Playground for Misunderstanding eBook Ellen Hampton
Download As PDF : Playground for Misunderstanding eBook Ellen Hampton 
When American exchange student Nick Layton finds a girl lying dead in the courtyard of his Paris apartment, it sets in motion a police investigation into skinhead violence at the mosque, arson-by-real estate, flashmobs in the Luxembourg Gardens, and an international Nietzsche hacker who wants the public to think, rather than consume. Nick's girlfriend Anne-Sophie gets in trouble deeper than she planned, as Commandant Chastel tries to sort out the virtual from the actual. The story winds around the faultlines of communication between French and American, male and female, old and young, in the sublime chaos of today's Paris.
Playground for Misunderstanding eBook Ellen Hampton
`Playground for Misunderstanding' grabs the reader from the first chapter. Nick Layton, an American college student spending a year in Paris, comes home with a cake for his girlfriend, Anne-Sophie. What he finds is a dead body in the courtyard of his building. We quickly meet Commandant Jean-Loup Chastel, the investigating police officer, and his Facebook-plying sidekick Bruno, and Anne-Sophie sweeps into the picture to navigate Nick through the police inquiry. Bernard Lesnappes, professor for both Nick and the dead girl, moves in and out of the story.But the quickly unfolding plot is just the the first level. The book plays out against a Paris that is both traditional, where lovers sip espresso at tiny cafe tables and strikes disrupt daily commutes, and evolving, to include Chinese grocers, Muslim suburban youth, white skinhead thugs and black policemen of Senegalese ancestry. And, an another level, something is not at ease in this Paris. Flashmobs appear and wreak havoc in the Luxembourg Gardens. Who called them, and why? The digital advertising boards in the Metro flash, not ads, but ....fragments from Nietzsche. Who is behind it?
Author Ellen Hampton lays out all this and more with grace and the occasional touch of humor, sweeping aside all the cliches about the French-American relationship and yet leaving us with a greater understanding of this playground.
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Playground for Misunderstanding eBook Ellen Hampton Reviews
This is a book that you start to read out of simple curiosity…that is until the characters grab you. Then you give up what you had intended to do and follow them to see how their story unfolds. It is a breathless trek down well-know streets of Paris as well as the discovery of the hidden, an oh so ordinary, corners. We empathize with the american-year-abroad, student in 'Sciences Po' madly in love with a french law student from Assas as a murder complicates thier encounters. Real estate speculation provides a genuine backdrop for exploring some of the parisian intrigues for obtaining things one can't have in a more rational way. My favorite description is that of a university professor, struggling to reach a slightly higher level and ready to go to any depths of academic dishonesty to climb then ext rung of the small world's ladder.
This book is fun, a refreshingly delightful look of Paris as it is today. It is also a great story and will keep you from doing whatever it was that you thought you would do …before picking the book up… enjoy!
This is essentially a detective novel with all the classic twists and turns -- a young woman's body in a courtyard (but did she jump or was she pushed?), a glamorous couple, a smart cop and his trendier sidekick and skulduggery high and low. The value added comes from the setting, Paris, and Ellen Hampton's deep insider knowledge of the city today. I particularly enjoyed her portrayal of the culture clash at the heart of French-American relations (sexual, not political). Sophisticated Anne-Sophie has this to say about Nick, her lovable but hapless American boyfriend 'Sometimes she felt she could appreciate how Homo sapiens felt upon meeting Neanderthal.' Hampton offers Chandlerian sound bites, a scheming professor, and electric ad panels in the metro that mysteriously start spouting Nietzsche! How does it all add up? I was surprised by the ending of this highly diverting excursion into how French and Americans, cops and criminals, neo-Nazis and progressives misunderstand each other. I'm sure you will be too.
This is a very readable, smart, and deceptively simple narrative, in which an engaging "who done it" is only part of the story. Hampton has cleverly woven into this story of a young American studying abroad who finds himself entangled in a police investigation, complex and incisive observations about life in the "City of Light" and Franco/American cultural differences that those who have experienced life in both places will be sure to appreciate. Other strands of the story involve the strategic positioning of an ambitious academic, peeks into French history from the Ancien Regime to Vichy, and the tender confusion of young love. The writing is both witty and graceful, the backdrop of Paris accurately and deftly rendered. Also woven into the story is a frank and thoughtful treatment of contemporary social problems simmering beneath the surface of Parisian life--or beyond the peripherique--shedding a sensitive, nuanced and intelligent light on unresolved issues of immigration, racism, poverty, social privilege, and resistance to change that unfortunately have no easy answers. But all of this just adds richness to the compelling tale of a 50-something detective who is bound and determined to find out what happened to the young woman whose lifeless body was discovered in a dark doorway. Did she fall? Or was she pushed? And why????
I would agree with all the reviews above! A thoroughly engaging and thoughtful read; I would like to see this become a series with Commandant Chastel.
This is a great detective novel with a difference Ellen Hampton's profound observations make each character truly come to life and the city of Paris is rendered with deep insights into French-American relations, how the city is split into inner-city versus the suburbs, how cultures clash and people misunderstand each other. It's a gripping read that will appeal to students coming over to Paris who want to get how this place ticks and readers of detective fiction who love a good whodunit. It reminded me of the captivating and smart writing we see with Cara Black's fantastic series and I'd love to read more with Police Commandant Chastel and his team. You'll never be able to drive through Place de la Concorde without thinking of this book.
`Playground for Misunderstanding' grabs the reader from the first chapter. Nick Layton, an American college student spending a year in Paris, comes home with a cake for his girlfriend, Anne-Sophie. What he finds is a dead body in the courtyard of his building. We quickly meet Commandant Jean-Loup Chastel, the investigating police officer, and his Facebook-plying sidekick Bruno, and Anne-Sophie sweeps into the picture to navigate Nick through the police inquiry. Bernard Lesnappes, professor for both Nick and the dead girl, moves in and out of the story.
But the quickly unfolding plot is just the the first level. The book plays out against a Paris that is both traditional, where lovers sip espresso at tiny cafe tables and strikes disrupt daily commutes, and evolving, to include Chinese grocers, Muslim suburban youth, white skinhead thugs and black policemen of Senegalese ancestry. And, an another level, something is not at ease in this Paris. Flashmobs appear and wreak havoc in the Luxembourg Gardens. Who called them, and why? The digital advertising boards in the Metro flash, not ads, but ....fragments from Nietzsche. Who is behind it?
Author Ellen Hampton lays out all this and more with grace and the occasional touch of humor, sweeping aside all the cliches about the French-American relationship and yet leaving us with a greater understanding of this playground.
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