Elégance – Kathleen Tessaro
THE POTATO CHANGES INTO A SWAN!
...Sounds queer, no?
But only at the first moment. Main character in this book is Louise, who is a potato at first. I read this book last summer, because a late colleague told me, it would be THE book for my, since I am this interested in fashion etc.
So I lend it from the local library and read it. And now I will tell you all about my experiences with this book, negative or positive.
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Story
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The book starts with a scene, where Louises husband takes her to a party of her mother-in-law, who was a model in the past. She is a stylish woman, the real opposite of Louise.
She doesn’t want to go to this party, because she knows that Mona doesn’t like her. She appreciates nothing that comes from Louise. No word, no gesture, no compliment, and nothing she is wearing.
And so Louise wants to hide herself in the appartment.
But her husband can warm her up a little for the party and he persuades her to come with him. And if she feels qualmish, she should say the keyword “potato”.
Louise is a little podgy, in the middle of her thirties, and her favourite outfit is a dress with the shape of an old potato bag.
Is this a gag of the storywriter? Maybe.
Everything in Louises life goes awry. Not only her choice of clothing. She is very inconsiderable, though she couldn’t reach the goal of becoming an actress. Instead of that she is hanging in the foyer, where she sells tickets for the theatre.
And above all she is an AMERICAN! And as an american in London one has to struggle with all kind of predjudices, which can meet with someone in the british society (not my opinion, but the opinion of Mrs. Tessaro.). There is a lot.
With her husband it isn’t going any better. He and Louise live in a little, sterile apartment in London. They do not communicate with each other and life became a day-to-day routine. But the greatest problem is: Louises husband has a suppressed homo-erotic affection, and this is why they renounce every sexual contact. Except the kiss on the cheek in the morning when drinking the cup of coffee in the morning.
Louise spends rainy days in atiques shops to search for books.
And one day Louise finds accidentaly a book which will change her life:
Elegance by Geneviève Antoine Dariaux. An old style counsellor out of the sixties, who wants to change the reader into a urbane and fancy high society lady.
Louise takes this book to help her to change her life into the better:
she clears out her wardrobe, she abandons her queer man, abrogates her job and takes a job as cultural agent.
And she falls in love. She falls in love with a man who is younger than her. Many years. And this man loves her the same way as she does and who is a pianist.
But she grieves to start a relationship with him. Courage leaves her. What if she becomes a potato again…?
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The authoress
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Born in Pittsburgh, Kathleen Tessaro studied drama before emigrating to London.
She is married and lives in North London. Elegance is her first novel.
source:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/product-description/0007151438/sr=8-1/qid=1182378947/ref=dp_proddesc_0/202-2799147-1751068?ie=UTF8&n=266239&s=books&qid=1182378947&sr=8-1
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formal details
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• Paperback: 390 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; New Ed edition (5 Jan 2004)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0007151438
• ISBN-13: 978-0007151431
• Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.9 cm
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my opinion
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The book is quite fat with its more than 300 sites, but this doesn’t debase my hunger for reading. I read it till the end. And it was a lot of fun. It didn’t take long time to finish this book. There was always something new, something intersting, new curves, new stories, and above all this ultimate change from Louise from the ugly duck to a fancy society lady.
And what is intersting: this new idea of a book within a book. Kathleen Tessaro took one extract of every chapter of Mrs. Dariaux book, which fits to the chapter. Or the chapter fits to the extract.
From A to Z everything is told from how to dress in business times, what to wear at a date, etc.
A is the first chapter in Tessaros book. Z is the end. A, the beginning. Z, the end. A the beginning of the story. All beginnings are difficult. One could call this first chapter in this way, too.
The book of Mme. Dariaux is written in chapters from A to Z, too.
The change of old-fashioned language and boyish, plump wording of Louise is very all-round and very enjoyable.
But Louise doesn’t stay plump all the time. This is the allure of this book. Her change into a lady. One can see that change also in the choice of words.
But she keeps this booby, awkward side of her till the end. Also if it’s not a big part of her, eventually. But this makes her human and one simply has to love her.
OK she shows some weakness in the middle of the book, where she wants to give up, where she wants to party all the time and where she abandons all the ladylike behavious she learned to use. But she has an aim and she starts to continue to follow it further.
All the other characters don’t seem to be as three-dimensional as Louise. One gets to know her childhood, the medicamentous problems of her mother, etc.
Minor characters are minor. And a little bit pale. But his story centres Louise and so this is not a great problem.
There are a lot of clichés in the novel. This can annoy some readers. Some won’t know about it and will look over it. Others will ignore this fact and will read the story for fun and to have fun.
It’s not that bad, those clichés. But I want to explain them to you, how they find their way into the book.
there is:
the bad mother-in-lay
the uncomprehending husband
the gay and accessible friend
the best friend who has everything but is satisfied with nothing
the englishman who lives tradition and is strict in his thinking and acting and who is drilled to be against americans from brith on.
And above all: the ugly duck who changes into the swann.
But this is the fun with this book.
It is easily and casually written, it can be read fluently. And one has no problems to read through the whole night. You won’t stop laughing. I cannot say anything negative about this book.
And I can recommend it to everyone who likes to read casual books.
But not only those readers will get what they want. In the foreground of the story stands fashion. Fashion takes the first place in this novel, and this is my main reason why I started to read the book.
I’m not a friend of shallow literature for women, I like challenging books where you have to think and think and think and where you have to exert your brain.
But this was a holiday from the eternal Stendhal, Dostojewski and Flaubert. I appreciated it very much.
summary: a nice read.
THE POTATO CHANGES INTO A SWAN! 
Great review there. Look forward to more. x