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Summary
Summary
Elaine Sciolino came to Paris as a young foreign correspondent and was seduced by a river. In The Seine, she tells the story of that river from its source on a remote plateau of Burgundy to the wide estuary where its waters meet the sea, and the cities, tributaries, islands, ports, and bridges in between.
Sciolino explores the Seine through its rich history and lively characters: a bargewoman, a riverbank bookseller, a houseboat dweller, a famous cinematographer known for capturing the river's light. She discovers the story of Sequana--the Gallo-Roman healing goddess who gave the Seine its name--and follows the river through Paris, where it determined the city's destiny and now snakes through all aspects of daily life. She patrols with river police, rows with a restorer of antique boats, sips champagne at a vineyard along the river, and even dares to go for a swim. She finds the Seine in art, literature, music, and movies from Renoir and Les Misérables to Puccini and La La Land. Along the way, she reveals how the river that created Paris has touched her own life. A powerful afterword tells the dramatic story of how water from the depths of the Seine saved Notre-Dame from destruction during the devastating fire in April 2019.
A "storyteller at heart" (June Sawyers, Chicago Tribune) with a "sumptuous eye for detail" (Sinclair McKay, Daily Telegraph), Sciolino braids memoir, travelogue, and history through the Seine's winding route. The Seine offers a love letter to Paris and the most romantic river in the world, and invites readers to explore its magic for themselves.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this entertaining and informative travel memoir, former New York Times Paris bureau chief Sciolino (The Only Street in Paris) explores France's celebrated river, the Seine. "In the spring of 1978 I was seduced by a river," writes Sciolino, who then describes the Seine as "the most romantic river in the world" and explains how it has served as a strategic waterway in times of war (it slowed Hitler's retreat after D-Day) and peace (it was an important shipping route for the Romans). She ventures to its inauspicious source in Burgundy--a "little hole in a man-made limestone grotto in the middle of nowhere"--and is inspired by the fable of the Gallo-Roman "healing goddess" Sequana for whom the river was named. Following its course, she meets a fourth-generation grape grower in Champagne; rowers who preserve historic boats; the River Brigade, who are "just like Miami Vice, no?"; and an elderly barge-woman mourning her landlocked retirement. Anecdotes abound of the bridges that cross the Seine in Paris, seasonal sand-and-palm-tree "beaches," and "bouqinistes... the literary gatekeepers" who sell books beside the river. In a timely afterword following the 2019 fire at Notre Dame, she writes, "On the night of the great fire, the river was the cathedral's salvation," providing half the water used to douse the blaze. Sciolino's enthusiasm buoys readers in this fluid literary work. (Nov.)
Booklist Review
This entertaining account flows along like a love letter to the Seine, the second longest river in France. Tracing its storied history and many complexities, author Sciolino (The Only Street in Paris, 2015) offers brief chapters that integrate historical research, personal anecdotes, interviews, and perceptive observations. Much of the text concentrates on how la Seine shaped the cultural development of Paris, citing major architectural landmarks, magnificent bridges, trade and barter economies, and the Seine's floating communities: homes, restaurants, even bookstores. Along the way, Sciolino shares insights about Paris social customs, past and present, and includes an entire chapter on iconic movie scenes featuring the river (on an average day, Parisians can encounter up to 20 film sets). A poignant afterword describes how water pumped from the Seine helped save Notre Dame after its devastating fire in early 2019. Readers will enjoy this engaging and authoritative account, whether planning a trip, reminiscing about past travels, or sitting in an armchair, dreaming of wandering along romantic riverbanks.--Kathleen McBroom Copyright 2019 Booklist
Library Journal Review
There are rivers that are longer (Nile), deeper (Congo), wider (Amazon), and busier (Yangtze). There are rivers that are the largest in Europe (Volga), traverse more countries (Danube), and flow through major cities (Thames and Hudson). But, as Sciolino (The Only Street in Paris) points out, there are few more iconic, romantic, and beloved bodies of water in the world than the Seine. In tracing the river's geographic course from a small French village in Burgundy through Paris to the massive international port of Le Havre, the author also affectionately describes its origins in Roman antiquity to the role played by the Seine in quelling the 2019 Notre Dame cathedral fire. Written in an enjoyable journalistic style, the book is both a travelog and a cultural history of not only the river itself but the people who have lived, worked, and taken inspiration from it as it winds its way to the sea. For them, the phrase sur la Seine is the meaning of life itself. VERDICT For readers who have walked along the banks of the Seine or dream of someday doing so, this love letter to a river is highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 4/28/19.]--Linda Frederiksen, formerly with Washington State Univ. Lib., Vancouver