In the novel Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, it deals with Anna, a dedicated senior in high school, trying to survive in Paris, France, without the guidance of her parents. Furthermore, she has to learn how adapt to the French culture, losing friends, making new friends, and her complicated love life. The novel shows the pragmatic side of a teenager’s life. It explores about complicated relationships, the transition to college, and being independent. However, it also illustrates the entertaining side of a teenager’s life; the parties, friendships and their typical love life. Perkins used variety of themes in the novel such as friendships, growing up, and love. The theme can be summed up by a quote from the novel: “You don’t always have to solve your problems alone. (pg. 352)” The novel was published and copyrighted in 2010.
Anna Oliphant, the protagonist in the novel, was forced by her parents to go to a boarding school in Paris. Because of this, she has to reluctantly leave behind Atlanta, her best friend, Bridgette, her wonderful job and her crush; moreover, she had to leave her family as well. Nevertheless, her attitude changes when she bumped into Etienne St. Clair in the dorm’s hallway. She views him as an individual with perfect hair, accent, personality, looks, but he is perfectly taken by his longtime girlfriend. As her senior year passes by, she becomes best friends with Etienne, Meredith, Rashimi, and Josh. She also gets the chance to discover the many beautiful places in Paris such as the Notre Dame. Things get complicated when she falls in love with Etienne, who Meredith loves as well. To make matters worse, her best friend back in Atlanta had betrayed her.
Throughout the story, I related to Anna to some extent. When Anna had those nights where she has to study for exams, I felt like I have a connection. Being a high school student taking honors classes, it is very grueling to keep up with the staggering amount of work. In addition, I also connected with Anna when she had to learn the French culture. She had to become familiar to the cuisine, learn the language and also grow accustomed to many other aspects of the foreign country. In school, I also had to learn a different culture and language because it was in my curricular. The only difference I would make if I were to rewrite the book would be what the future held for those who were close to her. Although, Perkins told about what they will do involving academics, their love life was suddenly dropped. I would change the ending by talking about what would happen to them.
I would recommend the novel Anna and the French Kiss for a number of reasons. There was much suspense in the novel where you want to keep reading on to see what will happen to the main characters. Additionally, it gives you a sense of anxiousness because the two main characters love each other but both refuses to admit it. Perkins described everything in a very detailed description that it makes you feel that you are really there. I would recommend it to anyone who loves reading love stories with happy endings or to anyone that likes to read about being independent and figuring yourself out.