Toujours Provence
by Peter Mayle
List Price: $12.00
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0679736042
Publisher: Vintage Books
Peter Mayle offers us another funny and beautiful book about life in Provence.
Here is a heart-warming portrait of a place where, if you can't quite
"get away from it all," you can surely have the best of times trying.
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1. In "Boy," "Passing 50 Without Breaking the Speed Limit," and "Fashion and Sporting Notes
from the Ménerbes Dog Show," Mayle offers affectionate portraits
of his wife. Would you have liked to learn more about her? Do you think
that as a woman she has a different perspective on life in Provence?
2. Why does Mayle create an air of mystery and suspense when he describes his two excursions
to see Monsieur X, the truffle seller? Does the extreme secretiveness
surrounding the buying and selling convey something more than the extraordinary
value placed on truffles?
3. Why does Mayle find "the wise, venal, and congenitally crafted Massot" [p. 90] so appealing?
How do Massot's peculiarities and his approach to life add an unexpected
dimension to Mayle's portrait of Provence?
4. In "As Advertised in Vogue," Mayle mocks the Beautiful People who are discovering Provence.
Are his criticisms legitimate? Can the "invasion" of outsiders bring
benefits to Provence and to other rural areas without destroying the
peace and beauty that make them so attractive?
5. Régis, the track suit-wearing gourmet, has definite theories about why France provides
the best food and best eating experiences in the world [p. 166-7]. How
do American eating habits and expectations compare to those of the French
and the English? From your own experience, is it possible to find great,
inexpensive restaurants in the United States? Do diners and small town
restaurants fill the same role in this country as relais routiers
do in France?
6. One of their visitors accuses the Mayles of "going native" [p. 231]. How do the vignettes
in Toujours Provence differ from the stories in A Year in
Provence? Do they reflect fundamental changes in Mayle and his way
of thinking about life?
Courtesy of Vintage Books.
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