I Love You Too Much, Alicia Drake
I Love You Too Much, Alicia Drake
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I Love You Too Much

Author: Alicia Drake

Narrator: Aaron Landon

Unabridged: 6 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/23/2018

Synopsis

I knew I was in Paris, I knew that was the Seine beneath me, the sky above, but when I looked around for help, the grand apartment buildings of the Quai Voltaire stared back at me, indifferent.

Alicia Drake, author of the critically acclaimed biography The Beautiful Fall, evokes contemporary life in the City of Lights lavishness of Edward St. Aubyn and the sophistication of Julia Pierpont's Among Ten Thousand Things. I Love You Too Much is a novel of extraordinary intelligence and heart, a devastating coming of age story told from the sidelines of Parisian perfection.

In the sixth arrondissement everything is perfect and everyone is lonely. This is the Paris of thirteen-year-old Paul. Shy and unloved, he quietly observes the lives of the self-involved grown-ups around him: his glamorous Maman, Séverine, her younger musician lover, Gabriel, and his fitness-obsessed Papa, Philippe. Always overlooked, it's only a matter of time before Paul witnesses something that he's not supposed to see...

Seeking solace in an unlikely friendship with rebellious classmate Scarlett and succumbing to the temptation of the numerous patisseries in his elegant neighborhood, Paul searches for unconditional love. But what will he do if he can't find it?

About Alicia Drake

Alicia Drake writes regularly for publications including the International Herald Tribune, British Vogue, Travel and Leisure, and W magazine, for which she was a contributing editor. She has lived and worked in Paris for the last ten years.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Janelle Janson on January 23, 2018

I LOVE YOU TOO MUCH by Alicia Drake - I’m so incredibly grateful to Little, Brown and Company for providing my free copy - all opinions are my own. Paul is thirteen, lives in Paris, and is constantly shuffled back and forth between his self-absorbed and insensitive parents. His mother is narcissisti......more

Goodreads review by Anne on November 07, 2017

Wow. This one kind of punched me in the gut and didn't let go. It's taken me awhile to even write about it as most of the characters were so despicable I had trouble not throwing the book across the room. Thirteen-year-old Paul lives in Paris and is shuffled between two selfish and self-absorbed par......more

Goodreads review by MaryBeth's on February 14, 2018

Beautifully written, but heart breaking story of a young man who is only wanted by his parents when it is convenient to them. Set in Paris, Paul feels although he is lost and unloved. His mother has had a new baby with her younger boyfriend and his father only seems concerned with his work, Paul's gr......more

Goodreads review by Jami on June 10, 2018

Well, that was brutal. But beautiful. A stellar debut and the writing is so, so good. The author has captured the conversational nuances of the French language perfectly while writing in English. She has also managed to capture a very specific sense of place with amazing attention to small details,......more

Goodreads review by Andy on December 21, 2018

I will look at as few reviews as possible once I add a novel to my tbr list, but will look at a few after finishing it. I’ve just seen this given the tag ‘unrelentingly bleak’ by one reputed review site. Perhaps the sort of thing that may put a reader off, and a good reason not to read too much prio......more

Quotes

"An astute and poignant portrait of adolescence".—People

'Memorable, heartfelt...poignant and uplifting'—Publisher's Weekly

"a dark coming-of-age story that will break your heart - and not let you forget it."—Hello Giggles

"In her compelling fiction debut, Drake, a formerly longtime Paris resident... crafts Paul's hometown with a true insider's care, and she believably narrates as a boy resisting the confining forces of his self-involved parents' narrow paths and stingily shared love for him."—Booklist

"Not often do you come across a protagonist who you want to hug and shield from the world. Drake creates a character who is sure to bring out the maternal instinct in every reader."—Janice MacLeod, author of the New York Times bestseller Paris Letters

"I Love You Too Much is an atmospheric deep dive into longing, betrayal, and the shattered illusions of youth. Alicia Drake's Paris is haunting, and her writing soars."
—Charlotte Rogan, author of Now and Again

"Alicia Drake's beautifully written tale of an adolescent French boy adrift between divorced, narcissistic parents feels like the enfant naturel of Henry James's What Maisie Knew and Deborah Levy's Swimming Home. Her depiction of contemporary well-heeled Parisian life is so spot on, you might be in the sixth arrondissement watching kids spill out of school, lighting their cigarettes and lining up to buy pain au chocolat at the corner boulangerie. I couldn't put it down."—Anne Korkeakivi, author of Shining Sea

"A timely look at the carnage caused by parental narcissism. Funny, waspish, astute, l Love You Too Much is a heart breaking tale from the tubby sidelines of Parisian perfection."—Denise Mina, author of The Long Drop

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