( 9 reviews )
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Posted: Aug 2 2009
although i feel i 'found' this author (how smug of me :-] ) when looking for another author with a female voice after finishing 'eat pray love' over a year ago, it more than fit the bill. and it must be said, as other reviews have mentioned, gavalda changes her 'gender voice' flawlessly and each time it is amazing to realize it is the same author -- other than they are each as exquisitely human as the others. i encourage you to add this small book to your reading list. you will not be disappointed. [i have loaned my copy and realize it will not return to me so am back to purchase another.]
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Posted: Feb 23 2009
If I only could, I would give 6 stars to this small book. These short novels are absolutely fascinating; those are the stories of love and death, grief and happiness, desperation and hope. The heroes of Anna Gavalda , like all of us, try to cope with every day life, struggling, trying to survive. They wait for hope, love and happiness - even for only five minutes of it. Do you think it is boring? Open the first novel, and I guarantee that you will not close the book until you read the last sentence of the last novel. The world of Anna Gavalda is mesmerizing and captivating. "Aimez Vous Brahms?" If you do, if you lost yourself in the atmosphere of Francoise Sagan books, welcome to the Anna Gavalda world!
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Posted: Feb 24 2008
It is not hard to review Anna Gavalda's short stories because they are simply perfect. I haven't read another contemporary author who understands the folds and wrinkles of the human soul so well, someone who captures the nuances of human emotions so skillfully and in so few words. There are twelve special narratives in "I wish someone were waiting for me somewhere" and each of them is a masterpiece of its own. Some of the stories make me laugh, most of them make me cry every time I read them. It is a good way to take it all in and let it all out - a sort of emotional cleansing. I remember meeting Anna Gavalda in May 2007 in New York City at a book signing event. She was fragile, sensitive and aristocratic in the most beautiful sense of the word. I just couldn't get enough of the discussion, the suiting music and will never forget the precious autograph she gave me - "A Dora, a souvernir de Paris" and a carefully drawn Tour d'Eiffel in the shape of the letter A, her first initial. It was so exquisite - I was touched. And then there is the other opinion of Gavalda... my husband's opinion. A manly man who reads two pages of Ensemble, C'Est Tout and closes the book with a yawn never to open it again. What can I say - people are different and Gavalda's writing may not be suitable for everyone but give it a try especially if you are the romantic, sensitive kind. You may be in for a pleasant surprise!
