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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
It's a pet-peeve of mine when the author uses exclamation marks in the narrative.
Started slow but this one is a sort of mix between Eat Pray Love and Before Sunrise. A 44 year old woman flees to Paris after finding a huge secret her husband has held for so long but revealed in his new book. In the year she is there she makes a few close friends and a lover. See how it all turns out when she attends her son's wedding, a year after fleeing to Paris.
Wow wow wow. So many things I am thinking. This was beautifully written, poetic at times. The ending …… I need answers. At first I struggled to connect with Vincent but by the end I just loved her and felt for her. I think I am leaning more towards picking Loup but idk!!! I need a book 2..
One more thought…. The playlists!!! I love.
One more thought…. The playlists!!! I love.
I must say…Vincent is a woman who truly got everything she wanted out of life.
I also LOVED how original the characters were. I mean … a black woman from Kentucky… who married and had children with a white Irish man!? Who also had a relationship with a black African woman!? Not super common. The originality of the characters truly is what made me keep reading…my brain just literally couldn’t even imagine what this “kind of person” might do. As a black woman from Kentucky… I loved these characters.
However…I wasn’t always excited by the actual plot. It fell flat in many areas. It felt like too much fluff. The conversations between Vincent and Loup didn’t seem very substantive to me. But maybe that was the point? Not sure.
I feel like most of the drama and excitement came at the end. When we learned Vincent’s surprise.
Overall….as a single never married and childless woman…I felt that maybe I haven’t lived enough for this book.
I also LOVED how original the characters were. I mean … a black woman from Kentucky… who married and had children with a white Irish man!? Who also had a relationship with a black African woman!? Not super common. The originality of the characters truly is what made me keep reading…my brain just literally couldn’t even imagine what this “kind of person” might do. As a black woman from Kentucky… I loved these characters.
However…I wasn’t always excited by the actual plot. It fell flat in many areas. It felt like too much fluff. The conversations between Vincent and Loup didn’t seem very substantive to me. But maybe that was the point? Not sure.
I feel like most of the drama and excitement came at the end. When we learned Vincent’s surprise.
Overall….as a single never married and childless woman…I felt that maybe I haven’t lived enough for this book.
emotional
reflective
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
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The detail and the imagery of this book are captivating right from the start. From the apartment in Paris, traveling in the trains, and reading glimpses of scenery as Vincent and Loup travel, this is beautiful. The incorporation of actual artists used as names for characters, it was a sweet nod to artists who have passed on. This book has made me want to visit Paris and fall in love. I've never had the urge to go to Paris until reading this book.
That being said, this book's main character, Vincent, makes me feel a lot of different things. I pity her in the beginning and towards the end, I start to feel resentful towards her. As much as she struggles to figure out what she wants to do with her life, I struggle to keep rooting for her as the story goes on.
It's a great story and the characters are well developed, but I struggled with the ending. As the ending pages began to dwindle, I was so desperate to know the path she took and yet, in the end, I still didn't know. Some people are okay with open interpretations, but in this specific story, I hated it. I wanted to see her actually pick a path and watch it unravel.
I know the author made that choice for a reason, but I was bummed out by it. I was holding my breath and waiting for the drama to unravel, but it never came. Despite not liking the ending, it made me think and consider what I might do if I was in a similar situation. Overall, a stunning novel and I have no doubt, despite the uncertain ending, I'll definitely be picking it back up in the future and rereading it again!!
That being said, this book's main character, Vincent, makes me feel a lot of different things. I pity her in the beginning and towards the end, I start to feel resentful towards her. As much as she struggles to figure out what she wants to do with her life, I struggle to keep rooting for her as the story goes on.
It's a great story and the characters are well developed, but I struggled with the ending. As the ending pages began to dwindle, I was so desperate to know the path she took and yet, in the end, I still didn't know. Some people are okay with open interpretations, but in this specific story, I hated it. I wanted to see her actually pick a path and watch it unravel.
I know the author made that choice for a reason, but I was bummed out by it. I was holding my breath and waiting for the drama to unravel, but it never came. Despite not liking the ending, it made me think and consider what I might do if I was in a similar situation. Overall, a stunning novel and I have no doubt, despite the uncertain ending, I'll definitely be picking it back up in the future and rereading it again!!
I'm a huge fan of Cross-Smith and was hesitant to read this because, based on reviews, I thought this was a romance set in Paris, two things I generally avoid. While it is set in Paris (see below for my thoughts on how American writers just can't depict Parisian life accurately), it is NOT a romance. This is a romance like Doctor Zhivago and Lady Chatterley's Lover are romance.
For me, it's straight-up literary fiction with a bold feminist twist--so much so that I found it to be almost *too* obvious!-- but I guess that was a tough line for Cross-Smith to tread because I can see from the reviews here that it went over many heads.
We have an endless number of male-authored books featuring our male protagonist in a transitional space who processes by having sex with lots of women or lots of sex with one woman. Cross-Smith wrote that book, but with a female protagonist. Come on, she even gave her a man's name--was that not flashbulbs for everyone else? Oh and she's wealthy and Black, because why not inject some Black joy into the world? Some reviewers seem unhappy with that choice, but I found it extraordinarily intentional and successful.
A couple of other corrections to the many reviews stating otherwise: This is not an affair, our protagonist has very clearly left her husband. She ends the relationship, moves to a different continent for a year. I mean, sure they're still legally married, but it didn't occur to me once that this was an extra-marital affair until I read reviews expressing their discomfort over this (LOL). Second, the ending is clear as day. Sure, Cross-Smith doesn't literally spell it out for you, but like...reread the last few pages and it's obvious? So if either of those things concern you, don't worry about it.
As for writing Paris well, that's where this fell short. Although the French was largely accurate and lots of details were spot-on, there will always be some funny gaps that you'd never notice unless you were French or lived in France.
Realistic:
-American living in Paris buying their bread and produce from Franprix.
Getting catcalled because your coat covers your dress.
-Protagonist and her lover wait a very long time to say that they love each other. Not culturally accurate, but realistic portrayal based on the context.
Unrealistic:
-French people switch to franglais around Americans. LOL no.
-American protagonist befriends French woman and they are casually saying I love you to each other within months. Yes, even though they became BFFs in that timeframe, which is also unrealistic.
-Throuple/triad show up to a party and no one bats an eye. Perhaps this might be more realistic in The Arts crowd, but in general French people are VERY conservative in this regard.
-Protaganist calls out sick from teaching a class because of her period and is told nbd, get well.
-Most baffling: French lover says s’il vous plaît to protagonist? Why so formal, Loup??
For me, it's straight-up literary fiction with a bold feminist twist--so much so that I found it to be almost *too* obvious!-- but I guess that was a tough line for Cross-Smith to tread because I can see from the reviews here that it went over many heads.
We have an endless number of male-authored books featuring our male protagonist in a transitional space who processes by having sex with lots of women or lots of sex with one woman. Cross-Smith wrote that book, but with a female protagonist. Come on, she even gave her a man's name--was that not flashbulbs for everyone else? Oh and she's wealthy and Black, because why not inject some Black joy into the world? Some reviewers seem unhappy with that choice, but I found it extraordinarily intentional and successful.
A couple of other corrections to the many reviews stating otherwise: This is not an affair, our protagonist has very clearly left her husband. She ends the relationship, moves to a different continent for a year. I mean, sure they're still legally married, but it didn't occur to me once that this was an extra-marital affair until I read reviews expressing their discomfort over this (LOL). Second, the ending is clear as day. Sure, Cross-Smith doesn't literally spell it out for you, but like...reread the last few pages and it's obvious? So if either of those things concern you, don't worry about it.
As for writing Paris well, that's where this fell short. Although the French was largely accurate and lots of details were spot-on, there will always be some funny gaps that you'd never notice unless you were French or lived in France.
Realistic:
-American living in Paris buying their bread and produce from Franprix.
Getting catcalled because your coat covers your dress.
-Protagonist and her lover wait a very long time to say that they love each other. Not culturally accurate, but realistic portrayal based on the context.
Unrealistic:
-French people switch to franglais around Americans. LOL no.
-American protagonist befriends French woman and they are casually saying I love you to each other within months. Yes, even though they became BFFs in that timeframe, which is also unrealistic.
-Throuple/triad show up to a party and no one bats an eye. Perhaps this might be more realistic in The Arts crowd, but in general French people are VERY conservative in this regard.
-Protaganist calls out sick from teaching a class because of her period and is told nbd, get well.
-Most baffling: French lover says s’il vous plaît to protagonist? Why so formal, Loup??