View source for Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni: The True Story by Valerie Benaim and Yves Azeroual

{{infobox1
|title=Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni: The True Story
|author=Valerie Benaim and Yves Azeroual
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Biography
|summary=An interesting acount of the relationship of the French first couple but suffers from being too tabloid in style
|rating=3.5
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|pages=184
|publisher=Cutting Edge
|date=March 2009
|isbn=978-0907633143
|cover=0907633145
|aznuk=0907633145
|aznus=0907633145
}}

In November 2007 the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy was newly divorced from his second wife and, despite his position and busy life, feeling rather lonely.  He accepted an invitation to a dinner party from a friend and met supermodel and recording artist, Carla Bruni.  The attraction between them was instant – she had already said that she wanted a man with nuclear power and he was smitten by the attentions of a beautiful, famous and intelligent woman.  Within months they were married.

Valerie Benaim and Yves Azeroual have pieced together their story, partly through exclusive interviews with Carla Bruni and from other contemporary sources.  The result is a very readable account of the backgrounds of the couple, their former lovers, family and friends and the course of their relationship.  There's also interesting insight into the reactions of the French establishment.  Presidents are expected to have mistresses – it improves their reputation – but the establishment wasn't entirely ready for a presidential wife with a reputation as a man-eater and an impressive list of former lovers.

For me the style was rather too tabloid and certainly too intrusive.  I'm interested in the facts of what brought them together, why the attraction was so instant and the ramifications in French politics.  I'm not interested and have no wish to know the intimate details of this relationship or any other.  That is, though, a matter of personal taste.  Equally, any book largely based on interviews with one of the couple concerned is unlikely to be unbiased and there's certainly little to surprise in the book.  There's nothing which hints of investigative journalism.

The book – originally written in French – has been translated by Sophie Cappon.  She also adds an epilogue to the end of the book which is insightful and interesting.  I'm only sorry that she hadn't written the rest of the book!

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

For a more academic look at Sarkozy, have a look at [[The Sarkozy Phenomenon by Nick Hewlett]].
For more about the impact of celebrities we can recommend [[Celebrity: How Entertainers Took Over The World and Why We Need an Exit Strategy by Marina Hyde]].

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[[Category:Politics and Society]]
[[Category:Valerie Benaim]]
[[Category:Yves Azeroual]]