Alternating between wartime Paris and 1950s New York publishing, Ellen Feldman's Paris Never Leaves You is an extraordinary story of resilience, love, and impossible choices, exploring how survival never comes without a cost.
The war is over, but the past is never past.
❥ Heat Level: Moderate; *Content Warning
❥ PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon | B&N | Goodreads | Bookbub | Google Books
With the historical fiction section being saturated with WWII narratives lately, I thirst for a refreshingly different perspective with each read, and Paris Never Leaves You had a premise that was promising.
A dual timeline attempts to weave the past and present of Charlotte Foret, a New York publishing editor that was a different person leading a different life in Paris during WWII. Both storylines highlight relationships, “Love” that feels forced, neither relationship feeling organic, leaving me sickened and detached by the graphic sexual depictions and overall hollow feeling.
The more I read the more I disliked Charlotte. I understand she was doing what she could to survive, but I was hoping for a deeper connection with this character, but I was left wanting. This book is inspired by the ordinary women who did their best to survive this unimaginable war, and it is those who my heart goes out to the most.
There were scenes that were incredibly hard to read, with the narrative beginning with a very graphic scene, showing the horror of the concentration camps after the war had ended, and this is just the beginning!
Paris Never Leaves You is an incredibly depressing read, to say the least, and not just due to the subject matter. The overall flow feels disjointed and sluggish, and the dual timelines can be confusing, further hindering the story. The writing itself is decent, but the language and crudity was not to my taste, and took away from the overall experience for me.
I truly wanted to love Paris Never Leaves You, but it was a lackluster and disappointing read, landing in the middle of the road in the historical fiction genre for me, leaving me to continue my quest to find something different.
She grew up in northern New Jersey and attended Bryn Mawr College, from which she holds a B.A. and an M.A. in modern history. After further graduate studies in history at Columbia University, she worked for a New York publishing house.
She lives in New York City and East Hampton, New York, with her husband and Cairn terrier named Lucy.
Connect with Ellen: Website | American Heritage
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