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List Price: $24.95 | | Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Salesrank: 35200
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| Our Price: $8.88 |
| Used Price: $7.99 |
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| Media: Hardcover |
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Editorial Review:
A rollicking comic romp by the author of Skipped Parts and Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty.
Rowdy Talbot isn't the world's greatest bull rider. Not even close. But he lives by the cowboy code, and he never forgets to take off his cowboy hat during the national anthem.
When Rowdy wins the rodeo in Crockett County, Colorado, he celebrates his triumph with two young Frenchwomen he meets in a local bar. The next morning, when he discovers that the two have left for Paris with the championship belt buckle he won, Rowdy does what any true cowboy would: He hops on a plane to the City of Light to retrieve it.
What follows is a comic collision of cultures and personalities. In Rowdy in Paris, Tim Sandlin has concocted an unlikely but engaging mŽlange of characters: disaffected French revolutionaries, a turquoise-peddling CIA operative, and a middle-aged courtesan, all caught in a plot to destroy an American fast-food chain. At the center of the chaos is Rowdy himself, who finds as he searches for the belt buckle that there's another world beyond the back of a bull.
By turns smart and satirical, biting and engaging, Rowdy in Paris is a surprisingly moving story about what it means to broaden one's horizons by opening one's heart.
Rowdy in Paris Reviews:
Finding a new author (in this case finding Tim Sandlin) 
2008-04-10 - Pardon the interruption, however I am rating Tim Sandlin as a "new author find" vs. this specific book. While I own "Rowdy in Paris", I elected to go back and read early Sandlin first...specifically his Sam Callahan trilogy (Skipped Parts, Sorrow Floats, and Social Blunders)
If you are like me, you run out of your favorite authors books, go back and read anything ever written by a good one, and constantly look for new ones.(And many times throw new authors in the trash before finishing) Add Sandlin to your list of must reads, if you haven't discovered him already. I think I found him on one of the other "crazy" author web pages of recommendations (Carl Hiaasen, Bill Fitzhugh, Christopher Moore, or Tim Dorsey...not really sure)
Sandlin's early three books (I like the second one, Sorrow Floats best) show a great talent for "laugh out loud" humor, while still having great social and individual relationship perspective and commentary. Some have reviewed that Sandlin can get "outrageous"...if so, my kind of writing.....IMHO, you can not go wrong reading Tim Sandlin.
A Cowboy in Paris? Brilliant! 
2008-02-19 - What better fish out of water than a cowboy in Paris. The cultures are so far apart that I both cringed and laughed out loud at the actions of the characters. With so few funny books to choose from, this makes for a fun read.
Je t'aime Rowdy!
2008-02-18 - Tim Sandlin's fictional cowboy, Rowdy Talbot, is a conundrum of dichotomies. He is crass and honorable; sensitive and tough; sad, and funny.
In `Rowdy in Paris', Rowdy Talbot's adventure starts with a ménage a trios with two French graduate students after he wins the local rodeo bull riding contest. Rowdy wakes up the next morning to find both the girls and his prized championship belt buckle missing. Being that the buckle was the only thing that Rowdy has ever won and the fact that he feels like it is the only thing that will impress his young son, Rowdy is fit to be tied! He takes off for Paris in pursuit of his beloved buckle. Rowdy finds that things in Paris are a bit different then they are in Wyoming! For one, coffee is served in "shot glasses" and payment is required for use of "the john". Rowdy's flummoxed surprise with everything French is hilarious.
While attempting to recover his buckle, Rowdy uncovers a plot to sabotage McDonald's and with the help of an ex-CIA agent hired by Starbucks (who wants to make sure that they don't suffer the same fate as McDonald's), Rowdy sets off to protect all that is American in France.
During the course of his adventure Rowdy gets into his fair share of bar brawls, falls in love, spies on a courtesan (who might also work for the CIA) on behalf of her husband, even begins to appreciate French espresso!
"Rowdy in Paris" is heartwarming and funny. Sandlin perfectly captures the cowboy mentality and delivers an unusual story filled with laughs.
A Rowdy bundle of fun
2008-02-18 - I just finished "Rowdy in Paris" and repercussions were about what you'd expect. I laughed my hind end off.
For longtime Sandlin fans, this novel is sure to be a joy as the author returns to the first person voice that marks his most beloved work. Rowdy Talbot speaks in pretty much the same voice as Sandlin's most famous creations, Kelly Palomino and Sam Callahan and this gaurantees that the book is going to be a joyous comic romp. True, the plot is a little much to believe and the geo-political stuff and Rowdy's fish out of water critiques of French culture are a little forced, but that's not the point. The real fun here is in Rowdy's musings on the cowboy code and life in general and the way Sandlin mixes humor with moments of real tenderness and sweetness. If you're not already a member of the Cult of Tim, I'm not sure this is the best place to start--Skipped Parts probably would be far better. However, for longtime fans, especially those who didn't quite dig Sandlin's last two novels (or those who did) this really hits the spot.
Tim Sandlin Strikes Back
2008-02-05 - Okay, okay. The writing may not be the next Ian McEwan, but let's see Ian pump out a story as original as Tim Sandlin can. First off, Tim's books are undoubtedly entertaining, and "Rowdy in Paris" is no exception. There's hardly a conversation that occurs between characters that isn't in some way worthy of a chuckle or two. All the characters are wonderfully charismatic, and it's clear that when "Rowdy" becomes a film (eventually, right?) those actors will have a hell of a time personifying these wacky folks.
The only issue I have with the story is with Rowdy's narration. It seems he's almost too much of a smartass for his own good. I would imagine even the most naive of cowboys would try to accept the obvious differences between GroVont, Wyoming and Paris, France, but Rowdy's fairly cocky and hardheaded. Perhaps that what makes him such a perfect character for this situation, though.
It's clear that no one else could create this world of offbeat nobodies trying to find their place in the world other than Tim Sandlin. It's a fun, quick read that I reccommend to anyone tired of reading stuff that's supposed to be funny.
_A
