Genre: Historical Fiction/Women’s Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pub. Date: June 2, 2020
When did Women’s Fiction morph into Romance Fiction? Or is it just me who feels the shift? Traditional women’s fiction focuses on a woman’s lifetime journey. There is frequently a love interest. A romance novel focuses entirely on a woman’s romantic relationships and usually has a happy ending. This novel has two timelines: during and post WWII. Our heroine has a romance going on in both—just not necessary. One love interest is understandable. The survival of her child and herself depended on it. The other feels like an add-on simply to keep romance readers happy.
During the war, the woman has an eighteen-month-old baby. She works in a tiny bookstore in occupied Paris. In the next decade, her daughter is a young teen and she works in a NYC publishing house. Although unhappy with the feel of a romance novel, there were parts of the story that I did enjoy. As a reader, I was delighted to find myself reading a book about books. I read to learn and to be entertained simultaneously, which is why historical fiction is my favorite genre. I applaud the author’s research. I did learn something new regarding WWII German soldiers. I cannot say more for it would be a spoiler. I thought she did a good job of showing the impossible choices the mother needed to make, during the war, to keep her child alive. As well as capturing the woman’s overwhelming sense of survivor’s guilt once she was safely living in the States.
Still, I do not think that “Paris” will pose any threat to other WWII historical fiction books. In the classic, “Sophie’s Choice,” the good versus evil smacks you in the face. In this novel, it feels colorless. There are scenes showing the horrors committed against the Jews, but the brutalities are not as pronounced. Your jaw will not drop from shock. Possibly this was the author’s intention since the story revolves more around the main character’s personal journey than war crimes. The character Sophie also has a romance when she is out of Nazi Germany and is living in Brooklyn, NY. Hers is a violent relationship, which she accepts due to her posttraumatic stress from the war years. Unlike this novel, that romance enhanced Sophie’s tale.
Maybe I was expecting too much. Ellen Feldman is a 2009 Guggenheim fellow, which lead me to believe I would be reading a literary novel. The book held my interest for the author’s moral analysis of her characters. The mother struggles with what is right and wrong in both of her love affairs. Her male characters are also wrestling with their consciousnesses. Feldman creates further tension with her daughter. The mother never tells her teenage daughter secrets from their past causing a rift between them. However, I am simply not a fan of contemporary romance. If you are, and you enjoy historical fiction this one is for you.
I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.
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