her experiences ring very true and I've had similar observations and reactions, playing on my two nationalities or sometimes simply forgetting some of the intricacies of French living.
Although Australian, I think this book will resonate with Americans and Canadian alike, having similar roots.
I always enjoy seeing my other country through other eyes to get another reflection of how we are perceived. show less