La Vie: A year in rural France

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On November 13, 2020, Netflix released The Life Ahead directed by Edoardo Ponti and starring Sophia Loren. La Vie, According to Rose, Lauren Parvizi’s debut novel, is a compelling tale of grief, self-discovery, and new beginnings.

One of my favourite characters of any book I’ve ever read, I just fell in love with her and her honest, humble but troubled life. It would’ve kept the jealousy trope that I, as an angst lover, always root for, relevant and balanced. Whilst her personality is very different to mine, I found parts of her journey to be very relatable and realistic.

I really enjoyed this book, the story was told from the perspective of a 14 year old which gave it a sort of blasé and impassive edge. This was a tough read, tackling a lot of difficult topics such as depression, self-harm and life in a ‘therapeutic boarding school’. I got about 100 pages in before I decided to listen to the rest as an audiobook and let me tell you, I enjoyed it so much more than I anticipated.

She let everyone walk all over her, and yes, I say let because, from her inner dialogue, it’s clear that this is a conscious decision. Things start to go wrong when Kate is subjected to a traumatic experience, which alters the course of her life entirely. John Lewis-Stempel's story of a year on his smallholding in the Charente is warm and vivid and beautiful.The only reason why I didn’t give it 5 stars is because one of the main plot lines was very predictable. Mrs Woolf, wife of the manager, is a very celebrated author and, in her own way, more important than Galsworthy. There were times when I really enjoyed the book but there were moments when Rose's insecurities and family issues (and family) got on my nerves. It’s set in the 80s, although technology is more advanced than it is now and Britain has just lost the Falklands war. After calming the terrified animal, Lewis-Stempel leads him back to his field where the cause of the alarm is revealed: a fire salamander, basking in the sunshine.

A 32 year old woman who's a doormat to her family her dead father, and it goes further to her work and every one around her.I connected so much with her feelings and internal conflict between what she wants and what is “expected” of her. This story is a journey of learning to listen to your own heart, standing up for yourself, and caring less about what others think. The relationships she had with others (especially men)and the way she communicated with them was just painful to read about though.

I’ve managed to get through a few books recently and it’s definitely helped to reignite my love for reading. For many years a farmer in England, John Lewis-Stempel yearned to live in a rural landscape as he did in childhood.

Having recently been orphaned, the narrator is struggling with where she’s at in her life – despite having a great apartment and a good job. John Lewis-Stempel sets off from the UK to the rural far west of France - la France profonde - where he and his wife settle to a farming life in a draughty house with a small menagerie of pets and farm animals and a few acres of vineyards. Rose acted so dumb and naïve while in Paris, yet in America is this extremely responsible and heavily relied upon person.