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mkozlow1's review against another edition
4.0
Good book with a twist ending! A big hard to keep up with each character because there’s so many of them.
tsenko2's review against another edition
3.0
1927 Paris is such a fascinating setting. It’s the reason I chose to read this book but it has far more potential than the author delivered in just 272 pages. It is the story of four fictional main characters whose lives converge in a dramatic climax at the end of one day. Throughout that day Maurice Ravel, Josephine Baker, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Beach, and memories of Marcel Proust (among others) make appearances. Given that we also have flashbacks into the pasts of the four main characters, there’s too much going on to become deeply immersed in the place, the time, or in any of the primary fictional or secondary historical characters. The brief tastes left me unsatisfied and feeling that I would have liked more depth.
I did become interested and wanted to know how it was going to end, so that’s one positive aspect of getting through it so quickly. It’s not very cheerful though. Plenty of pain and disappointment to go around.
I did become interested and wanted to know how it was going to end, so that’s one positive aspect of getting through it so quickly. It’s not very cheerful though. Plenty of pain and disappointment to go around.
inbookswetrust's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
harry_lemon's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
rrickman33's review against another edition
5.0
First and foremost, that's how it ends!? I wanted so much more but at the same time it didn't need any more. Beautiful characters with beautiful stories, the writing just puts you in a trance. Historical literary fiction at its best.
bookchew's review against another edition
2.0
This was a dud. The writing was distractingly florid and the plot felt contrived. I felt no connection with this book or its characters. And it failed to capture the spirit of Paris. Having lived in France for years, I was disappointed to feel no recognition of the flat and heavily cliched depiction of Paris here. It was all dull and inauthentic.
kristenmtan's review against another edition
4.0
4.5!!!!
WOAH. i don't know if i have much else to say. oh my goodness. beautiful novel (and a wonderful audiobook!!) just the right amount of sad and happy ending and SO MUCH DRAMATIC IRONY. i am in shock. this is so good.
WOAH. i don't know if i have much else to say. oh my goodness. beautiful novel (and a wonderful audiobook!!) just the right amount of sad and happy ending and SO MUCH DRAMATIC IRONY. i am in shock. this is so good.
rissaleighs's review against another edition
3.0
Ok, at first, this book blew my socks completely off.
The writing is SO evocative. I especially loved how vividly the author described Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Without mentioning the title, you knew exactly what it was after just a few words. All the mentions of music throughout are just gorgeous.
However, the characters and actual story left me underwhelmed. The story follows a day in the life of four ordinary Parisians with some flashbacks to WWI and their earlier lives. The four main characters also brush elbows with a lot of celebrities from that era -- Proust, Hemingway, Josephine Baker, Ravel, Gertrude Stein.... That was a fun element, but I found it kind of outshined or obscured the rest of it. Two of the four main characters blended together for me, and the four storylines were a bit to juggle. At each new chapter it took awhile to orient back to who and what and where we were. Their storylines eventually wove together in some intricate and interesting ways, but the ending ultimately didn't satisfy.
And then, purely a matter of taste, the graphic violence and sexual content wasn't really what I wanted out of this read either. (Or any read, but you know.)
As a portrait of Paris in the late 1920s, I'm sure this book is deliciously spot-on, so I'm sure plenty of readers will love it just for that. But ultimately, I don't think the story is going to be one that sticks with me.
Thanks to the publisher for a free ARC!
The writing is SO evocative. I especially loved how vividly the author described Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Without mentioning the title, you knew exactly what it was after just a few words. All the mentions of music throughout are just gorgeous.
However, the characters and actual story left me underwhelmed. The story follows a day in the life of four ordinary Parisians with some flashbacks to WWI and their earlier lives. The four main characters also brush elbows with a lot of celebrities from that era -- Proust, Hemingway, Josephine Baker, Ravel, Gertrude Stein.... That was a fun element, but I found it kind of outshined or obscured the rest of it. Two of the four main characters blended together for me, and the four storylines were a bit to juggle. At each new chapter it took awhile to orient back to who and what and where we were. Their storylines eventually wove together in some intricate and interesting ways, but the ending ultimately didn't satisfy.
And then, purely a matter of taste, the graphic violence and sexual content wasn't really what I wanted out of this read either. (Or any read, but you know.)
As a portrait of Paris in the late 1920s, I'm sure this book is deliciously spot-on, so I'm sure plenty of readers will love it just for that. But ultimately, I don't think the story is going to be one that sticks with me.
Thanks to the publisher for a free ARC!