The Margot Affair: A Novel

The Margot Affair thoughtfully examines how young adults see the older adults around them, and how their perspective changes as they mature and experience life. Sanae is a thoughtful, articulate writer with a bright future ahead -- this is her first book! The last 50 pages are an absolute page-turner and tie the plot nicely together. My friends are equally enraptured with the plot -- this book is great for discussions with friends, family, and book clubs!

The central theme is mother-daughter conflict. Similar to Fresh Water for Flowers by Valérie Perrin (but The Margot Affair is much shorter and better edited). An American equivalent might be White Oleander by Janet Fitch. In terms of prose and "Frenchness" I would compare it to The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. It was a lovely read and I felt like I'd been transported to the quiet, upscale arrondissements of Paris. There were sections of the novel where I was frustrated with the glacial pace, where nothing was happening, but I've come to expect this from European novels; self-indulgent and overly-descrptive in that way that American women writers can't get away with (!!!). To be fair, the Margot Affair is far less meandering than the average French novel, probably because it's published by Random House. Despite some frustrations with the immoral journalist couple Margot gets involved with, I loved her as a character and as a narrator and my interest was held by the mystery that was the "legitimate" family and the tension generated by being a secret child. It has a lovely and satisfying ending. Recommended.

After I finished, I thought, it’s just so French. A lot to do about nothing very earth shattering. And so many descriptions of french food and clothes. Not really pertaining to the plot. It’s not a bad book, some will love it. I just was slightly under whelmed.

The Margot Affair is so beautifully written that it is its own discovery. No quotation marks appear so that each character’s voice is not only heard but felt. The plot is well described elsewhere but what is so compelling is that relationships, family and other, are complicated and beyond the things we think we know and how we feel about the most important people in our lives. The mother - daughter relationship is complicated, but Margot’s attachment to her father is even more so. What we want relationships to be aren’t necessarily so and letting go of painful events and the memories they evoke has unintended consequences. I cared about Margot and her mother and hope the author will write a follow up novel as Margot moves forward . After reading The Margot Affair, I recommended it to a few friends who agree that this debut novel introduced a very talented writer.

A bit drawn out but with some complexity that made you think. You realize how much was going on by the time you get to the end, but there were times whenI could have skipped ahead. An interesting twist on a French affair!

This book achieves that perfect (and rare!) balance between being nuanced, gorgeously-written literary fiction and plot-driven, commercially-appealing storytelling. On the one hand, I absolutely reveled in Lemoine's carefully crafted sentences, such as these: "Over time it became harder to say Maman; the soft consonants would belie the estrangement I so often felt around her. Anouk, on the other hand, ended with a sharp edge, and when I yelled her name, it was like throwing her over a cliff." (This is, among many other things, a brilliant mother/daughter story.) On the other hand, I couldn't possibly turn the pages quickly enough to discover how young Margot would navigate her way through the series of very complex, very adult situations she found herself in. This book is elegant and insightful--it's hard to believe it's Lemoine's debut. I can't wait to read more of her work!

I almost never not finish a book but I'm afraid this will be one of the 3 or 4 in my lifetime that I'll have to put away. I really don't understand what all the hype is about. I'm an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction and this book is simply boring. I keep asking myself "why am I reading this?" every night I start reading. I literary feel like I'm wasting my life on it. This young lady must have some very strong connections in the literary world to earn so much acclaim from all these literary critics.

This book was very well written. It's the reason why I read books -- it took me to a place and a life that I've never experienced, and never will. Not a lot of action, but a lot of insight.

The author paints a vivid picture of modern Parisian life in this story about the secret daughter of a French politician. I really loved the characters and how they struggled with the tension between love and morality. If you like a slow-burner read this book.

I was captivated by this novel. A gifted author!

Really enjoyed the novel

The « Margot affair » is a well arranged story, quite well written. It is not world class litterature.

From the moment I began this book, I was pulled into the literary universe of these incredible, complex characters. I felt the nuanced and intense moments deeply, and my heart broke, ached, and rejoiced along with Margot and her world. What a beautiful piece of art. Thank you, Sanaë.