Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
Lovely book. I related to it in many ways and made me fall in love with Paris again and craving to go back and find myself like they did
The Light of Paris is a story told during two eras. We have modern day America and 1920s Paris as our two protagonists Madeleine and her grandmother Margie try to navigate adulthood with lives that seemingly parallel each other. Madeleine is stuck in a loveless marriage of convenience. Her whole life is dictated by her bully of a husband: her lack of job, lack of friends, lack of hobbies. Even her weight is controlled by him. Margie faced a similar fate when she was young and knew it was almost a guarantee if she didn’t break free of the confines of debutant life.
Both women have been given the opportunity to change their fate…and they take it.
The Light of Paris is a story of freedom.
I loved this story. I loved how quickly I became invested in the lives of these two women and how you feel desperate for Madeleine to learn from Margie’s mistakes/choices that made her life better. As a bit of a Francophile, I loved Eleanor Brown’s ability to capture the amazing setting of Paris.
The Light of Paris was a big winner for me.
The Light of Paris by Eleanor Brown is available now.
Both women have been given the opportunity to change their fate…and they take it.
The Light of Paris is a story of freedom.
I loved this story. I loved how quickly I became invested in the lives of these two women and how you feel desperate for Madeleine to learn from Margie’s mistakes/choices that made her life better. As a bit of a Francophile, I loved Eleanor Brown’s ability to capture the amazing setting of Paris.
The Light of Paris was a big winner for me.
The Light of Paris by Eleanor Brown is available now.
25% of the way in and sadly, I'm doing to DNF this one.
I remember thoroughly enjoying [b:The Weird Sisters|8573020|The Weird Sisters|Eleanor Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1280449598s/8573020.jpg|13441827] and recall it was a smart, well-written book. Unfortunately this book is very different. It's told in two parts -- a 1924 story of Margie and a 1999 story of Madeleine. Margie's story is written in what I can only describe as "YA style" and Madeleine's story is a "beach read" at best.
Other reviewers are enjoying this and giving it high marks, so I would encourage readers to seek out reviews other than mine if you're considering this book. I am just not the right audience for this book, though I do recommend [b:The Weird Sisters|8573020|The Weird Sisters|Eleanor Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1280449598s/8573020.jpg|13441827].
I'm not assigning stars because I didn't finish the book.
Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I remember thoroughly enjoying [b:The Weird Sisters|8573020|The Weird Sisters|Eleanor Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1280449598s/8573020.jpg|13441827] and recall it was a smart, well-written book. Unfortunately this book is very different. It's told in two parts -- a 1924 story of Margie and a 1999 story of Madeleine. Margie's story is written in what I can only describe as "YA style" and Madeleine's story is a "beach read" at best.
Other reviewers are enjoying this and giving it high marks, so I would encourage readers to seek out reviews other than mine if you're considering this book. I am just not the right audience for this book, though I do recommend [b:The Weird Sisters|8573020|The Weird Sisters|Eleanor Brown|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1280449598s/8573020.jpg|13441827].
I'm not assigning stars because I didn't finish the book.
Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed this book, although I can't quite grasp why -- the writing, I suppose. Because the characters all kind of annoyed me. And I get it: I get that there are women out there in the world who just marry men because it's expected of them, and proceed to live lives that they aren't super fond of because that's what life is to these people. But I don't actually KNOW any of these women, so it's just really super difficult to read books about them and convince myself that what I'm reading about is realistic in some way. These people are more like a depressing fantasy to me. And that's how I feel about main character Madeleine and her family and her husband -- it's just incredible to me that even in 1999, when the action in her part of the story takes place, that women like this existed (also, let's not harp on too much about the fact that the 1999 of the story felt no different than 2016 -- is there that much of a difference, really?).
ANYWAY. I enjoyed it. I promise. The woman (Madeleine's grandmother) running away to Jazz Age Paris felt like a cliche but it was well written enough that I had to see if it panned out in the (rather predictable) way I had guessed early on. It's a nice story and Eleanor Brown writes it well enough that it felt fresh. And maybe you've never heard a similar story and it will be completely new to you!
ANYWAY. I enjoyed it. I promise. The woman (Madeleine's grandmother) running away to Jazz Age Paris felt like a cliche but it was well written enough that I had to see if it panned out in the (rather predictable) way I had guessed early on. It's a nice story and Eleanor Brown writes it well enough that it felt fresh. And maybe you've never heard a similar story and it will be completely new to you!
Thank you Netgalley! Well I loved The Weird Sisters so I wasn't surprised that I would like The Light of Paris too. And boy am I happy I did read it because I was stuck in a reading rut. Nothing would keep me interested and I was getting so frustrated but the first chapter learning about Madeline and how her marriage sucks (sad) and how she was going to visit her mother (dreadful) I had to find out more. Then we meet Madelines grandmother Margie who also isn't happy with her life.
The book is told in alternating viewpoints where we are transported from Madeline's present (1999) to the 1920's (Madeline reads old journals depicting her grandmother's life) where Margie is being told that she needs to get married and is sort of pushed off to an older guy who would be a good alliance work wise for her family.
Madeline is sick of her husband Phil. Phil is mister perfect. He is a 2 dimensional kind of catch -all douchebag who married Madeline because it would look good for his life- his mother insisted him get married- and so now that he has the wife he goes on picking on her; for being late or too fat or not enough in some way or another. Madeline has enough and goes down south to visit her nit-picking Southern mother who also is unhappy with Madeline as she is not what she'd like in a daughter.
Basically both women- a generation a part- are trying to figure out what they want and not rely on making the people happy.
I really liked the story but felt that Phil was written in a cliche way and the end was a little too tidy. But I'd recommend it to people who enjoy women's fiction - or Paris, because much of Margie's story is there.
The book is told in alternating viewpoints where we are transported from Madeline's present (1999) to the 1920's (Madeline reads old journals depicting her grandmother's life) where Margie is being told that she needs to get married and is sort of pushed off to an older guy who would be a good alliance work wise for her family.
Madeline is sick of her husband Phil. Phil is mister perfect. He is a 2 dimensional kind of catch -all douchebag who married Madeline because it would look good for his life- his mother insisted him get married- and so now that he has the wife he goes on picking on her; for being late or too fat or not enough in some way or another. Madeline has enough and goes down south to visit her nit-picking Southern mother who also is unhappy with Madeline as she is not what she'd like in a daughter.
Basically both women- a generation a part- are trying to figure out what they want and not rely on making the people happy.
I really liked the story but felt that Phil was written in a cliche way and the end was a little too tidy. But I'd recommend it to people who enjoy women's fiction - or Paris, because much of Margie's story is there.
I can't say this is one of my favorite books, but I liked the premise of it and how it went from past to present comparing the stories of grandmother to granddaughter.
Margie (the grandmother) spent some time in Paris in the 1920's when Paris was full of artists and authors and of course, she falls in love. With circumstances beyond her control, Margie and Sebastian go in their own direction and lead separate lives.
As Madeline (the granddaughter) tries to come to terms with life struggles of her own, she finds her grandmother's journals and learns all about her time in Paris and about the life she didn't know she led. As she absorbs it all, she comes to her own realizations about her life in a very helpful way.
As the book ends, Madeline even makes her way to Paris to see what Margie saw, but through her own eyes. I just wish I could have liked Madeline more as well as other characters. I had a negative feeling throughout a lot of this book emanating from the characters.
Margie (the grandmother) spent some time in Paris in the 1920's when Paris was full of artists and authors and of course, she falls in love. With circumstances beyond her control, Margie and Sebastian go in their own direction and lead separate lives.
As Madeline (the granddaughter) tries to come to terms with life struggles of her own, she finds her grandmother's journals and learns all about her time in Paris and about the life she didn't know she led. As she absorbs it all, she comes to her own realizations about her life in a very helpful way.
As the book ends, Madeline even makes her way to Paris to see what Margie saw, but through her own eyes. I just wish I could have liked Madeline more as well as other characters. I had a negative feeling throughout a lot of this book emanating from the characters.
How can this possible be written by the same author who wrote The Weird Sisters? There are no similarities whatsoever! I loved The Weird Sisters but could find nothing redeeming about this book. Are there really people like the main characters in this book? If so, I've never met them. Many of my family members (myself included) and friends attended private schools, made debuts, had fashionable weddings, served on volunteer committees, etc.; but not a single one of them ever acted like the characters in this book. None are wimpy like the main character - quite the opposite.
Though this isn't typically the sort of book I usually read, I quite loved the characters and novel was just so readable and engaging. It's the sort of book where I sit down and feel like I've hardly begun to read and then find that I'm many chapters further along.
It's that sort of sweet story that explores the loneliness we can create for ourselves. It's that type of isolation that we can only achieve when we convince ourselves that the things we love aren't good enough for ourselves, that they aren't standard and normal enough.
We get to see how this theme plays out in the present day and during the 1920s, how our choices are limited by the time periods and how we can push against them.
My only quibble is that the end felt very abrupt, even though it wasn't an ending about surprises. I think that every other chapter had a lovely, smooth flow, but when it was time for the book to end, it basically just came to a halt.
I did receive a copy of the ARC from the author at conference, but that in no way affects my review of the book. I'm glad I read something out of my normal reading comfort zone.
It's that sort of sweet story that explores the loneliness we can create for ourselves. It's that type of isolation that we can only achieve when we convince ourselves that the things we love aren't good enough for ourselves, that they aren't standard and normal enough.
We get to see how this theme plays out in the present day and during the 1920s, how our choices are limited by the time periods and how we can push against them.
My only quibble is that the end felt very abrupt, even though it wasn't an ending about surprises. I think that every other chapter had a lovely, smooth flow, but when it was time for the book to end, it basically just came to a halt.
I did receive a copy of the ARC from the author at conference, but that in no way affects my review of the book. I'm glad I read something out of my normal reading comfort zone.