Impossible City

A portrait of Parisian society ... the style is elegant and flinty, the humour dry -- Andrew Martin * Literary Review *
[A] revealing memoir ... Kuper is a clear-eyed observer of all the history that is happening all around him ...for all the transformations of the past two decades, however, Kuper is always alert to the city's particularity * Observer *
A persuasive defence of the very idea of a city... full of warm but unsentimental depictions of Paris' communities... a reminder of the countless ways in which urban life remains one of the few efficient vaccines against bigotry and toxic nationalism * Washington Post *
One of the best books about Paris... deftly debunks the alarmist narratives [to] reveal a city of tolerance and nuance * Foreign Affairs *
Next time you travel to the former City of Light, take this book * Independent *
Kuper has the journalist's touch of rendering clichés less clichéd and giving the personal a hint of universalism * Times Literary Supplement *
Informative and enlightening with a sarcastic touch... puts us on the streets themselves and lets us mingle * Los Angeles Review of Books *
An absorbing, affectionate, acutely observed, cliché-free study of contemporary Paris * Irish Times *
With a dry wit and a journalist's eye, Kuper unravels the layered past and looks to the future * Kirkus Review *
A lively read that captures many of the capital's contradictions * Economist *
Highly readable and amusing prose ... Kuper is a charming guide, with a particularly good eye for the telling quote * New Statesman *
With the perspective of a foreigner, and two decades as a Paris resident behind him, Kuper chronicles the paradoxical complexities of Parisian life in his memoir -- 'Best summer books of 2024' * Financial Times *
Simon Kuper does a great job in conveying why Paris is a city that is impossible to embrace and impossible to resist ... very funny * Irish Examiner *
A must-read for admirers of the City of Light -- Mark Brocklesby * Jersey Evening Post *
Praise for Chums: 'A searing onslaught on the smirking Oxford insinuation that politics is all just a game. It isn't. It matters -- Matthew Parris
A gripping read ... exquisite and depressing in equal measure -- Matthew Syed * Sunday Times *
A sparkling firework of a book -- Lynn Barber * Spectator *
Incisive, insightful and timely -- Richard Beard * New Statesman *
Fascinating ... The picture Kuper draws is of a nation with a decadent and deeply unprofessional ruling class, a diagnosis with which it is impossible to disagree -- Hugo Rifkind * The Times *