Reviews

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

abitterknitter's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

The audio was only meh (accents weren't consistent), but the story was lovely. I enjoyed the dual plot lines.  It reminded me of "The Book of Lost Friends" in that way.

lahanna's review against another edition

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

5.0

josiethompson's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this story. It was a perfect mixture of the history of a harsh time and the softness of the characters and their own stories. A lot of times with WWII novels, you get so lost in the events of the war that you don't necessarily get to bond with these characters as much as you would like, but this novel keeps you learning more about the characters and feeling the love and guilt and fear that they feel. The story brought you through loss and love and excitement and mystery all at the same time, while not making me sick to my stomach with the deep gorey details of the war experiences at the time. It taught you valuable lessons and inspired you to be better. I loved it. Would totally recommend.

saumya_412's review against another edition

3.0

Reading about war and life under occupation always makes me grateful for my privileges. The minor subtleties of life including hot and fresh food, clean houses, a loving community are taken for granted when in fact, not so long ago in the past, neighbours would spy on you and report you for the smallest infractions. It continues to be the reality for large parts of the world, where conflicts are a way of life and human populace has learnt to live with violence thereby accepting their fates, their cries of help remaining largely ignored.

The Paris Library is not the greatest book ever written on the war. But it’s important nonetheless. The matter of factly tone, the meditations on friendship, jealousy, love and relationships bring out the core theme: how humans are their biggest enemies.

I enjoyed the book for various reasons, but the silver lining was Odile’s growth as a character who does not let her experiences in the past define her present. The human aspect of the story: living a life with regrets but still trying your best to improve your surrounding community touched me. This will always be etched in my heart ❤️

rtranvi's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.25

lopat_92's review against another edition

4.0

Slow build but a brilliant story line and depth of character development.

bookycatlady's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

Writing itself was a struggle. Dialogue felt clunky, and scenes or action would move so fast I thought I skipped a page. This was throughout the book and especially in the beginning. It was honestly hard to get through the book until the war started, which is when the good action picked up, I’m sorry to say. It was easier to read the trials of war and occupation than it was to read Odile’s rapid-fire emotional swings. I liked 1980s Lily more than 1940s Odile, and 1980s Odile was more tolerable than 1940s Odile. 

I did like that I didn’t get the betrayal twist. I thought it would be

Paul sending the denouncement letters which would have been a truly sick betrayal, but it was a subscriber.

I think the author revealed her hand too early with

Paul, by saying Odile was married to Buck early in the book. It made reading the Paul storyline pretty easy to skin because you knew it wasn’t the end game

.

Overall not a great book for me. I’m not into WWII stories at all, and that was the best part of the book, so that doesn’t bode well. I would read more about Lily and what comes next for her but Odile can stay in the past.

amayes's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

raereadings's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

lauracooleyjohnson's review against another edition

2.0

The American Library in Paris sounds like it was a cool place, with heroes doing their bit to save books and support all readers everywhere (Soldier, Jew, Foreigner or local) with the gift of reading. (Sign me up!) I enjoyed the story to a degree, as it had an interesting angle of life in Paris during WWII. But it is yet ANOTHER pattern-following historical fiction that flashed back and forth in time. And the modern story arc felt forced, an obvious and artificial device to (try to) illustrate Odile’s character development. But Odile and Lily both were poorly explored characters, doing things inconsistent with their own values from one page to the next. I think the story actually would have been improved if the author had left out the entire plot line from the 1980’s. The author could have just told the story of the librarians during the war, and arranged some other way for Odile to reconcile herself to her mistakes. Instead, she waits 40 years, and the author has to stretch to force a situation like a Montana homecoming dance for analogous life lessons. This struck me as trying too hard, and unfortunately felt inauthentic. Too bad, because the raw threads of a good story were there to be woven.