Reviews

The Paris Showroom by Juliet Blackwell

malaikaravindran's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

kdurham2's review against another edition

4.0

Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings

A mother daughter duo are in two different places in the same city during World War II. A daughter who has been raised by her grand parents and has blindly followed their lead is starting to question their response to the war and the Nazi way and this book is almost a coming out story as she forges her own path. A mother who has had great love and great sacrifice and has found herself in a department store in custody of the Nazis, but has found a way to make it bearable for herself and those around her.

niharikaaaaaa9's review against another edition

4.0

An easy read, exactly what I needed to get back into reading after a series of books that were hard to get through. It was clichéd - you knew roughly what would happen after the first few chapters were over - but the story still drew me in, and I found myself not being able to put the book down. The book starts off slow (as expected), but picks up about 1/2 of the way through, and then accelerates straight to the end. My only critique is that there were a few plot points that felt unnecessary -- they didn't detract from the main plot, but they definitely didn't add anything.

Overall, a good read if you're looking for some light historical fiction, told in alternating viewpoints, and you're okay with knowing how the book will end right from the start.

ebright1121's review against another edition

I’m a big historical fiction fan and a fan of this author but I found this book to be just kind of meh. For the most part, o really enjoyed the storyline of the daughter more so than that of the mother. I would have enjoyed a solo story involving the daughter and have had it go more in depth with her activities during the war. All in all not a horrible book but not my favorite one about this time period.

arthur_pendrgn's review against another edition

2.0

This is familial reconciliation novel set in WWII. It is not a WWII novel. In fact, you could set it just about anywhere in which a woman might rebel against the strictures of her society.

Viewed from that prism, the book was typical of its genre. In fact, it's not a bad little book wherein both mother and daughter mature and, as a result, reconnect. Oh, and bonus--HAE. Double bonus--I didn't know about the labor camps in Paris.

That said, I would prefer it not be set in WWII. The horrible events of that war are not to be used so lightly. Perhaps if we had a Resistance mother & a daughter raised by pro-Nazi collaborating grandparents, this would sit better. but to use the prisoner experience as a mere backdrop for a reconciliation novel doesn't sit well.


How could characters be so naive in 1944? That naivete--necessary for the maturation--proved too difficult for me. There are other aspects that don't ring true.

At first, I thought this was a covert analogy of the political climate in the USA--the right-wing grandparents v the woke daughter in law with Mathilde have to either reconcile the two sides or make a heroic choice. That turned out not to be the case, although I would have preferred that overt plot to the WWII setting.

I preferred Letters From Paris.

cassie5489's review

dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

kjrollins's review against another edition

DNF because it’s slow and I’m just not excited by right now

omgits_maria's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

keiko28's review

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

stephanien's review

medium-paced

3.75

 

The Paris Showroom was a fascinating look at the not-so-well known prison camp located in the middle of Paris, where prisoners worked extremely long hours sorting out furniture, works of art, and other paraphernalia confiscated from the homes of those who were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Knowing that prisoners were kept in Paris, I am glad to see the spotlight put on those people who were forced to work countless hours sorting plundered items, often recognizing items from friends and family, helpless to do much about it.  Furthermore, the prisoners were requested to clean and repair the items so they could be sold to German soldiers to furnish their confiscated apartments while in Paris. 

 

The story alternated between Capucine and Mathilde's POV, and while I enjoyed both of them, I did prefer Capucine's simply because I was fascinated by the inner workings of the Lévitan prison camp while Mathilde's story led her in the direction of the resistance network in Paris, something with which I was much more familiar.  

 

Capucine has quite the backstory, and she is quite the character.  A wild and free spirit who embraced the liberties of the 1920s and 1930s, she was definitely unconventional, preferring the night clubs, jazz bars, and artistic pursuits that were available during this time period, but all of this came at a great cost as she lost her precious daughter to her prim and conventional in-laws who didn't approve of her behaviour.  She has an intense love affair an American jazz pianist during this time period, but refuses to marry him, but you figure it out easily enough when she gets arrested although it takes a long time for it to be said on the page.  I did have a hard time putting the Capucine who worked in the concentration camp together with the free-spirited one, as they were so different.  The war has definitely broken more than one spirit, and you can see how much of an affect it has on Capucine as she reflects on her earlier days and more carefree ways.  I did like the way she encouraged the prisoners to rebel however, in their own ways, and I found it interesting to learn about the many ways prisoners would go about trying to sabotage things and protect things the Nazis tried to destroy. 

 

I really enjoyed Mathilde's character development, but I have to say that I did not like her at all for the first two-thirds of the book.  Reflecting the conservative views of the grand-parents who raised her, you got to see the other side of the affect of Nazi occupation in Paris during this time period; the focus was on those who got wealthy by helping the Nazis, and their subsequent falls from grace when the war ended.  Mathilde was quite naive in the beginning, but as she learned, she grew on me.  And she soon learned that her grand-parents' viewpoints did not necessarily have to be hers.

 

As much as I enjoyed learning about the showroom concentration camp and the intertwining lives of Capucine and Mathilde, I did feel like the plot lost focus and there was a lack of real drive / purpose to the story.  There were times when the story fell flat, or relied on coincidence to further a plot point, something of which I am not a fan, no matter how well-written or how beautifully descriptive the scene may have been.  And while I love good resolutions to books, when you learn about the relationship between Capucine and her new husband, and the fact they are returning to the United States to live, there was a small part of me that wondered how that was going to work out. 

 

Verdict

The Paris Showroom was a very enjoyable book, and I loved learning about the fans and the artistry that went into them as I don't think I've ever given it a thought before.  I was glad the focus was on the department store concentration camps as there aren't too many books that mention them, so I was fascinated by the men and women who laboured and suffered there for years, with few people knowing they were there.  The character development in this book was good, although I'm not sure a reconciliation subplot was needed here, and I did think the plot fell flat at times, and sort of meandered around. That being said, if you are interesting in learning more about the Paris prison camps, this book may be of interest to you.