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A review by mbkarapcik
All the Flowers in Paris by Sarah Jio
4.0
This novel flips back and forth between a Frenchwoman who is a mother and helps out her father in a Parisian flower shop during World War II, and a contemporary American woman living in Paris. The Frenchwoman who happens to be part Jewish gets caught by a German officer who previously set his sights on her and terrorizes her and her family. The story takes some tragic turns and, at times, may be slow, but I think the author wants to establish a mood by weaving the elements together to the point where more action takes place.
On the other side, the expatriate from America who seems depressed about her life for reasons the reader does not yet learn gets into a bicycling accident and wakes up with amnesia. She works hard to find out who she was while establishing a new life for herself. She meets an intriguing restaurateur who may not be what he seems, and the story proceeds from there.
To give more away would ruin the twists, turns, and coincidences, some of which seem trite or too perfectly rendered. One major twist I detected pretty quickly, but I didn't know the antecedent, so I was interested to discover what it was. I enjoyed the book, but it's very similar to Sarah's Key (which other reviewers noted, and I recently read), and I believe that is the better book.
On the other side, the expatriate from America who seems depressed about her life for reasons the reader does not yet learn gets into a bicycling accident and wakes up with amnesia. She works hard to find out who she was while establishing a new life for herself. She meets an intriguing restaurateur who may not be what he seems, and the story proceeds from there.
To give more away would ruin the twists, turns, and coincidences, some of which seem trite or too perfectly rendered. One major twist I detected pretty quickly, but I didn't know the antecedent, so I was interested to discover what it was. I enjoyed the book, but it's very similar to Sarah's Key (which other reviewers noted, and I recently read), and I believe that is the better book.