The New York Times
Don't imagine that L'Affaire is either a laugh-out-loud or get aroused-all-over kind of comedy or sex farce. Hardly. In the first place, the book moves very slowly -- you will learn a lot about cooking and the Napoleonic Code. Johnson divides her attention almost equally among a half-dozen characters, imbuing the plot with dramatic richness, but at the cost of intensity. This is a leisurely, almost old-fashioned novel of manners, really, and one needs to relax and accept that. There's no urgency of any sort -- sexual or narrative. In her prose, as in her tale, Johnson seems to be aiming for an elegant urbanity: She's never exactly witty, but she hopes to sound worldly-wise and often succeeds. — Michael Dirda
The New York Times Book Review
Immensely amusing, L'Affaire has the same mischievous wit and graceful style as Johnson's earlier Parisian works, but it is broader in cultural scope (the British have arrived), more ambitious in its narrative form and decidedly forward-looking.—Caryn James
Publishers Weekly
In Le Divorce and Le Mariage, Johnson polished her skill for sophisticated social comedy involving the cultural disconnections of Americans in France. Here, she perfects it in a deliciously entertaining story of a group of people drawn together-and divided by-the sharply different laws of succession in France and Britain. Amy Hawkins, a beautiful, na ve, suddenly very rich Californian dot-com entrepreneur, comes to a posh ski resort in the French Alps as part of her plan for cultural self-improvement. When she generously pays for transporting the dying Adrian Venn, a publisher crushed in a landslide, back to his native England, her humanitarian gesture backfires with exquisite irony. Venn's two grown English children, his illegitimate French daughter, his new, much younger American wife and their toddler son become embroiled in a classic scenario of quarreling heirs, each seething with expectations at the expense of the others. Add a stuffy British solicitor who disdains French customs, his French counterpart who equally despises the English, an intellectual and TV personality who demonizes Americans, a lusty Austrian baron, a chic Parisienne hostess and other expertly drawn characters, and the comedy moves into high gear, but never at the expense of insights into human nature. Johnson's dexterity with plot builds astounding but credible complications, and she is adept at rendering a kind of fugal counterpoint in which each character misunderstands what each of the others thinks. Because love and money are never far apart in Johnson's oeuvre, four affairs take place, with mixed results. Johnson is more droll than Henry James, to whom she's been compared, and she's as witty as a modern-day Voltaire. Vraiment, L'Affaire, c'est irresistible! Author tour. (Sept. 29) Forecast: The August 8 release of Le Divorce from Fox Searchlight/Merchant Ivory will build instant interest in this novel, which should fly off bookstore shelves. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Long before George W. stirred up anti-French feelings in patriotic Americans, novelist Johnson had dissected Franco-American cultural misunderstandings and stereotypes with wit and flair in the delightful Le Divorce and Le Mariage. Her latest comedy of manners returns to familiar territory, this time throwing English attitudes into the mix. At an exclusive ski resort in the French Alps, English publisher Adrian Venn and his new, much younger American wife, Kerry, lie comotose in the hospital, the victims of an avalanche rumored to have been caused by low-flying American warplanes. Gathered at their bedside are Venn's two adult English children, his illegitimate French daughter, and Kerry's 14-year-old brother. When Amy Hawkins, a successful but idealistic young dot.com executive from California who has come to Europe to acquire a bit of culture before she starts her nonprofit foundation, generously pays for Adrian's transport back to England, she unwittingly sets off a legal avalanche. As French and English laws differ over questions of inheritance, Venn's heirs are soon embroiled in a classic family feud. Once again Johnson has concocted a tasty literary bonbon with fully drawn characters and incisive but hilarious insights into national differences. Bon appetit! [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/03.]-Wilda Williams, "Library Journal" Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
An avalanche in the Alps brings together a disparate group for much debate over cultural differences in Johnson's latest novel of ideas (Le Divorce, 1997, etc.). The closest thing to a main character-Johnson has a habit of skipping willy-nilly from one person's perception to the next, and they all blur together quite quickly-is Amy Hawkins, a fantastically wealthy dot-com executive from Palo Alto. Having so much money leaves Amy plenty of free time and a desire to see the world, which is what has brought her to a French Alps ski resort. Tragedy has just struck, however, in the form of a massive avalanche that has left a married couple from Amy's chalet in comas. Wanting to help out like a good American, she appoints herself de facto guardian of Kip, younger brother of coma victim Kerry. A nasty hullabaloo erupts over what's going to happen to the couple, especially seeing since Kerry's much older husband, Andrew, is not only unlikely to ever regain consciousness but is quite well-off and has other progeny flying in to stand watch over him and haggle over what to do. This is all backdrop for Johnson's primary aim: to set an American woman of a certain age, very successful, extremely bright, and well educated, in the midst of well-to-do French society (the only not-rich people here tend to be serving wine to the speaking characters) and watch what happens. This leads to quite a few good tossed-off observations on the acrimonious divide between French and American societies, as well as some promising extramarital sexual entanglements. If only any of this were in the least bit entertaining. The much-lauded Johnson, a three-time NBA Award nominee, has a gift for smart gab, but it's never quiteas smart as she thinks, and the turgid lack of credible people or any forward momentum is a fatal flaw. If L'Affaire were a dinner companion, she (or he) would be quite learned but, sadly, a terrible bore. Author tour
