Paris: Who hasn't imagined themselves living there at some point? But what is it really like to live in a city with so much history and cultural influence, and so many internal contradictions? Journalist Simon Kuper's Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century takes readers beyond the postcards and souvenirs and into the heart of a metropolis that's at once stubbornly traditional, yet in constant, sometimes rapid change.
Kuper (Chums; Soccernomics) moved to Paris in 2001, and his longtime resident status takes readers far outside of guidebook territory and into the intricacies of navigating Paris's bureaucracy and multiethnic society, raising a family, living through multiple terrorist attacks, and negotiating its health-care system. His prose is entertaining, wry, and self-aware. Kuper deftly formulates his history and contemporary social analysis and his position allows him a particular viewpoint into topics such as immigration, class divisions, elitism, and the city's struggles and successes in accommodating its diverse citizenry. "I realised then that, as a foreigner, I was liberated from two blights that afflict people who live in big cities in their own countries: the Media Bubble and the Status Dance."
Impossible City is filled with affection, but it's never romantic. Its insights will leave readers with a more complex and grounded take on the City of Light. It's essential reading not only for anyone fascinated by Paris but also for those curious about how old-world powers reconcile with their cultural legacies in contemporary society. --Elizabeth DeNoma, executive editor, DeNoma Literary Services, Seattle, Wash.