The Secret Life Of The Seine

Author Mort Rosenblum, journalist for various media outlets, had to move from his idyllic lodgings in Paris near the River Seine. Along with his partner Jeannette they purchased a houseboat and in the early 1990's made it their home.

Rosenblum has written a slow and meandering travelogue that is a combination of a few historical and geological anecdotes along with the life he sees along the Seine. This might be a love affair but he does not paint the Seine as some blissful paradise, in fact the life of the disappearing Bargees and their bitterness to change and outsiders looms very large in the telling. There is coverage of floods and the ever infamous Parisian sewerage system that in the times of heavy rains wreaks havoc with the wellbeing of the Seine. Le Havre at the mouth he describes as the “....ugliest city in France, possibly the world.”

One rather clever Frenchman stated that the secrets were no longer going to be secret after this book was published and at the time of reading that statement I thought he had a point. But not much really enthralled this reader to want to dive into this so called hidden world such was the dawdling pace of the prose. Good for a holiday read maybe but I was hardly inspired to get of my behind and head off to go see these so called secrets, and this from someone who has made visit to France a couple of times and has vowed to return such was its impact.

Be that as it may this read had its charms and a fair bit of wit at times so recommended to anyone that may have an interest in the famous river.