Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - The Paris Library

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The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

34 reviews

eesti23's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"A bookmark—a bright ribbon, really—beckoned from each, inviting the Directress to return."

“Life’s a brawl. You must fight for what you want.”

"I had learned that love was not patient, love was not kind. Love was conditional. The people closest to you could turn their backs on you, saying goodbye for something that seemed like nothing. You could only depend on yourself."

"Yet there was solace: in reading other people’s stories, I knew that I wasn’t alone."

"It was why I read—to glimpse other lives."

“Two feed your stomach, the rest your soul. We’ll find another way to soothe your heart.”

"GRIEF IS A sea made of your own tears. Salty swells cover the dark depths you must swim at your own pace. It takes time to build stamina. Some days, my arms sliced through the water, and I felt things would be okay, the shore wasn’t so far off. Then one memory, one moment would nearly drown me, and I’d be back to the beginning, fighting to stay above the waves, exhausted, sinking in my own sorrow."

"The Library is a bridge of books between cultures.”

"She wished she could make them understand that Paris was home. She’d made her life’s work, her life here."

"You’re nothing without principles. Nowhere without ideals. No one without courage."

"Love is accepting someone, all parts of them, even the ones you don’t like or understand."

"‘Accept people for who they are, not for who you want them to be.’”

Judging by the number of highlighted quotes I had, The Paris Library provided plenty food for thought. This was a really interesting angle on WWII history in France. There were great characters, both in the past and present storylines. I gasped out loud at the

timeline twist at the end where Odile almost ended her life.

An enjoyable read.

This was my pick for The StoryGraph's Onboarding Reading Challenge 2022, prompt three, ...head to your Up Next Suggestions (Home > To-Read Pile > Search and Filter > Suggestions) and read the book from your Random Pick prompt....

Content Warnings

bookellys's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Now I love a war film. Saving Private Ryan has got to be THE best movie of all time! But I have not read many historical fiction books based around the war for some reason.

Enter my Booksta name twin who treated me to The Paris Library for Easter ❤️ and I’m so thankful that she did as it was a beautifully written story of the horrors of the war and quiet heroics of ordinary people that undoubtedly saved lives.

This book has it all: love, loss, friendship, heartbreak… and is sadly based on a true story! We forget the privileges that we have and though the last couple of years have been tough, it’s nothing compared to what the Parisians and many like them had to encounter under Nazi occupation.

I also hardly ever read the Author’s Notes but felt compelled this time to learn more about the real people who inspired this book and all the time and effort that went into its research.

Content Warnings

zoepagereader's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I was intrigued by this one. I had never heard of the American Library of Paris nor did I know that that was a thing countries did. However much I enjoyed that aspect it though, I didn’t understand why it was necessary to add 80’s Orile’s story in, much less told through a different person’s perspective. Not to mention the horrid amount of slut-shaming that took place throughout the book. “Oh she’s wearing furs when people are starving? What a slut.”It just made no sense it the contexts it was frequently used in. I think the majority of the characters could have handled their problems better, or at the very least not take their anger out on others.

Content Warnings

kelly_e's review

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emotional informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Title: The Paris Library
Author: Janet Skeslien Charles
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 3.5
Pub Date: February 2, 2021

Thank you to Atria Books for providing an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

T H R E E • W O R D S

Enchanting • Unforgettable • Literary

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Paris, 1939: Odile, seems to have it all; a handsome boyfriend, an English best friend, a beloved twin, and her dream job as a librarian at the American library in Paris. And when war is declared, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapon she has - books.

Montana 1983: Widowed and alone, Odile is suffering from loneliness. Lily, a lonely teenager, soon takes a keen interest of her recluse, French neighbour. What develops is a unlikely friendship.

A story of love and friendship, of family and sacrifice, of grief and betrayal, of self-discovery and the power of literature.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Based on the true WWII story of the heroic American librarian, Miss Reeder, who created the Soldiers' Service in order to deliver books to servicemen and to Jewish readers after they were banned from entering the library, The Paris Library is a reminder of why I love historical fiction so much. It brought to life a part of history I knew nothing about, and is an ode to the essential nature of books and libraries.

The library atmosphere, the description of books, and the cast of incredible characters really immersed me into the story. The sense of 'found family' among the secondary characters was an additional bonus. It demonstrated how the library staff risked their lives to provide a small piece of normalcy to patrons, all while exploring the consequences of their choices. This novel was well researched, and the dual timeline worked, but I continually was drawn back to Paris and Odile's trials. At times there were parts of Lily's story that felt unnecessary. I also found it odd how there were only a small numbers of chapters from the perspective of secondary characters, to me this detracted from the story and felt inconsistent. And yet it was the ending which felt rushed, that left me feeling disappointed, although I adored the story as a whole.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• book lovers
• readers of historical fiction (particularly WWII)
• fans of Lilac Girls and/or The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Breathing in the best smell in the world - a mélange of the mossy scent of musty books and crisp newspaper pages - I felt as if I'd come home."

"I wished I could go back to that last moment. I would say, 'You were the best mom in the world. I need you. We need you. I loved the way we watched robins and hoped for hummingbirds. I wished we had one more morning. One more hug. One more change to say I love you."

"Grief is a sea made of your own tears. Salty swells cover the dark depths you must swim at your own pace. It takes time to build stamina. Some days, my arms sliced through the water, and I felt things would be okay, the shore wasn't so far off. Then one memory, one moment would nearly drown me, and I'd be back to the beginning fighting to stay above the waves, exhausted, sinking in my own sorrow."

Content Warnings

mariasreading's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

I almost didn’t finish this book, but I finished it out of pure hate LMAOOO

Before I go onto the review, a summary: Odile is a French librarian working at the American library in Paris during the German occupation. In the 1980s, Odile has moved to Montana and has a curious little neighbor named Lily, who she begins teaching French to and slowly reveals her life story.

Any book that tries to make me sympathize for a Nazi just because he also likes books, or feel sympathetic for a girl who falls for a Nazi? It’s a no for me. (An actual line was: “He wasn’t bad looking, for a Nazi,” and one girl describes a Nazi officer she’s fallen for as: “I need one person to know him, to see how kind he is.” No thanks.)

Technical notes: dual timeline, but it’s very choppy with no real rhythm, and switches randomly to side character POVs that don’t seem to add much. The ending was rushed and I didn’t feel like there was much depth to any of the characters.

Most of all, I felt it was a bit insensitive to the actual plight of people in WWII. At one point, one of the characters posits that if Odile had hidden Anne Frank, Anne would be alive - I think that’s a line that shouldn’t have been crossed, personally.

Content Warnings

katy_leigh's review against another edition

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sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Content Warnings

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I've been wanting to read this book since I first heard about it, and I am ecstatic that I was able to get a signed copy ! I live in Paris, and I get all my library books from The American Library in Paris, so purchasing this book in a local shop and reading about such familiar places just comforted my soul.

I've known that the ALP has a deep WWII history since I first started going there, and it felt fantastic to learn more. I was pleasantly surprised to find out at the end of the book that most of the characters were real people. I expected the names to be made up, but this was not the case. It really helps to make this book feel even more real.

I have an...interesting relationship with the Historical Fiction genre, as I've disliked most of the books I've read. Going into this one I was a little scared of how I would feel about it, especially after reading the first few chapters, and just feeling "meh" about it. Luckily that quickly changed, and I really enjoyed the main story of Odile.

You can feel the tension and anxiety in the first half of the book as the war begins, and fear of the Germans closing in on the city heightens. The portrayal of people's changing lives, feelings, and thoughts was done quite well. I liked that it was reiterated multiple times that people act rashly, especially under such stressful circumstances, and that no one is perfect.

One thing I could have done without is the multiple timeline/perspectives. I really did not care about Lily in the 1980s timeline, and it didn't feel like it added too much to the story. I though there might be some reveals using her, but there really wasn't. There were also times where I could go 100 pages with only 1 Lily chapter, so it would feel like such an abrupt change, and take me out of the story. There were also several times were we got a chapter from another character's perspective, which most of the time didn't feel needed either. It seemed like the author was trying to give us all of the information, when hearing the story from Odile's perspective was perfectly fine.

I knew going into this that there would be French words peppered throughout, as that always seems to be the case with a book taking place in a non-english speaking country. However, it is done extremely often, and even after living in France for 3 years I had to ask my husband how to pronounce some words and what their definitions were. So if you're going into this with no knowledge of French, prepare to Google some words !

I loved reading all the street names and places that I am familiar with. I felt invested in the story and fell in love with the characters. The ending of Odile's story felt strange and sudden, so the last few chapters of the book were a bit odd for me. As someone who lives in the area and frequents the library this is written about, I definitely think I have a bit of a bias towards liking this book, so those who are not as familiar with the setting might not find as much enjoyment as I did.

Content Warnings

raeannht's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I usually don't like stories that jump from the past to the modern day, but this one worked for me. It was an enjoyable read with sad, grim moments that left me thinking about friendships and how we treat each other.

Content Warnings

_lia_reads_'s review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

There are so many books out there about Paris during WWII and this one honestly felt exactly like all of the other ones I’ve read. Yes, it was interesting to read about the American Library and it kept running during the war, but boy I’m impressed that a book about WWII could be so uneventful. I understand that the author based this on a true story but I wish she has embellished it a bit more. Also, all the characters collaborating with the Nazis was not handled well. The story acknowledges that the Nazis were bad but i was surprised at the lack of consequences, or even discussion about any of this. It happened, it was acknowledged briefly, and then everyone moved on.

With the title and setting, I was excited for a new look on Paris during WWII, and instead got more of the same tropes.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Content Warnings

spalmon's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

Content Warnings

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