Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century by Simon Kuper

Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century Reviews

• 
  Richard Chambers

  I’m a simp for Simon Kuper’s writing but really enjoyed this. Fascinating look at the codes and cultures that make Paris Paris.
  
  Last couple of chapters are worth reading for anyone interested in figuring out how the cities we live in should grow and be places for all citizens - not just the preserves of the super-rich and the tourist.
• 
  Rachel

  Impossible City is an excellent dive into French culture, as easy to digest as a tourist guidebook but with greater depth. Simon Kuper’s collection of essays are each focused on particular aspect of Parisian life, rather than a chronology of the author’s life in the city.
  
  The political structure and scandals of the past few decades are upsetting but relevant, as is the historic divide between Paris and its suburbs - the périphérique. The author offers appropriate historical context throughout, while remaining focused on the impact to modern life.
  
  Overall, I found this book educational and insightful. Simon Kuper’s extensive research and personal anecdotes bring 2024 Paris into sharper focus as we head into the Summer Olympics.
  
  Thanks to PublicAffairs publishing and NetGalley for providing this ARC.
• 
  Ben Donovan

  Was sold as explaining how the Paris Olympics helped modernize Paris, gave much more Emily in Paris (until the last 3 chapters).
• 
  Asanga

  A fantastic snapshot of modern Paris and how it got there by an Anglo outsider who made it their home. Punctuated by some witty writing and great turns of phrase. Interesting insights into modern urban planning towards the end and what the legacy of the 2024 Olympics could be.
• 
  Barbara

  My favorite city is Paris and I thought I knew a lot about the city, its history and quirks. But I was wrong. Simon Kuper is a very talented journalist with a knack for story telling and I learned so much about my favorite city. His perspective as an immigrant among immigrants is so eye opening and his interactions with his children, who are truly Parisians, is relatable to parents of teenagers everywhere. If you love reading about Paris, history and juicy gossip and scandal, this memoir is for you.
• 
  books4chess

  
  “Over the years I have spent on my work street, I have watched Paris change. The man in my building whom I remember as a large commanding father of teenagers now lurches over the pavement alone, sagging to his left, the victim on a stroke... Only a minority of people living in tiny Parisian apartments leave in a coffin”.
  
  Impossible City is a beautiful love letter to Paris, but to the real Paris that has developed over the last 20 years, not the from old movies. Kuper writes from the incredibly privileged space of being an expat with a strong primary passport, a well-paid, flexible job and as someone who, with great luck, purchased a property in central Paris for a mere GBP 60,000 prior to the boom that (almost) echos Londons property market. He owns it though, in a way not often present in these expat-exposé style introductions to living abroad.
  
  “Parisians tended to go to London for work, while Londoners came to Paris to play."
  
  Kuper writes a wonderfully nuanced take to a city that practices laïcité - the division of private life including religious expression from the public - whilst being one of the most multicultural areas based on population within Europe. He covers the vast expanse spiritually between the banlieues (the suburbs) and the Périph, despite the geographical closeness, and the impact this had on his family, as well as the wider social implications.
  
  “Paris suffers from a problem of scarcity: There isn’t enough of it. So plutocrats of various stripes have captured its smartest neighbourhoods. Francophone African dictators, for instance, favour the 8th and 16th arrondissements, plus Neuilly”.
  
  As a Jewish man with the opportunity to raise his children in a culturally and financially rich space, he recognises everything his family benefits from, including a diverse friend group co-existing peacefully within a multicultural community space, whilst having to keep their wits about them as antisemitism continued to rise within the country.
  
  The book reads as an interesting blend - Kuper covers international politics within France including “the crassness of the Le Pens” along with his own personal experiences within the social elite as a journalist. He covers the complexity around the difficulties the city has faced for many years in successfully integrating new communities, and speckles in some wild and wonderful stories about the rules of the rich, and the rules of Parisians specifically. Class is as prominent in Paris as it is in the UK, and it shapes everything from the train you take to work to the party you end up voting.
  
  I also adored Kuper’s take on the entire twenty years of his road to naturalisation. Even at the worst times, he is grateful for the opportunities he has and recognises that things would be very different had he, like many of us, remained in the UK post Brexit and lost the very rights he has instead secured legally and been able to pass onto his three children. I greatly enjoyed reading of Paris through the this new lens, and gained a newfound appreciation for the city I previously only ever sought for transit links, and for the future it may hold following the completion of its current transport projects.
  
  Thank you Profile Books for the copy, it was greatly appreciated.
• 
  Vanessa M

  I’m teaching French so I'm always looking for some new tools to present French culture. The book is more than a basic 'Brit-living-in-Paris and enjoying buttery croissants at a local cafe.'
  Fun facts. I'm a Parisian-born who left for London in 1998 ( but finally moved to Italy because of B.) - the exact opposite of the author. Born as well in 1969, with 3 kids ( inc. a pair of twins...like the author) I decided to take the UK nationality because of Brexit ),likewise the author took the French passport!
  Having left Paris for so many years, I enjoyed recognizing the characteristics of my city...High level of negativity and aggressivity of its residents (hate it!) , their scorn for the 'Province' and the 'Banlieues' ( and how anyone from outside Paris hates them!) the dress code diktat, the absolute domination of the Grandes Ecoles and l'ENA ( for public administration).
  But I liked reading his views on the Paris of the last 10 years: How immigrants are accepted on the surface but in reality suffer from post-colonialist racism. How the Grand Paris will -in the end -integrate the Banlieues, the profound effect terrorism had on the city psyche. Accelerated gentrification: How Paris is turning into a BoBo and Grands Bourgeois city ( which Anne Hidalgo si trying to compensate)
  What I think the author missed is the meritocracy ( which I discovered in a similar book - les italiens): Competent people ( managers, artists,..) are accepted and can flourish in a city like Paris, regardless of their nationality. The love of controversy, creativity, and diversity ( I think the 2024 Olympic game opening ceremony is a perfect demonstration) the love of Parisians for their city landscape and architecture, the love of literature and intellectual discussions ( never seen this to that extent in other cities).
  Last but not least Parisian restaurants are interesting because of their creativity, the lunch menu can be great but it s boring!
• 
  Con O'brien

  Proud citizen of nowhere moves to Paris on a whim and ends up becoming a local. It happens!
  
  Bit by bit he befriends (or learns to live with) prickly French neighbours. His French improves and he gets invited to dinner parties (which wouldn't happen if they didn't think your language was up to it). He interviews all kinds of people, and even crosses the great divide to banlieue via parents at his kids football club.
  
  The book is chronological so you follow the journey from first-impression French stereotypes (I loved the study that found they had '17 different body gestures signifying indifference') through to a deeper understanding of history and politics and culture.
  
  Of course he gets stuck into the grand écoles and the insider world where your mate runs Air France while you're the deputy PM. An interesting point about money - it matters less at elite levels there, because of high tax rates, and because the things you really want (a nice apartment in Paris) aren't bought or sold on the market, they're handed out as favours.
  
  The man was in the Stade de France when the Bataclan attacks happened, and as a journo he could follow events on wifi while the rest of the stadium remained ignorant (phone access was cut to prevent panic). You forget how much shit when down in Paris in the 2010s.
  
  Apparently they're building out the city to give everyone a metro within 10 minutes - also beyond the peripherique. The first real change in Paris in a century. Pushed on by the Olympics. And interesting point that some of the drive to expand the metro has waned, because the temporary bike lanes they introduced during Covid became so successful, so there's less need for roads and even public transport.
  
  Maybe you need a foreigner to write a book about how a city and its day to day culture. For insider it would be like writing about the sky - everybody already knows what it looks like! Outsiders notice the differences.
• 
  Marc

  Kuper is a Financial Times sports journalists (not my favourite genre) who more or less accidentally bought an appartment in Paris in the first year's of this millenium, when housing prices had already skyrocketed in London. Fortunately this book is not just about sports and the parts that are not about sports are very good. Kuper describes life in Paris, how the elites function (it is a really sick incrowd), how Macron rose to power and how the people within the Blvd Péripherique inhabit a nation of their own, ignorant and not interested in the banlieu and the rest of the country. Somehow Paris still seems to have benefitted from Brexit and is becoming more important, geopolitically, not in the least because the current elite speak decent English. Kuper is quite good at explaining the social codes of the Paris elites, but he is also very much aware of what is going in the banlieue, not least because his children play football and the banlieu excels at that (because there is nothing else to do). It seems the banlieue is doing well and that finally Paris intra muros (you should have taken Latin in highschool) is opening up to it, extending it's subway network into it.
  
  Kuper describes this as can be expected from a first class British journalist, with a sense of humour, attention to detail and knowledge of the broader picture, culturally, historically and politically.
• 
  Jane Gabin

  This is an excellent - and very current - look at what makes France and its people so French. The author is simultaneously on the inside and outside, becoming French and all that it implies. The city, he says, is governed by a small group of graduates of elite institutions. And there are strict “codes” to be managed. But the old order is crumbling, and the situation is becoming more open. A big fault can be seen in the construction of the Périphérique: the main ring road around Paris. Outside are the “banlieues” often - but no longer - the province of the poor and minority populations. With the democratization of the country, many people are overcoming strictly confining definition.
• 
  Debra

  Planning a trip to Paris next year, so this seemed a timely read. Some of it very good, especially chapters dealing with banlieus and football- and the chapter on the social/ political hierarchy was interesting but rather a snoozer! And the chapter on sex attitudes regarding adolescents (and younger) from a couple of decades ago was utterly appalling.
  As someone who has some knowledge of French history but little of more recent French culture, this was a worthwhile read.
• 
  Henry Tieu

  Interesting book about Paris - definitely not just the fun stuff
  
  Overall, I enjoyed this book. The part I most enjoyed was when he talked about everyday life in Paris. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I just wasn't interested in the stories about the about the Parisian elites. That's the reason why I won't be reading his book ONLY about the London elites that he had previously written.
• 
  Susan

  Some other readers mentioned that the parts of the book where the author wrote about his own life rather than Paris's political world were more enjoyable and I have to agree. It was interesting to read how he moved to Paris and kind of ended up staying there by default. The chapter about the presidents of France went on far too long but I ended up learning about the inner workings of the Paris elite.
• 
  Kasia

  This book was fun and hilarious. Everyone who lived in Paris can relate to that certain obsession with lunch, somewhat interesting neighbours and all those riots and revolutions. I love France but didn’t like living in Paris. However Simon Kuper made me miss the city a little bit. It’s deeper than that, though. From different marginalized groups to the privilege of the French elite, Kuper tells personal stories and has great insight into French politics. A lot of things I didn’t know about.
• 
  Joe Vess

  Honestly, and I love Simon Kuper's writing, this isn't his best work. Kind of rambling. I felt the more personal parts were really strong and the rest, while interesting, mostly felt like information I could have gotten anywhere.
• 
  Antti Tähtinen

  ”For most Parisians, the performance of Parisianness never becomes effortless.”
• 
  Jack Freud

  I really enjoyed the sections in this about the cities different religious communities . The section in which Kuper describes his kids speaking slang French is something I really wish to experience.
• 
  Linda

  Not only did I thoroughly enjoy reading this engaging, well-written book, but now that I've finished it I feel I understand so much more about what makes the French (particularly Parisians!) tick!
• 
  Suus

  Nice and easy read