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chalkletters's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
The Little Paris Bookshop was an excellent present from Nickie and was the first thing I packed in preparation for my delayed weekend in Paris with Anne. I was excited not only because it was a book about a place I was going but also because the ‘literary apothecary’ prescribing books according to the reader’s emotional state sounds a lot like bibliotherapy. Unfortunately, only the very beginning of the book is concerned with these topics — I didn’t start reading until the second of my three days in Paris, and the characters still left the city behind before I did!
Despite the promise of the blurb and title, The Little Paris Bookshop is not the story of a bookseller in Paris who carefully matches his recommendations to his customer’s emotional needs. Instead, the story is primarily about a bookseller who leaves Paris to process a past love affair and transition into a second chance romance. All of which is fine, but may be disappointing for readers with different expectations.
Nina George’s characters are more sympathetic than those of thematically similar The Lost Letters of William Woolf. It’s a shame that the most interesting parts of Perdu’s character (his job, his skill of reading people, his search for an anonymous author) aren’t foregrounded, but almost all of the side characters have at least something interesting about them. Once the story leaves Paris, it’s a pleasantly gentle cruise through pastoral French landscape, briefly touching on lives and stories which keep things interesting.
Simon Pare’s translated prose is largely unremarkable; it doesn’t get in the way of the story, but nor does it provide many memorable passages. While some attention is given to the importance of books, it doesn’t really seem enough given that two of the characters are writers and one is a 'literary pharmacist’. The list of prescribed books at the back of The Little Paris Bookshop does help to make up for that disappointment, but it’s really too little too late.
Overall, The Little Paris Bookshop was underwhelming, and I probably won’t be reading anything more by Nina George, but I do have a few other books-about-bookshops on my shelf waiting to be read!
Content Warnings
Minor: Grief, Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Infidelity, and Pregnancy
atamano's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Infidelity
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Cancer
Minor: Pregnancy
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