Paris: A Love Story

I enjoyed the book mainly because it was a small window in the life of Holbrooke and Jennings. Kati Marton's writing style is pleasant even though they were parts in the book that made me cringe (Holbrooke, the master diplomat and uber problem solver "taking" his wife to a store in Paris to buy her a dress where she dons several outfits for her husband in a private fashion show - what is this? "Funny face"? She doesn't say much about her children and she gingerly brushes off her infidelities in both marriages.I share her love for Paris (where I live now) like so many others...Thanks to this book I am reading now  The Unquiet American: Richard Holbrooke in the World , a book about Richard Holbrooke.

I saw Kati Marton on tv last week talking about this book. Hindsight being what it is, I probably should have gone with my gut when I wasn't very impressed with her in the interview. But, the book sounded interesting, so I bought it that day.From almost the very beginning, I knew I wouldn't like the author or the book. Yet I kept reading. It got to the point where I didn't think I could dislike her any more, and then she said or did something to prove me wrong. I've never in my life encountered someone so self-absorbed. Of course, this book is just a snapshot of who she is, so I'm sure there are some redeeming qualities, but I just don't understand why none of them were shown in this book.There were also mistakes in the book; there was one picture where she noted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in February 2001 (pretty sure she meant 2011) and then twice she mentioned having a brother, but he was nowhere else in the story; in fact, she referred to "the four of them" (her mother, father, sister and herself).For someone who has written as much as she has and been a journalist her whole life, I was expecting more. Her style was very odd; seemingly HUGE events in her life - "ten years into our marriage I fell in love with another man" - are presented just like that and then nothing else is said about it. She would end chapters with just random sentences; chronology didn't seem to matter at all.I would never recommend this book to anyone. I'm sorry for the losses that Kati Marton suffered, but many, many others have been through the same thing... without cheating on two husbands along the way. Also? No mention of Richard's sons in the acknowledgements at the end? Interesting.

This is an enjoyable summer read, but I had very definite deja vu to 40 years ago and reading the autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini in college. Both Cellini and Marton are engaging writers, but their almost psychopathic egotism makes for an interesting, if at times, exasperating experience. One of the reasons famous people's biographies are more interesting is because most of us are curious to see behind the curtains of the rich and powerful. For instance, Bill Clinton, versus the neighbor who lives across the street, visits Marton the morning after her third husband dies. However, we never really get a sense of the multitude of celebrities that parade through this book, since generally they are presented as one dimensional figures whose role is to reflect Marton's splendor. The book might have been subtitled "famous people who had the pleasure of meeting me." They fall into good (those who fawn over Marton) and bad (those who express any hesitancy) I must say I never felt as positive about Nancy Reagan as when reading about her cautiousness in allowing herself to be interviewed by Marton. There is even a rather bizarre section where Marton simply posts a number of positive Thank you notes from famous people to her and her husband for their hospitality while he was UN ambassador. They read like your basic BS like pleasantries one puts in a thank you note, but she seems to take them literally. She hints at some deep dark side to her divorced husband Peter jennings, but the only tangible complaint is that he finds her self centered and ambitious, and one can see where he is coming from. Perhaps the strangest part of this memoir, is that it is filled with so many famous people, and yet so devoid of any actual friends. Through all her tribulations, not one close female friend ever appears. One wonders whether she filtered her non-celebrity friends out of the book for their and her privacy, or she simply filtered them out of her life. This is a fine book to read on a plane or at the beach, but it does leave you shaking your head.

Kati Marton told her own story, just referring to the family's terrible time in Budapest but in such a way that one can see how dreadful it was for her and her sister.She jumps fearlessly into her parisian world, with backward looks at Hemingway and "Black Boy". Viewing the bad parts of her first stay in Paris with detachment, I felt that that didn't really touch her. Why didn't she call it "Paris: Three Love Stories"? Is this about Paris or about Kati? We see her, crushed when here second husband dies and how coddled she was by her family. What does she really feel? And is she showing her Hungarian, emotional side and fluffling off a failed first marriage and a little adultery? Yet we know she was a good reporter. Her later picture of Paris is almost like accounts in other books.The zing from her early joyous impressions gets worn down by the end of the book.

A love story to her brilliant diplomat husband, Richard Holbrooke, but most of all a love story to Paris. Her love of this most romantic of city is overwhelming and if you have never visited, will tempt you sorely. May i say, i visited Paris on many occasions and it never failed. There are more beautiful cities in the world, there are many which might even look more romantic, but Paris is still unique. Marton writes well, and you will also fall in love with her reading the book.

This was a book club read for me. It was readable, but a self-indulgent take on Paris and the life of the author Kati Marton who married two of American's most influential men. If it's a love story in France you're after though, I'd recommend  Weak at the Knees  as a far more enjoyable story. Weak at the Knees

Didn't get very far with this biography.

i found that the author spent too much time talking about her self. also if you have never been to paris you would not know what she is talking about. i gave it a three star because she is a very talented jounalist, just not my type.

It was beyond my wildest expectations! It was so full of incredible emotion, as well as starling and amazing pieces of history and the people taking direct part in all of it, that I was nearly overcome with delight at the whole book. I never wanted it to end.I would recommend it to anyone interested in history of the 20th Century as well as all people who delight in fabulous love stories.