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jenbsbooks 's review for:
The Paris Library
by Janet Skeslien Charles
I liked this ... coming to review it after finishing it a couple days ago, it was already fading though. It wasn't even a super positive memory, I was thinking 2.75 for a rating. 3*? As I did some skimming (I had listened to the audiobook, but had the Kindle copy, and a physical copy) to refresh and review, I came to appreciate it more after the fact. There were some discussion questions (always a plus for me, a mini "book club" making me think of things I might not have otherwise) and a Q&A with the author. Enhance/Enrich were used as adjectives for these extras, and they really did! Ultimately giving this 4* ...
I had been a little confused with the dual timeline ... Odile in 1939 and young Lily in 1983. Odile is also a character in the 1983 timeline, but still I struggled a bit with the back and forth, trying to understand why the two stories were being told side-by-side. In the smallest way, it's a spoiler, because we/the reader, know a little about Odile (that she definitely survives, that Paul is not in the picture at this later date/not her married name). It should have been easy to keep the stories straight (being in such different times/settings) but I'd sometimes find myself having to check. Both were in first person/present tense. They had separate narrators in audio ... the POV name (printed header at the start of each chapter: Odile or Lily) was NOT stated, although the date/location was (even when that was NOT printed in the text). Even though it was "obvious" given the date and the narrator accent/voice ... my brain still would have liked the POV name to have been stated. In the Kindle copy, the POV was printed by the chapter in the Table of Contents ... alas, the audio just showed the numerical chapters, and of course, par for the present course, the physical book doesn't even deign to include a TOC. The connection of the timelines is obvious, as Odile is in both, but there's a certain moment in time that becomes more poignant when it is presented (nearer the end).
There were a few 3rd person chapter from different POVs ... Margaret, Boris, Miss Reeder, Paul. One chapter titled "The Barbershop Quartet" ... I didn't take specific note of these being voiced by a 3rd narrator, but there are three listed, as well as the author voicing her own author's notes (which makes it much more personalized to me).
I felt like I learned a little more about the history ... librarians taking books to "subscribers" (I thought that was an interesting descriptive word, instead of the "patrons" used today. The crow letters. There would be some interesting things to discuss (rights and wrongs) in a book club setting. Obviously, quite a bit of book talk too.
No proFanity. Some sex but nothing explicit.
The physical copy was quite lovely. Pretty cover, and the inside was decorated with all sorts of ephemera. Cute "library card" pocket visual for the author spotlight.
I had been a little confused with the dual timeline ... Odile in 1939 and young Lily in 1983. Odile is also a character in the 1983 timeline, but still I struggled a bit with the back and forth, trying to understand why the two stories were being told side-by-side. In the smallest way, it's a spoiler, because we/the reader, know a little about Odile (that she definitely survives, that Paul is not in the picture at this later date/not her married name). It should have been easy to keep the stories straight (being in such different times/settings) but I'd sometimes find myself having to check. Both were in first person/present tense. They had separate narrators in audio ... the POV name (printed header at the start of each chapter: Odile or Lily) was NOT stated, although the date/location was (even when that was NOT printed in the text). Even though it was "obvious" given the date and the narrator accent/voice ... my brain still would have liked the POV name to have been stated. In the Kindle copy, the POV was printed by the chapter in the Table of Contents ... alas, the audio just showed the numerical chapters, and of course, par for the present course, the physical book doesn't even deign to include a TOC. The connection of the timelines is obvious, as Odile is in both, but there's a certain moment in time that becomes more poignant when it is presented (nearer the end).
There were a few 3rd person chapter from different POVs ... Margaret, Boris, Miss Reeder, Paul. One chapter titled "The Barbershop Quartet" ... I didn't take specific note of these being voiced by a 3rd narrator, but there are three listed, as well as the author voicing her own author's notes (which makes it much more personalized to me).
I felt like I learned a little more about the history ... librarians taking books to "subscribers" (I thought that was an interesting descriptive word, instead of the "patrons" used today. The crow letters. There would be some interesting things to discuss (rights and wrongs) in a book club setting. Obviously, quite a bit of book talk too.
No proFanity. Some sex but nothing explicit.
The physical copy was quite lovely. Pretty cover, and the inside was decorated with all sorts of ephemera. Cute "library card" pocket visual for the author spotlight.