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A review by cynsfictionaddiction
Paris Never Leaves You by Ellen Feldman
4.0
I read a lot of historical fiction, particularly based in France during WWII and there is a definite trend about Paris staying with you despite the years and attempts to move on. Following the story of Charlotte Foret, the book switches between 1940s Paris and 1950s Manhattan. Charlotte struggled to take care of her infant daughter Vivi when the war arrived, leaving them both malnourished and living in constant fear. When a Wehrmacht physician walks into Charlotte’s bookstore and begins leaving small tokens of food and milk for Vivi, she grapples with remaining loyal to her country or feeding her daughter.
The decisions Charlotte faced while hiding out in the bookstore were so relatable. How can you not feed your child, given the opportunity, regardless of where the resources may be coming from? There is no justice in an innocent child dying because they are sick and malnourished in a war they had nothing to do with.
The scariest aspect of this story is how people’s ideas of you could affect your life in a time of war. It shouldn’t matter, but at a time when one little rumor can be used against you and everyone wants to assign blame, that tiny rumor is the very difference between life and death. Charlotte’s neighbors knew that she had grown sympathetic to a Nazi soldier who had begun visiting the bookstore. Seeing little Vivi begin to thrive, they knew Charlotte must be accepting favors of food and they hated her for it. When the war ended and Charlotte began seeing “collaborators” or women who had been rumored to have slept with a Nazi being violated and murdered. She knew she had to flee for her life.
Through her father’s past connections, Charlotte secures a sponsor and a job at a publishing house in NYC, where Vivi is able to grow up among Manhattan’s elite. The novel opens with Charlotte receiving a letter from a Rabbi in South America, bringing her memories of the war flooding back. When Vivi begins to question her upbringing, Charlotte can no longer hide from the past if she wants to keep her daughter.
Teenagers are tough and I loved fifteen-year-old Vivi. She had spunk and determination, especially when she wanted to know something, but Feldman also depicted the ups-and-downs that teenagers go through when someone at school is undoubtedly mean. Vivi was uninvited from a peer’s major party because she was Jewish. That, for me, was one of the more interesting storylines because I wouldn’t have expected such blatant discrimination once the war ended and the world saw how horrific the anti-semitic mentality was.
Charlotte’s self-deprecation began to wear on me as the novel went on, but then Vivi stepped in vibrantly to pull me back into the story and eventually help Charlotte face herself. In dealing with her past, Charlotte needed to revisit that time of her life in Paris to discover Paris Never Leaves You.
The decisions Charlotte faced while hiding out in the bookstore were so relatable. How can you not feed your child, given the opportunity, regardless of where the resources may be coming from? There is no justice in an innocent child dying because they are sick and malnourished in a war they had nothing to do with.
The scariest aspect of this story is how people’s ideas of you could affect your life in a time of war. It shouldn’t matter, but at a time when one little rumor can be used against you and everyone wants to assign blame, that tiny rumor is the very difference between life and death. Charlotte’s neighbors knew that she had grown sympathetic to a Nazi soldier who had begun visiting the bookstore. Seeing little Vivi begin to thrive, they knew Charlotte must be accepting favors of food and they hated her for it. When the war ended and Charlotte began seeing “collaborators” or women who had been rumored to have slept with a Nazi being violated and murdered. She knew she had to flee for her life.
Through her father’s past connections, Charlotte secures a sponsor and a job at a publishing house in NYC, where Vivi is able to grow up among Manhattan’s elite. The novel opens with Charlotte receiving a letter from a Rabbi in South America, bringing her memories of the war flooding back. When Vivi begins to question her upbringing, Charlotte can no longer hide from the past if she wants to keep her daughter.
Teenagers are tough and I loved fifteen-year-old Vivi. She had spunk and determination, especially when she wanted to know something, but Feldman also depicted the ups-and-downs that teenagers go through when someone at school is undoubtedly mean. Vivi was uninvited from a peer’s major party because she was Jewish. That, for me, was one of the more interesting storylines because I wouldn’t have expected such blatant discrimination once the war ended and the world saw how horrific the anti-semitic mentality was.
Charlotte’s self-deprecation began to wear on me as the novel went on, but then Vivi stepped in vibrantly to pull me back into the story and eventually help Charlotte face herself. In dealing with her past, Charlotte needed to revisit that time of her life in Paris to discover Paris Never Leaves You.