Diane Johnson: Le Mariage

By JANE PHARE

While Le Mariage is about the pending marriage of Anne-Sophie d'Argel, a petite and proper Frenchwoman, to her American journalist fiance, Tim Nolinger, Diane Johnson has poured an eclectic mixture of alternative characters and themes into this book.

Rather than having a strong, can't-put-it-down storyline, Le Mariage dips in and out of odd, somewhat eccentric scenes - Anne-Sophie in her Paris antique stall, a murder, the theft of an ancient manuscript, a cult in Oregon which appears to be involved in a kidnapping, an affair between French landowners, the bullying tactics of French hunters who want to cross private land, an American woman detained in Paris.

Woven throughout are the observations and petty clashes of two cultures trying to understand each other - brought about by Americans living in Paris.

Tying it all together are at times mundane details of housekeeping stuff - Tim and Anne-Sophie buying an apartment, endless wedding details, and conversations which appear to add little to the story.

The result is an odd, and at times unsatisfying, read as Johnson dabbles with the storylines and characters, none of which seems to amount to much.

Random House

$26.95

* Jane Phare is an Auckland freelance journalist.