Swimming in Paris

A Life in Three Stories

By: Colombe Schneck, Lauren Elkin - translator, Natasha Lehrer - translator

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

A Natalie Portman Book Club Pick

“Sinewy, tough, sharp . . . Even though Schneck works at a scale that is deliberately small, insistently concrete, and extremely lean, her writing somehow exposes whole vistas of the female experience.”—Katie Roiphe, The Atlantic

From the award-winning and bestselling French author Colombe Schneck, a woman’s personal journey through abortion, sex, friendship, love, and swimming

At fifty years old, while taking swimming lessons, I finally realized that my body was not actually as incompetent as I’d thought. My physical gestures had been, until then, small, worried, tense. In swimming I learned to extend them. I saw male bodies swimming beside me, and I swam past them, I was delighted, my breasts got smaller, my uterus stopped working. My body, by showing me who I was, allowed me to become fully myself.

In Seventeen, Friendship, and Swimming, Colombe Schneck orchestrates a coming-of-age in three movements. Beautiful, masterfully controlled, yet filled with pathos, they invite the listener into a decades-long evolution of sexuality, bodily autonomy, friendship, and loss.

Schneck’s prose maintains an unwavering intimacy, whether conjuring a teenage abortion in the midst of a privileged Parisian upbringing, the nuance of a long friendship, or a midlife romance. Swimming in Paris is an immersive, propulsive triptych—fundamentally human in its tender concern for every messy and glorious reality of the body, and deeply wise in its understanding of both desire and of letting go.

©2024 Colombe Schneck (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Sinewy, tough, sharp . . . evocative, stylist, direct . . . In some sense, this memoir is for people who are the tiniest bit tired of memoir. It gives one the feeling of greater understanding, a sudden, expansive view from the top of a hill. Even though Schneck works at a scale that is deliberately small, insistently concrete, and extremely lean, her writing somehow exposes whole vistas of the female experience.”—Katie Roiphe, The Atlantic

“For Schneck, what’s unadorned is freer, and pure weightless freedom is not only possible but also the highest imaginable achievement . . . in the pool . . . Schneck learned to dispel her illusions, quiet her anxieties, and write with stunning directness.”—Madeline Crum, Los Angeles Review of Books

“Colombe Schneck’s work expertly weaves the personal with the political. She deftly examines the cost of pleasure, the loss of adolescence, and the complicated bonds between women. Her writing reminds us of love’s ability to transcend death. She fearlessly reflects on the corporeal, how our bodies limit us and set us free. Swimming in Paris is a must read for anyone with curiosity and compassion.”—Aline McKenna, showrunner and executive producer of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

a chronicle of transitions

i really enjoyed this poignant, realistic and smart memoir. i think the three stories paired so well together