L'Appart: The Delights and Disasters of Making My Paris Home

I've used DL's cookbooks for years and have not only loved them, I've also bought them for others. His rib recipe, for example, is the only one you'll ever need. Period.Hence, I took a chance on this book. The problems are:1) This is a Paris version of A Year in Provence which is not a bar anyone should aim for and the semi-plagiaristic tone just bothered me. Also, A Year is more about living in Provence and going through a renovation -- stress the former. L'Appart is more about renovation and, oh, by the way, the author also happens to live in Paris, but the only real snippets of Paris that you get are with sleazy contractors, inefficient suppliers, and almost criminally negligent government officials. If I want renovation stories, I can get them elsewhere, like This Old House.2) The burning need to have at least one -- and frequently many, many more -- French words in each paragraph gets tiring. I speak, read, and write French (although not nearly at DL's level), but even I found it annoying very quickly. Noting how many different words there are for forks or sinks, for example, is a nice touch since it's rather alien to us Americans. But he goes way overboard.3) And, finally, you quickly lose any sympathy for him. DL made so many bad decisions, bad choices, and showed such little common sense that you can't even feel sorry for all the trouble he had. He admits to his own failings readily which is good. But he complains more about others than about himself. Renovations are hard. My wife and I have lived through a house under renovation and it was our first. But never in our wildest dreams did we consider telling contractors to do things without being given a price. DL did things like this -- and worse -- over and over and over. Instead of feeling bad for him, I felt like saying, "Sorry, you deserved it. Stop trying to make me feel sorry for you"Maybe this deserves 2 stars, but I can't do it. If you like DL's writing and recipes, get something else (particularly My Paris Kitchen which is a gorgeous book filled with fantastic recipes). All this book does, truly, is lower your opinion of a good writer and chef/baker. I'd rather keep the opinion I developed through My Paris Kitchen.

I am a several years admirer of David Lebovitz. I greatly enjoy his blog and his attitude about food. I bought his cook book three years ago as a Kindle book so that I could 'take it' with me for my 4-months-out-of-the-year stay in Spain. However, after receiving his recent blog post announcing the publication of l'appart, I bought not only this new publication, but the hardback edition of My Paris Kitchen. I happen to be very visual and take particular pleasure in photos of dwellings and what people love around them in their homes, I bought l'appart based, in great part, on the photos he posted with the excerpt from the book. I found both delightful and very easy to relate to with amusement after my own experiences living in Spain for 20 years. So, imagine my disappointment when l'appart arrived and I found not a single photo of the space he found and what he turned it into. Especially that most precious of it's rooms: the kitchen. Sigh.So that's why my review has only four stars. That fifth star would have gone to the photos.

Paris is such a beautiful city that fascinates so many Americans. We romanticize it and fantasize about living there. David Lebovitz is one American who has done so and been kind enough to share his experiences over the years. His accounts, with a sprinkle of French phrases, keep the romance but add a large dose of incredulous bemusement at French life and behavior.  In the past he has focused on the bureaucracy, with the frustration and circular logic and zero concept of customer service, and frequent strikes that always seem to fall at the time when you most need to get somewhere. He can match Bill Bryson in conveying that sense of immersion in a culture with a little wink of amusement.In L'Appart, Lebovitz focuses on the tribulations of buying and remodeling an apartment in Paris. Tired of renting and wanting a real kitchen where he can do his cookbook recipe development, he goes through bureaucratic hoops and almost a year to finally buy an apartment with the intent of remodeling it to suit his needs. The book starts out with him peeing in a cup at the doctor's office to get a health check in order to obtain a mortgage (WHAT??). He hires a contractor based on the recommendation of one friend, somehow despite knowing architects in the city. Here the escapades turn a bit dark and more than a little cringe-inducing. The contractor's repeated mistakes and longer and longer absences, coupled with an electrician with what seems to be a personality disorder, turn from bad to horrifying. Lebovitz is increasingly stressed and angry. The frustrations of issuing check after check for work that never gets done, is done incorrectly, and even to correct mistakes that the contractor made, really transfers to the reader. It stops being fun and starts being a bit more Kafka than Bryson. It's sad, and horrifying, and stressful. Toward the end, it's gone terribly wrong and Lebovitz finds competent help to correct the numerous, egregious, and life-threatening errors made by the incompetent contractor (CO2 being pumped in to the apartment, a fuse box full of melting wires, a sub-floor heating system that would surely shock anyone with wet feet, a mistake in the basement that could compensate the stability of the building, etc.).  It's mortifying. The problems are corrected and Lebovitz moves on with his life in Paris, but not before the reader is left in shock over the injustice. It's really awful. There is no resolution with the contractor, who is presumably still out there in the world screwing up other people's apartments. Lebovitz even goes to a lawyer, who says there is nothing to be done.The 25 recipes look delicious and come with Lebovitz's charming introductions that lay out a little story and a bit about the food.  I haven't tried any but I have no doubt they are delicious. Some (Lemon Yogurt Cake) are more approachable than others (Kouign Amann).I continue to adore David Lebovitz, but I would not strongly recommend this book for a light read. Maybe if you're thinking of remodeling your home, it is a good cautionary tale to contemplate!3.5/5 stars.My thanks to Blogging for Books and Penguin Random House for sending me the book free of charge. My opinions are my own.

I'm halfway through it and, being in the process of buying a dilapidated house myself, I feel for David so much. Perhaps I am biased, but I'm very much enjoying the record of his headaches as I can relate a lot. David is always witty and ironic and does a great job of lightening up the troubles he went through, but the book remains a realistic and painful chronicle of the nightmares of buying and renovating a house, no matter how much you get to grin along the way.The recipes at the end of every chapter are an unexpected bonus - I absolutely loved the Croissants aux amandes - but the book is very enjoyable and interesting in its own rights.As a side note, I would have loved a photo gallery showing the before and after ;)

I have the authors ice cream recipe book, so was intrigued to find out about his life in Paris. I was disappointed, as the book started out well, but became a repetitious rant about a kitchen. It just got boring I’m afraid.

A thoroughly enjoyable account of the frustrations of French culture and bureaucracy, from the perspective of a famous American food writer trying to make Paris his home. Reading it during lockdown was a surreal experience (hard to imagine life in a bustling Paris these days) but a much appreciated escape.

David Lebovitz buys an apartment in Paris, does not listen to advisers and finds he has employed a load of cowboys, so all the work has to be done again. He tells it fairly amusingly. There are recipes, but even the simplest seems to go on for pages and pages; they probably are not as complicated as they appear, but....

Interesting account of a nightmare redevelopment punctuated with recipes from a US chef who moved to Paris to live the dream. Easy read and gentle humour.