2012 Puddly Awards
 
 
Follow us on TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on TumblrSubscribe to RSS


Recently Viewed clear list


Interviews | January 3, 2012

Jill Owens: IMG Naomi Benaron: The Powells.com Interview



Naomi BenaronRunning the Rift is the most recent winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, as awarded by Barbara Kingsolver. It's also an... Continue »
  1. $17.47 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    Running the Rift

    Naomi Benaron 9781616200428

spacer
Free Shipping!

$28.49
New Hardcover
Ships from International Warehouse (read more)
Add to Wishlist
available for shipping only
Not available for In-store Pickup
Qty Store Section
1 International Warehouse Sociology- General

eBook editions

What French Women Know: About Love, Sex, and Other Matters of the Heart and Mind

by Debra Ollivier

What French Women Know: About Love, Sex, and Other Matters of the Heart and Mind Cover

ISBN13: 9780399155628
ISBN10: 0399155627
All Product Details

Only 1 left in stock at $28.49!

 

  1. This particular item is stocked in an International Warehouse and will ship separately from other items in your shopping cart.

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

A primer on the ineffable, je ne sais quoi appeal of the French woman.

I t's not the shoes, the scarves, or the lipstick that gives French women their allure. It's this: French women don't give a damn. They don't expect men to understand them. They don't care about being liked or being like everyone else. They generally reject notions of packaged beauty. They accept the passage of time, celebrate the immediacy of pleasure, like to break rules, embrace ambiguity and imperfection, and prefer having a life to making a living. They are, in other words, completely unlike us.

Ollivier goes beyond familiar ooh-la-la stereotypes about French women, challenging cherished notions about sex, love, dating, marriage, motherhood, raising children, body politics, seduction, and flirtation. Less a how-to and more a how-not-to, What French Women Know offers a refreshing counterpoint to the stale love dogma of our times. Peppered with anecdotes from its Franco-American author and filled with provocative ideas from French sexperts, mistresses and maidens alike, it debunks longstanding myths, presenting savvy new thinking from an old sexy culture and more realistic, life-affirming alternatives from the land that knows how to love.

Review:

"American-born Francophile Ollivier follows up Entre Nous: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl with a volume largely concerned with uncovering the behavior and lifestyle of the secretive French woman. For instance, Ollivier pointedly debunks the myth that French women deprive themselves of fattening foods and drink in order to maintain a suitable weight, but reveals that French women are masters of portion control. She also recounts instances with her French counterparts-she lived there for 10 years, has a French husband, and divides her time between L.A. and Paris-in which she came to the realization that, in France, women genuinely love men, and vice versa; both strive for more compatibility between the sexes, radically diminishing the 'battle of the sexes' mentality so commonplace in American society. Intriguingly, Ollivier contrasts the French desire for mystery against the American need for knowledge and control, finding in the discrepancy a possible reason for the ever-escalating American divorce rate. Ollivier is sure to dazzle any reader with a fondness for French women with this batch of anecdotes and corresponding hypotheses, drizzled with a winning combination of sarcasm and wit." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

About the Author

Debra Olivier lived in France for ten years, during which time she married her French husband and had two children. She was a frequent contributor to Salon and Le Monde, and her work has also appeared in The Guardian, Playboy, Les Inrockuptibles, and Harper's. She is also the author of Entre Nous: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 1 comment:

pollyvousfrancais, August 29, 2009 (view all comments by pollyvousfrancais)
This book, which is otherwise intelligent, well researched and highly readable, has at least one naughty secret (that I know of). The author reproduced verbatim an entire page from my popular French blog, without permission or attribution.

Read the controversy here:

http://tinyurl.com/knhuf2

And then decide whether you want to buy it or not.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(2 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)

Product Details

ISBN:
9780399155628
Author:
Ollivier, Debra
Publisher:
Putnam Adult
Subject:
Popular Culture - General
Subject:
General
Subject:
Women -- France.
Subject:
Self-perception - France
Subject:
Human Sexuality
Subject:
Love & Romance
Subject:
Sexuality
Subject:
Popular Culture
Subject:
Self-Help/Relationships
Publication Date:
20090931
Binding:
HARDCOVER
Language:
English
Pages:
256
Dimensions:
8.30x5.70x1.00 in. .83 lbs.
Age Level:
17-17

Other books you might like

  1. $4.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list

    Be Your Own Guru

    Betty Bethards 2221299579958
  2. $17.95 New Trade Paper add to wish list
  3. $9.99 Google eBooks add to wish list

Related Aisles

What French Women Know: About Love, Sex, and Other Matters of the Heart and Mind New Hardcover
0 stars - 0 reviews
$28.49 In Stock
Product details 256 pages Putnam Adult - English 9780399155628 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "American-born Francophile Ollivier follows up Entre Nous: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl with a volume largely concerned with uncovering the behavior and lifestyle of the secretive French woman. For instance, Ollivier pointedly debunks the myth that French women deprive themselves of fattening foods and drink in order to maintain a suitable weight, but reveals that French women are masters of portion control. She also recounts instances with her French counterparts-she lived there for 10 years, has a French husband, and divides her time between L.A. and Paris-in which she came to the realization that, in France, women genuinely love men, and vice versa; both strive for more compatibility between the sexes, radically diminishing the 'battle of the sexes' mentality so commonplace in American society. Intriguingly, Ollivier contrasts the French desire for mystery against the American need for knowledge and control, finding in the discrepancy a possible reason for the ever-escalating American divorce rate. Ollivier is sure to dazzle any reader with a fondness for French women with this batch of anecdotes and corresponding hypotheses, drizzled with a winning combination of sarcasm and wit." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
spacer
spacer
  • back to top
Follow us on...


Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.