Welcome to Litsy!

Lighter and airier than some other DeWitt novels, this is a comedy of manners centered around an Upper East Side widow and her emotionally stunted son. Think Wodehouse, if Aunt Agatha were a bit younger, meaner, and a lot more sexually active, and if Bertie had lost his joie de vivre. The plot is mostly an excuse to bring together a cast of oddball characters and let them interact, which is fine by me, since DeWitt writes some of the funniest 👇

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

"All good things must end," said Frances Price.

French Exit‘s Fitzgerald-esque approach, with it‘s modern setting, threw me off at first. But DeWitt soon had me captivated with the failing days of the rich and (in)famous; a mother/son toppling from their New York 1% heights to eventual ruin in Paris. DeWitt makes these not so likable characters likable without really compromising their repulsive natures. And while they wouldn‘t care a fig for me, oddly enough, i cared for them in the end.

Patrick deWitt never disappoints me. He's witty and clever and just weird. I loved every moment and am super excited that he has a new book in 2023

#manicmonday #LetterF
📚French Exit
🖋John Fante
📺Finding Your Roots 📽Fast Times At Ridgemont High
🎸The Fugs
🎼Fade Into You -Mazzy Star ,February-Dar Williams
February Seven-The Avett Brothers

This was a case of right book at the right time. Sometimes reading about unlikeable or very flawed characters who don‘t “give a toss” about what anyone else thinks is refreshing. After setting up Frances and Malcolm as a self absorbed and spoilt mother and son, deWitt does go on to reveal their humanity and painful background so there is depth to this book - but I was glad for that dose of devil may care attitude 🙌

6-19-21: My 66th finished book of 2021! Very interesting little novel. Widow, Frances Price and her adult son, Malcolm are facing bankruptcy. They decide to sell their assets and move to Paris to live out their days with their cat Small Frank. They become hosts to a cast of quirky and funny characters including a PI and a medium. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👍🏼📖#️⃣6️⃣6️⃣

This reminded me of The Royal Tenenbaums. Which is definitely one of my favorite movies. I pulled this off my TBR and then found out there's a new movie. And I bet that it's awesome.

#BookSpinBingo square 7
@TheAromaofBooks

Very funny and clever book recommended by Kim. Lots of crazy characters and a cat whose body is inhabited by the dead husband. Can‘t wait for the movie.

⭐️Delighted to discover that this is a movie! Alas, not by Wes Anderson.⭐️ Absurd, hilarious story of a financially ruined woman and her grown son (and their cat--or is he?) fleeing their troubles to stay in a friend's ramshackle Paris apartment. Frances has a plan. Her plan is not great, and I may have preferred a different execution of her plan, but I loved the journey. I also wish we had gotten a little more closure on Small Frank.

Not sure how to categorize this novel besides calling it absurd. In fact, 32-year-old Malcolm appears so indifferent that he reminds me of Meursault from Camus‘ The Stranger only with a mama‘s boy touch. His 65-year-old mother Frances is like a fading actress performing her swan song as they lose all of their money and have to move to Paris. I laughed out loud at the dark comedy that reminds me of old school plays like Wilde et al. What a riot!

If you mix Dottie Parker with Wes Anderson , you might get something like this.Witty & dark, mother Frances & her grown son Malcolm are used to living in high style , yet now the family fortune is all but gone.A family friend has an apartment in Paris , why not take the cash they can round up, their curious cat Small Frank, & head there? No , I wouldn‘t want to be a member of this dysfunctional family but yet , I fell under their spell.

Not my favourite read of 2019 - but I think it was very visual so might translate to film well???

https://ew.com/movies/french-exit-michelle-pfeiffer/

Absolutely loved it. The characters were fantastically unlikeable and entertaining at every turn!

This is a quirky little book with a small cast of eccentric characters that is hard to classify. Mostly witty, but with flickers of sadness buried beneath the humor. It feels old school and theatrical - like a slightly vulgar Noel Coward play, complete with wealthy people, complicated relationships, and a seance. Good audiobook.

Well, Mr. Dewitt, it was a pleasure, as always. You weird, wonderful writer.

Mr. Baker was a mouselike man, which isn‘t to say he behaved as one, but that he truly did look very much like a mouse. Sometimes he looked like an angry mouse, sometimes wise; on this day, as he sat waiting for Frances to arrive, he resembled a mouse who wished he were another mouse.

Dewitt's self-described tragedy of manners involves numerous eccentric characters, from medium Madeleine to private investigator Julius, but it is Malcolm Price & his mother Frances that are really the focus of this novel. The story follows mid-sixties widow Frances & Malcolm in his early thirties, as they prepare to move to France (hence the title) after lavishly spending all of the remaining money from the estate of Frances' late husband👇

😂😂Dying

I liked it. And I‘m not really sure why. None of the characters were likeable - in fact most were very unlikeable. It was witty and weird. Frances reminded me a little of Holly Golightly.
Was lovely to finish it in the morning sunshine!

“The world changes, my friend, as the weather changes. Our motivations, our dreams and agitations, our fears change too. But wine? Wine is immovable. Upon hearing good news, what do we do? We reach for wine. And when we hear bad news? Wine again.”
Too true!

A low pick. More pathos than humour, although there was more humour later on in the book. I liked the ocean crossing to Paris.
#BookSpinBonanza book 6 — I‘ve read in order all the books I figured I‘d read, so I‘m going off-piste for the rest of the month 😂

I loved this one , and became very fond of Frances & Malcolm & Small Frank ...A most unusual & very enjoyable read. Funny & sad ❤️💔. I‘m going to look up more books by this author , I like his writing style a lot. Thankyou Leah , such a lovely book to receive 🤍

🤍🤍🤍

@Simona Thanks for tagging me in this fun activity. ?

#ispy with my black eyes
books with white covers
and the motto while lending them be
"peruse them well, but wash your hands before" ?

Do you spy some green covers on your shelves? @sudi @ju.ca.no

Thankyou Leah, your copy of French Exit is gorgeous, I‘m looking forward to it. And very interested to read The Girls, always so good to experience a new author. And a Canadian one 👍🏻❤️ Thankyou lovely friend, I hope you are keeping well in this unreal time. . Cathy. X XX

“Do you ever feel,” she asked, “that adulthood was thrust upon you at too young an age, and that you are still essentially a child mimicking the behaviors of the adults all around you in hopes they won‘t discover the meager contents of your heart?”

“Listen to me. There‘s a lizard dashing around my bedroom and I need you to come down here and do something about it.”
“A lizard? How‘d that happen?”
“I don‘t understand the question. It walked in of its own accord. Will you come, yes or no?”
“You want me to?”
“I want you to. Also I want you to want to.”
“Well, I guess I‘d better come, then,” said Malcolm.

Ohmygosh this book 🙌🏻
My favorite kind of dark humor 🖤
Immediately jumping into another of DeWitt‘s books, The Sisters Brothers 🌵🐎

Friday night reads. 🍷

#NYRBBookClub

This was, as promised, dark and (occasionally funny). More so, it was/the characters were sad and pathetic. I'm not horribly sorry I read it, but I won't be rereading or recommending it.

Believe in all of yourself. Love yourself.

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/literary-alternatives-to-ghosting-at-parties
My friend just sent this to me. In case anyone needs any good excuses for getting out of holiday party‘s this month!

I‘d never read Dewitt before, but loved his ability to let his satire and wit just sit there and not over explore it. This one takes some interesting turns. Reminds me of Wodehouse, but modern and with more explicit sex.

Woohoo! Week two of #weeklyforecast and did pretty well on last week‘s predictions! This little gem interrupted my ARC schedule however... whoops. Oh those distracting library books...

For this week
📕finish FRENCH EXIT
📕finish FLYING COUCH
📖start INVISIBLE CITIES
📖start A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD
🔈finish MOSTLY DEAD THINGS
🔈start THE GIFTED SCHOOL

This was a twisted delight! Love DeWitt's brand of subtle but oh so dark humour in this "tragedy of manners. He can write characters so dislikeable & weird with a mastery that is a joy to behold. The acid tongued and horribly overbearing mother, Frances, is such an example - her behaviour & attitude are so awful yet this makes her fleeting moments of vulnerability & humanity all the more poignant. Trigger information in comments.

Starting this one today. With thanks to #netgalley for this book.

An odd, dark book about a deeply dysfunctional family. Probably a little better than “so-so” to be fair. Very funny in places and eminently readable.

A lovely morsel of a book! Even the story has moments of tragedy, it made me laugh. The characters are pretentious, self-involved, and completely unconcerned about lives other than their own, which is the source of much of the humour in the book. A great depiction of a highly dysfunctional mother/son relationship!

It was ok. There were a few parts that were humorous. 4⭐️ #bookstagram #bookreview

Time for an #eveningread #bookclub

This has been every bit as enjoyable as I hoped it would be!

#WanderingJune Buried in my kindle is this tagged book which I haven‘t read yet, but the premise struck me as a fit for today‘s prompt. Having become an Upper East Side social leper, Frances Price, her adult son and their aging cat slink out of NYC with plans to reinvent themselves and get #LostInFrance 🗼🗺 I‘m told this book has dark humor and major snark. I purchased as a #KindleDailyDeal so I‘m sure it‘ll be worth my$1.99 😛

In her hand was a drink that tasted, she said, like suntan lotion over ice.

I was much entertained as I performed outdoor spring cleaning by the dry humor of this DeWitt novel. Light and pleasantly laugh out loud funny without being (imho) idiotic. A definite recommend for those moments where you need a lift in mood.

It was difficult to warm to Frances, the central character in this story - #ShesSoCold
#AnglophileApril